Elrathi kingii from U-Dig, Utah

[kehaz]

I was finally able to make it down to Delta to go to the U-Dig Quarry and have all my mudbug dreams come true. While the husband and I didn't make any huge or groundbreaking finds, we did come home with about two Home Depot buckets full of loose trilobites, mortality plates, and big chunks of shale ready to be split.

 

I decided to try my hand at prepping some of the loose bugs using a stainless steel brush and a dremel.

 

The first victim: before

 

And after.

 

I'll admit that I was nervous that the brush would scratch up the trilobite, but it seemed to come out pretty okay. So I tried it again.

 

Before.

 

After.

 

I can't wait to clean up everything else, and I can't wait to get back out there and hunt some more! I just wish this wildfire smoke would subside...

 

Happy hunting, everyone!

Edited May 21, 2023 by kehaz

[Tidgy's Dad]

It may be pretty common, but how great to find your own!  

And they are very pretty bugs. 

Nicw prepping too. 

[FossilNerd]

I’m surprised the stainless steel brush in the Dremel didn’t destroy the fossil. I assume it’s a rotary style Dremel with a stainless steel brush attachment. Or I guess you could have used an engraver type Dremel and a separate steel brush in hand? 
 

Either way, nice find and the prep ain’t too bad either. 

[kehaz]

25 minutes ago, FossilNerd said:

I’m surprised the stainless steel brush in the Dremel didn’t destroy the fossil. I assume it’s a rotary style Dremel with a stainless steel brush attachment. Or I guess you could have used an engraver type Dremel and a separate steel brush in hand? 
 

Either way, nice find and the prep ain’t too bad either. 

 

It was indeed a stainless brush attachment on a rotary dremel. I very much expected the brush to damage the fossils, or at least leave some light scratching on them, but these trilobites are surprisingly sturdy. I even tried going at them with different angles on the brush to dig out the matrix between the axis and pleurae (I hope I got those terms right!) and there were no scratches that I could see. I bought a softer carbon steel brush to try out on my smaller trilos, but I'm not sure if I'll need it.

[FossilNerd]

30 minutes ago, kehaz said:

these trilobites are surprisingly sturdy.

Sturdy indeed!

 

The only time I tried a rotary Dremel with a wire brush it destroyed the fossil, or at least took off the details. Your’s are made of sterner stuff!