How to begin on this one?

[Steve1982]

Hi everyone,

 

I am a longtime lover of fossils and natural history, but I never did any real fossil hunting until very recently. I took my son to a road cut in upstate NY (Rickard Hill Road in Schoharie) that has tons of Devonian fossils. The attached photos show two of the fossils, one of which appears to be a small brachiopod, possibly the one at the bottom of this ID page: http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~kwilson/Devonian/DevSites/Schoharie/Becraft.htm

 

I have never done any type of fossil prep, and I am wondering how to get started, particularly with specimens like these. I collected a few larger pieces that have dozens of brachiopods each (they were pouring out of just about every rock in the area), so I have something to test techniques on before working with the more intact/better preserved pieces. 

 

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

 

Thank you,

Steve