Gluing Broken Fossils

[BobWill]

I assume most people glue broken fossils with something strong like Crazy Glue or epoxy if it's large, but of course Crazy Glue requires that the pieces have a lot of solid contact area which they usually do. My mechanic told me about a product he uses on engines and other auto parts that can fill in a gap if necessary, so I tried it on a fossil that had lost some material at the juncture and it worked really well. It's called Q-Bond and comes with a filling powder and a liquid that is dropped into the powder. It isn't mixed like epoxy and then applied, it sets up too fast. If the powder falls through the gap you can make a clay boat to hold it in place. The bond is very strong and said to be long lasting. I believe the liquid is cyanoacrylate, the same as Crazy Glue so I wonder if you could just take some scraped off matrix to use as filler and apply Crazy Glue which is cheaper than Q-Bond. Has anyone used this product or this technique with Crazy Glue?

[bdevey]

I have used it, but not on fossils. I work in auto repair also, except the collision repair side of it. It smells jest like crazy glue and comes with a couple of different shades of powder. The powder seems Basically like ground up plastic. When I use it to glue things together I sprinkle the powder around the bond. I was surprised how much stronger it was than jest the glue, and that I'd never seen it before. Anyways I've ground up plastic the same color as the piece Im repiaring and that works for me. So you have a good idea there, Maybe you can package it and sell it. Maybe mix some plastic powder with the matrix. Hmmm...Im guna get in trouble at work agian

Edited November 29, 2010 by bdevey