hadrosauridae Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 During my trip to the Hell creek formation of South Dakota last year, I found this large rib weathering out of a hillside ("cliff side" is a better description). I jacketed what was still in situ, and collected all the surface float at the site, and at the bottom of the cliff it was in. The length in the jacket was 32 inches. Can't determine which species this rib belongs to, most likely from Edmontosaurus or Triceratops, but it will have to remain indeterminant. After removing the excess matrix in the jacket, I discovered that the rib was far more fractured than I thought. Because the rib ended up being pinched by the jacket, I had to remove it in sections instead of a single piece. That worked out for the best anyway, for prepping it in my blast box. I have 40 hours into the removal and gross cleaning of the sections. Another 10 hours and still counting for separating all the breaks and cleaning out all the matrix in between bits so that everything can be reassembled properly. It looks like the rib has a healed fracture, but of course, one of the modern breaks goes through the remodeled bone. The jacketed portion looks to be the main shaft of the rib, only missing a few centimeters of the distal tip, based on the the end has thinned and flattened. The collected float should be the majority of the head, but reconstruction of that will be much harder. I wish I had a cast of a complete rib head to correlate the bits of float to their original position. 9 "There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 (edited) Fun project...These things can be such a pain in the you-know-what. They tend to fall apart into a million slivers that often cannot be fit back together. Most of the Lance Fm ribs we have at the museum have a reasonable amount of putty filling the sliver-gaps. Edited January 3 by jpc 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 I know its only a rib, but looks like a really fun prep job. RB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadrosauridae Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 (edited) 8 hours ago, jpc said: Fun project...These things can be such a pain in the you-know-what. They tend to fall apart into a million slivers that often cannot be fit back together. Most of the Lance Fm ribs we have at the museum have a reasonable amount of putty filling the sliver-gaps. Yeah, there will have to be a little gap filling, but so far its going back together really well. I used up all of my pre-made Butvar just to take it out of the jackter then had to make another batch for this. It has been really nice not having things fall apart, and I only separate the bits I want. Its nice that Butvar can be blasted through with a little soda without hurting the bone. My only goof so far was mis-aligning two tiny pieces when I set them with CA. I thought I could just soften the joint with acetone, but it would NOT penetrate, so I put the piece in a little container with acetone, and then it just crumbled. 20 minutes ago, RJB said: I know its only a rib, but looks like a really fun prep job. RB It is fun! It takes a lot of time, which I dont get much of recently, but I love it. The matrix is a claystone so it comes off really well with air abrasion. It feels so good to take something broken and shattered, then put it back to how it was 66 MYA. Edited January 3 by hadrosauridae 2 "There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Sounds good. CA comes undone pretty easily with acetone... it just takes a much longer time than Butvar. I use a small paintbrush and paint the bad joint with acetone. And do this for ten minutes... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadrosauridae Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 7 minutes ago, jpc said: Sounds good. CA comes undone pretty easily with acetone... it just takes a much longer time than Butvar. I use a small paintbrush and paint the bad joint with acetone. And do this for ten minutes... That has always worked for me in the past, but for some reason, this was not budging which is why I tried to soak it. Not a good plan when the bone is basically held together with Butvar. I just didnt realize HOW MUCH the Butvar was holding it together. Live and learn, it just left a pea-sized gap that will have to be filled. Next time I'll just remember to double check placement before gluing, and to have a little more patience when I need to separate a glue joint. "There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 live and learn, yup. Part of the preparator's mantra. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 On 1/3/2024 at 8:32 AM, jpc said: live and learn, yup. Part of the preparator's mantra. The other part is "Why did I get into paleontology?" 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadrosauridae Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 31 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said: The other part is "Why did I get into paleontology?" Nope, never had that question! I asked my mom recently when I first became obsessed with dinos / fossils, or what the impulse was. I thought maybe its a museum trip, book, rock shop, etc. She said there was no starting point event, I've just always been interested in them. "There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 19 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said: Nope, never had that question! I asked my mom recently when I first became obsessed with dinos / fossils, or what the impulse was. I thought maybe its a museum trip, book, rock shop, etc. She said there was no starting point event, I've just always been interested in them. Click here first... I remember when I fell in love with dinos. I was 5 and my grandfather gave me a model of a stegosaurus for my birthday. I was hooked. That might explain my tattoos and company logo come to think of it. 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadrosauridae Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 10 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said: Click here first... I remember when I fell in love with dinos. I was 5 and my grandfather gave me a model of a stegosaurus for my birthday. I was hooked. That might explain my tattoos and company logo come to think of it. hahaha, I'm too thick to grasp sarcasm. I do love your stego tat! "There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) 3 hours ago, hadrosauridae said: I do love your stego tat! It is one of my most complemented tattoos. Edited January 5 by Ptychodus04 I don't grammar. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EphemeralMoose Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 8 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said: The other part is "Why did I get into paleontology?" Likely the same as almost every other science -- a passion for the subject and the allure of big, science-y paychecks. Unfortunely the paychecks were a lie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baking Geologist Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 12 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said: The other part is "Why did I get into paleontology?" Because it’s fun to lump and/or split 🤣🤣🤣🤷♀️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baking Geologist Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 4 hours ago, EphemeralMoose said: Likely the same as almost every other science -- a passion for the subject and the allure of big, science-y paychecks. Unfortunely the paychecks were a lie I really wanted to be a professor….until I started teaching at a community college making $8000 a year 🤦♀️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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