Trevor's White River Prep

[hadrosauridae]

Fabulous prep work on both fossils!

[jpc]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

I agree. All the hospitals I have ever had dealings with would be more than glad to take the scan. But will also send you a very hefty bill afterward too. 

I have CTed things in many hospitals and never gotten a bill.  And this is half the time without using work as a way in.  

[Daleksec]

14 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

Daleksec, I have a turtle similar to yours.  I did not remove any matrix from the front exposed portion as you did.  Did you see bone material or did you just remove matrix until you found the bones?  I have been wanting to see if there are any but didn't want to take the chance - until now.  What do you think?

    

 I found the bones beacause the turtle broke in 9 pieces. Most of my prep work is people paying me to do them. Zolt being my friend and I was with him when he found it so Jacketed it for him. And I did and very very secure jacket trying to get the turtle out of the jacket and we  broke it. The one of the sections exposed two limb bones which I discussed with him and I glued the turtle back and left the bones inside the turtle. Personally I like hollow turtles I have never had a good candidate for one but it would definitely  be a challenge.

 

Yours looks like a good candidate it like his but for him he wanted whole  like his yours has not good matrix not very solid and has cracks all in it you would have to putty the gaps to make it look smooth and then paint the putty. If it was me I would hollow it. Bones could be in there. 

[Daleksec]

This is Tom Whittemores  Oreodont skull straight out of the jacket water and weathering fragmented and Disarticulated this skull it was in unstable matrix do the best thing to do is I harden the entire thing slightly not so much you can't use a dental pick but enough to hold it all together.

[Daleksec]

The weatherd tooth fragments on the left side.

[Daleksec]

I prepared this specimen 75% by hand 25% by Dremel and sand blaster. Exacto knives work best on white River fossils. Slowly taking a little bit off then hardening it.

[Daleksec]

A little trick I found out doing this project. The Paleo soils in the White River Badlands are basically like clay and can sculpt like clay so I went the Paleo soils into a paste and filled in all the crevices in the base of this block and let them dry then harden them in place. By doing this I can make a more visibly appealing block. Once hardend I use my tungsten carbind  sanding bit which by the way works awesome on White River Badlands fossils.and smoothened out the areas exposing the rock to the natural state. But doing this with the carbind tip creates scratches Wich will need to be smothend with a sand blaster. but you have to do it very lightly not to pop out those infilled areas. Paleo bonf works very well for glueing white river fossil I use it on the major cracks but the rest I use PVB Or PVA. As my main consolidant Paleo bond when it has Been sand blasted it looks like mineral infill which is natural in White River Badland fossils.

[Ruger9a]

Daleksec, thanks for the information.  I have worked many Oreodont skulls but only one turtle, this turtle.  After removing all nonessential matrix it looked better to me as it is now because it is not a complete shell.  I'm not too sure what the collector market likes when it comes to hollowed out or natural matrix turtles.  But I have never seen a hollowed out turtle on the market for sale and have seen many natural state turtles out there.  I would assume the hollowed out turtle shell would have to be complete to attract serious attention for purchase.  I'm thinking towards the future when I am no longer here to be the guardian of my collection.  Which would sell at a better price, the partial natural state or partial hollowed out turtle?

[jpc]

15 hours ago, Daleksec said:

This is Tom Whittemores  Oreodont skull straight out of the jacket water and weathering fragmented and Disarticulated this skull it was in unstable matrix do the best thing to do is I harden the entire thing slightly not so much you can't use a dental pick but enough to hold it all together.

So, you took it out of the jacket before prepping it?!  If the jacket is holding it together (which is its purpose) then it should be prepped in the jacket, stabilized, and then the jacket should be taken off, and the other side prepped. 

 

(PS, I had to read this a few times to understand it due to a complete lack of punctuation... "Let's eat Grandma" or "Let's eat, Grandma").

[Ruger9a]

Daleksec, here is one of my in-process Oreodont preps.  Still searching the matrix for the missing parts.

[Daleksec]

 

5 hours ago, jpc said:

So, you took it out of the jacket before prepping it?!  If the jacket is holding it together (which is its purpose) then it should be prepped in the jacket, stabilized, and then the jacket should be taken off, and the other side prepped. 

 

(PS, I had to read this a few times to understand it due to a complete lack of punctuation... "Let's eat Grandma" or "Let's eat, Grandma").

I consolidated most of it, enough to hold it together then I took it out of the jacket then harden it a lot more. enough for a workable piece. I take them out of the jacket to see the situation going on with the skull. for this one if i had not I would have been prepping a mess. the skull was one more rain from being un-salvageable. 

And for my punctuation and grammar I am dyslexic and cant help it all the time.

[Daleksec]

5 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

Daleksec, here is one of my in-process Oreodont preps.  Still searching the matrix for the missing parts.

 missing pieces is always a Problem But I took Cermaics For 3 years in high School; so  I capable the sculpting of missing pieces. I'm very OCD about accuracy especially on sculpting  missing parts which makes it frustrating.  but Sculpting is a good skill to have when preparing fossils. i will be posting a skull that i am currently working on in a day or so that is the best skull I have worked on but it has some serious reconstitution going on.

Yours is looking great But you are probable want to do reconstitution on it.

[Ruger9a]

2 hours ago, Daleksec said:

 missing pieces is always a Problem But I took Cermaics For 3 years in high School; so  I capable the sculpting of missing pieces. I'm very OCD about accuracy especially on sculpting  missing parts which makes it frustrating.  but Sculpting is a good skill to have when preparing fossils. i will be posting a skull that i am currently working on in a day or so that is the best skull I have worked on but it has some serious reconstitution going on.

Yours is looking great But you are probable want to do reconstitution on it.

Thanks for the information Daleksec.  I have never really thought about restoration when it comes to my collection, but then again I've never seen a fully restored Oreodont skull.  I have found many other bone pieces and tooth fragments so I will go into the "puzzle" phase of my prepping effort to see how much of the skull can be completed from original material.  Can't wait to see your finished skull.  

[Ruger9a]

On 3/10/2020 at 12:42 PM, ParkerPaleo said:

I found my neighborhood dentist to be much more accommodating that the hospitals.  It probably helps that our kids are friends, we go to the same church and my family is all his patient, but many dentists have CT scanners as well.

Checked with several dentist and none of them have a CT scanner.  So I tried to get in touch with the hospital CT Scanner folks, no luck there at all.  But I did come across a reason not to pay them a visit.  Two confirmed cases of coronavirus today...…  Looks like I will just have to keep wondering.

[Randyw]

I personally don’t restore any of my skulls but I know a lot of people on here do. I figure whatever makes you happy with your own pieces is the way you should go.

i think they all have a story to tell and their breaks, bites and chips and how they ended up is part of that story

[jpc]

3 hours ago, Daleksec said:

 

 

And for my punctuation and grammar I am dyslexic and cant help it all the time.

OK... forgiven. Hope you can forgive me as well.  

 

But if you were in my lab... well,nevermind.  : )

[Daleksec]

1 hour ago, Randyw said:

I personally don’t restore any of my skulls but I know a lot of people on here do. I figure whatever makes you happy with your own pieces is the way you should go.

i think they all have a story to tell and their breaks, bites and chips and how they ended up is part of that story

  I don't like to restore Fossils but the people I prepare for like things to be complete. I mainly fill in gaps but the skull I am currently working on. it was too perfect to not be restored and I will have a long story to tell about that skull.

[Daleksec]

1 hour ago, jpc said:

OK... forgiven. Hope you can forgive me as well.  

 

But if you were in my lab... well,nevermind.  : )

You are forgiven.  I just started prepping white river fossils since June of 2018. I mainly do whales dolphins and fish fossils from the east coast. I really hate using Sandblasters and air scribes. I like dental picks and exactos. Meticulous work is where I thrive.

[Ruger9a]

2 hours ago, Randyw said:

I personally don’t restore any of my skulls but I know a lot of people on here do. I figure whatever makes you happy with your own pieces is the way you should go.

i think they all have a story to tell and their breaks, bites and chips and how they ended up is part of that story

Very nice collection of Oreodont specimens.  I have a few fairly complete skulls but none as nice as the one in the top right hand corner of you display.

[Randyw]

Very nice! I love them! For some reason I just have a soft spot for Oreodonts and their relatives and I love the white river matrix. It’s So nice to work with!

[Ruger9a]

1 hour ago, Randyw said:

Very nice! I love them! For some reason I just have a soft spot for Oreodonts and their relatives and I love the white river matrix. It’s So nice to work with!

Thanks and me too.  I usually only have to use XACTO blades and sometimes a Dremel tool to remove all unwanted matrix.  But, I have had three clumps of Oreodont matrix that were very, very hard to work with (like limestone).  One is completely finished (as much as I'm doing with it), the second is 3/4 finished and the 3rd I gave up on and decided to wait for a rainy day when I'm "totally" out of any other fossils to prep.  Here is a photo of the completely finished specimen.  Once I removed about two inches of the outer matrix it was somewhat easier to work with.

[caldigger]

4 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

 

Poor Sherman, he was always saying the wrong thing.  He even died with his foot in his mouth! 

[Ruger9a]

Thanks Caldigger, I couldn't remember what he said his name was until now...LOL