Oreodont Skull

[Kyleontheweb]

Hi everyone, I have just purchased an Oreodont skull.  I have no experience with these.  I assume this is genuine, but I don't know much about what they are supposed to look like, so I'm just hoping for some expertise from people who know more than I do.

 

This one seems to have a lot of matrix that needs to be removed, but I certainly wouldn't want to mess anything up with it being unskilled with that kind of work.  It looks like at least part of the bottom jaw is still in the matrix, you can see a large bone sticking out in a couple of places.  What do you guys think?

[Kane]

I'll tag one of our oreodont connoisseurs to give his keen eye. @Randyw

[Randyw]

Nice oreodont skull! Theres definetly some pieces of lower jaw there and a nice canine. You will definetly want to consolidate that canine becuase it’s pretty cracked up. I’d leave the matrix around the canine until you get some prepping experience and the right tools or that fang could shatter. It looks like you may have a full zygomatic arch under the matrix covering! Sweet!

definetly real. And looks like a culbertsoni oreodont

Edited March 15, 2023 by Randyw

[Randyw]

It’s left side could turn out really awesome! I was just looking at close ups of your skull. It looks like you have part of the braincase and most of the nose even. My avitar is an oreodont by the way. If you would like i can take some pictures of a cast of a full skull i have with my skulls so you use it as a road map if you decide to prep it out.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Randyw

[Randyw]

I marked some pieces on your pictures to give you an idea.

i’m jealous!

[Randyw]

Feel free to ask if i can help you out more!

[Kyleontheweb]

1 hour ago, Randyw said:

Feel free to ask if i can help you out more!

Randyw, thank you so much!  Your posts have been incredibly helpful, and even having some information about what specific type of Oreodont, that is awesome.  I wasn't sure if it was possible to tell what kind it was or not.  I have never prepped a fossil at all and I don't have the proper tools but I'm sure it would cost a fortune to have someone do it.  It would be so cool though to get more of it uncovered, maybe someday I will figure out how to do that.

[Randyw]

Fortunatly white river oreodonts are fairly easy to prep if you ever get to where you want to start. My second prep matter of fact was an oreadont.

*******WARNING WARNING PREPPING IS ADDICTIVE!*******

here was one of my early prepping setups. I started with a dremel engraver ( not a rotary one) and some sharp picks. Do not use a hammer and chisel! I got one of my skulls from someone who tried to prep it that way and shattered it into 6 pieces. He gave me five of them LOL!

[Kyleontheweb]

5 minutes ago, Randyw said:

Fortunatly white river oreodonts are fairly easy to prep if you ever get to where you want to start. My second prep matter of fact was an oreadont.

*******WARNING WARNING PREPPING IS ADDICTIVE!*******

here was one of my early prepping setups. I started with a dremel engraver ( not a rotary one) and some sharp picks. Do not use a hammer and chisel! I got one of my skulls from someone who tried to prep it that way and shattered it into 6 pieces. He gave me five of them LOL!

I thought about getting an electric engraver, do you think that would work on something like this?  I know a lot of people do the air abrasive, which seems like a whole other thing to get set up properly.

[Randyw]

Oh yes. The secret is to take you time, be careful, wear a mask, and keep super glue and other consolidant handy. Get one with a variable speed/force and upgrade the tips. I have done all my prepping up till now with a electric dremmel tool. I just recently upgraded to an air scribe and air abrasive setup. And even now it has a large place in my prepping arsenal. Its a affordable way to dip your toes into the prepping world without spending huge amounts and to see if you like it. Prepping isn’t for everyone but if it’s for you it will give you hours and hours of fun, frustration, and cussing. But lord help me I love it. I’ve got an oreodont skull on my prep desk now that i got from someone who tried prepping but it wasn’t for him. Stay away from the teeth and that nice canine untill you get used to it though.

how it started, and my current prep desk…

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Randyw

[Randyw]

All of these were prepped with a dremel engraver

[Kyleontheweb]

7 hours ago, Randyw said:

All of these were prepped with a dremel engraver

That is awesome!  And your help is much appreciated.

[snolly50]

 

@Randyw has given some excellent guidance. Here is an old post. It's long and meandering; but it may be of interest to you. Good luck, have fun.    

[Kyleontheweb]

7 hours ago, snolly50 said:

 

@Randyw has given some excellent guidance. Here is an old post. It's long and meandering; but it may be of interest to you. Good luck, have fun.    

Thank you, snolly50.  I looked through some of the thread, this will also be very helpful when I get ready to prep.

[Randyw]

Here is a top and a side view of a cast oreodont skull of your type that i used as a guide back when i prepped my first skull…

[Kyleontheweb]

1 hour ago, Randyw said:

Here is a top and a side view of a cast oreodont skull of your type that i used as a guide back when i prepped my first skull…

That should help, thanks!

21 hours ago, Randyw said:

Fortunatly white river oreodonts are fairly easy to prep if you ever get to where you want to start. My second prep matter of fact was an oreadont.

*******WARNING WARNING PREPPING IS ADDICTIVE!*******

here was one of my early prepping setups. I started with a dremel engraver ( not a rotary one) and some sharp picks. Do not use a hammer and chisel! I got one of my skulls from someone who tried to prep it that way and shattered it into 6 pieces. He gave me five of them LOL!

I thought about getting an electric engraver, do you think that would work on something like this?  I know a lot of people do the air abrasive, which seems like a whole other thing to get set up properly.

[Randyw]

Oh yes. The secret is to take you time, be careful, wear a mask, and keep super glue and other consolidant handy. Get one with a variable speed/force and upgrade the tips. I have done all my prepping up till now with a electric dremmel tool. I just recently upgraded to an air scribe and air abrasive setup. And even now it has a large place in my prepping arsenal. Its a affordable way to dip your toes into the prepping world without spending huge amounts and to see if you like it. Prepping isn’t for everyone but if it’s for you it will give you hours and hours of fun, frustration, and cussing. But lord help me I love it. I’ve got an oreodont skull on my prep desk now that i got from someone who tried prepping but it wasn’t for him. Stay away from the teeth and that nice canine untill you get used to it though.
if you look at my earlier post with the pictures of the t.v. Tray and my prep desk you can see my adjustable speed electric engraver on the t.v. Tray in the upper right corner.

[jpc]

I disagree with the 'no hammer and chisel' comment.  Make sure your chisel is no bigger than a dental pick (easy to shape into a chisel) and your hammer no bigger then an upholstery hammer.  And place the victim on a sandbag to work. 

 

Yes, it is addicitve.

 

[Randyw]

LOL! True but we are experienced preppers who can do things novices can't. So when I'm giving advice to a beginner I think I'll stick with the no hammer and chisel advice. Once they gain experience they will find their own ways of doing things and start modifying and creating their own tools and techniques. I'd rather start them out safely so they can experience the joy and accomplishment of a safe prep job then throw a beginner into a formula 5 racecar and watch them pile up into a wall. But that's just me I've always been cautious when teaching. Everyone has their own teaching techniques. I've got several fossils in my collection that people have given me because they got too aggressive (often with a hammer and chisel) and damaged them so they gave them away and gave up on prepping entirely.

[jpc]

I cannot disagree and resect your views.  I did my first prep with a dry wall screw and a small hammer... Hesperocyon skull from the White River.  The screw worked well as a micro-chisel.  

[AdeRs3]

Dremel 4300 with a flex shaft and a dremel stylo. I also made a plexi glass box with a drip for wet cutting/sanding so my wife doesn’t kick me out of my office and into the garage:)

[Randyw]

Actually i prefer the vibrating dremel for removing matrix. It’s cheaper and It does less damage to the skull matterial (if you’re being careful) causing the matrix to “pop” free and leaving the bone untouched. I do use a rotary dremmel with flex shaft for smoothing the leftover matrix after prepping. 

[AdeRs3]

On 3/26/2023 at 10:14 AM, Randyw said:

Actually i prefer the vibrating dremel for removing matrix. It’s cheaper and It does less damage to the skull matterial (if you’re being careful) causing the matrix to “pop” free and leaving the bone untouched. I do use a rotary dremmel with flex shaft for smoothing the leftover matrix after prepping. 

Good point. Don’t have any experience removing g matrix from bone. I like the flex shaft for any wet cut, grind or sanding to minimize dust and getting lit up lol