St Claire Pa Trip. 11-15-2014

[Cluros]

Thanks for a nice report with good photos. I agree about keeping an area free of litter. It does make people less likely to litter if an area is clean and it keeps sites from being posted. I pick up trash as well when collecting. Other collectors have seen me do it and started picking up trash as well. I try to leave a location in better condition than I found it.

[Fossildude19]

In June of 2014, ...

My hat is off to you, sir.

Faith in humanity restored.

Regards,

[exasperatus2002]

Drove 2 hrs from philly to st claire pa for a long over due day of digging with an old friend. The weather was windy and chilly when we arrived. I packed my gear into a suitcase (all I own with wheels on it besides my truck!) I strongly suggest bringing a wagon with decent sized rubber wheels as to my approach! I was lucky as the ground wasn't muddy and got by fine.

A bow hunter approached me and said he spotted loads of bear tracks going through the digging area toward a grove of hemlocks. I have never had any issues with black bear and decided the show must go on. Grizzlies are a whole different story!

We hiked to the site in what couldn't have been more than 15 mins. Nobody around!! We found a spot that had been recently worked and set up shop. We attempted to break off a decent sized plate by using flat chisels and very small wedges that I purchased from an industrial supply shop. It was working like a charm! A 7' horizontal crack with the whole section lifting evenly and then it split into 3!!! Why?? Because of a series 6"" deep saw cuts that someone had left to collect water in. The shale was saturated to the extent of becoming clay! I have no idea why someone would need a saw to dig in shale!!! I mean, it doesn't get any easier to dig unless your at the beach! Why would anyone want any specimen with a saw cut anyway??

So we still had a couple of nice chunks to break down. It took both of us to lift them into an area we could start splitting. We tried using kitchen knives which gave a real clean and flat break but the distance you had to drive them in was no good. No good because it left scars on the faces of the finished slabs that really hurt the aesthetic of the finished product. So out came the trusty ol brick hammer!! I learned to cut stone with one of these as a masons apprentice 15 yrs ago. Keep the edge sharp, swing it with purpose and a steady hand! They were opening up in sheets now with no marks from the hammer! I used the same hammer to trim down the shale into tight decent sized pieces for display! It's more in the wrist than it is in The arm. I lost a few, but I was well under my acceptable loss ratio.

Night came in fast! We hurried out with almost no daylight left to spare with a suitcase of some decent finds. None were museum quality, but our hard work was rewarded with some satisfying specimens that had us leaving with more questions about the history of the earth than we had entered the pits with!! It was a good day!!

The next time you go, I live in allentown, wouldn't mind lending a hand. If you don't mind a rookie tagging along.