Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 This summer I encountered the largest Placenticeras planum in the bed of the North Sulphur River (Ozan Fm, Campanian) that I've ever seen. Thin, waterlogged, and under 6 inches of current, it was abundantly obvious that my tight schedule and inadequate equipment were no match for the this job. However, this thing was too big and rare to leave. Sorry! (not really).....In the end, it looked like I blew this thing out of the river bed with a Panzerfaust....I gathered as many pieces as I could find into 2 body bags. After a light scrub, I began supergluing this jigsaw puzzle back together. Ordinarily, I don't mess with ammonites this far gone, but at 13.5 inches, I had to give it a try. Lack of complicated ornamentation and mottled surface coloration would later work to my advantage. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 I decided to tackle this project on lunch hours in my office....no point in compromising family time when I can squeeze the job into my day elsewhere. Here is a shot of this thing after filling major voids with Paleosculp epoxy putty for structural support. I experimented with filling narrow cracks with spackling compound, as the stuff is very compliant and therefore easy to flush with the surface on either side of the crack without much in the way of secondary operations like sanding etc. Here is the finished product, post painting. I keep several bottles of cheap Walmart matte acrylic paints on hand. Black, white, brown, yellow, red and green blended to match seem to cover the fossil spectrum I've encounted. Again, the mottled coloration of the ammonite lent itself to simple touch up painting. I tend to throw down a base color, then finishing techniques vary by the job. In this case I watered down the paint to lighten the hue in some places, dry brushed in others to lay color on high spots, wiped paint off in other areas so as to leave it only in the low spots, etc. Although at the beginning I didn't know if this one would end up in the trash, now I'm glad I put in a week's worth of lunch hours in resto, and this one is worthy of shelf space. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Flat as a pancake! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Nice job Uncle. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Very inspiring post. It's great to view a specimen that was on the verge of oblivion and then restored to something special. That is a very flat specimen. Our Placenticeras meeki are a bit more robust when they get that size however still 'skinny' for their size. I wonder what the evolutionary benefit of flatness was...faster at catching prey? Not as visible on edge? Quicker and larger growth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 That's a big ol' tiddly wink; no winder it wouldn't come out whole... "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Great job Dan, I use a Panzerfaust all the time, great for those difficult extractions. What type of glue did you use had a few large ammo's to break when I moved back to the fatherland. In the past have liberated several large ammo's for the Sulphur, they are heavy and not to plentiful. The trip back to the car seems like a 100 miles packing a 60 pound + hunk of stone Tom Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggedy Man Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Wow! You sir have an amazing eye and restoration skills. And yes, it definitely looked like you removed it with a panzerfaust! Lol Best regards, Paul ...I'm back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Well Done, Sir! Glad you had the skills to make it good as new! Thanks for posting the process, Dan. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Great job Dan, I use a Panzerfaust all the time, great for those difficult extractions. What type of glue did you use had a few large ammo's to break when I moved back to the fatherland. In the past have liberated several large ammo's for the Sulphur, they are heavy and not to plentiful. The trip back to the car seems like a 100 miles packing a 60 pound + hunk of stone Tom 002 (16).JPG Hi Tom. I used bargain basement Walmart superglue to hold the chunks together securely enough for me to press epoxy putty down into the interstices. At that point the thing didn't feel like it would crumble again under its own weight. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Great job Dan, I use a Panzerfaust all the time, great for those difficult extractions. What type of glue did you use had a few large ammo's to break when I moved back to the fatherland. In the past have liberated several large ammo's for the Sulphur, they are heavy and not to plentiful. The trip back to the car seems like a 100 miles packing a 60 pound + hunk of stone Tom 002 (16).JPG 60 lb hunk of stone.I whacked a biggie. It split in two. Out popped a nice foot wide Placenticeras. However, I actually like the inside of the rock as much as the ammonite. All was heavy, so I could only carry one half of the rock. So now fossil and rock both reside in the garden. Ammonite is in left of first photo. Round concretion top of second photo. It's amazing how much we can carry when we have fossil fever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Ahhh.... thank you! This gives me great hope of making something of this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Quite nice! Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Those skinny frisbies were really built for speed! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 Those skinny frisbies were really built for speed! As well as for penetration. My wife hasn't seen this new one in the house yet. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Warning grossly facetious response following... Dan, this is the worst example of shoddy collection, preparation, and restoration that I have ever seen. I think you should let me remove it from your collection so as to save yourself further embarrassment and ridicule by the other members of TFF. 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...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 Warning grossly facetious response following... Dan, this is the worst example of shoddy collection, preparation, and restoration that I have ever seen. I think you should let me remove it from your collection so as to save yourself further embarrassment and ridicule by the other members of TFF. Accordingly, allow this specimen to serve as my badge of shame and laziness! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Those skinny frisbies were really built for speed! The first Frisbee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Great job, Dan. You've inspired me to get to work on this one soon. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 3, 2015 Author Share Posted September 3, 2015 Great job, Dan. You've inspired me to get to work on this one soon. IMG_2129..jpg I told PFooley that for my next project, I'll just make the entire ammonite from scratch, and maybe invent a new species in the process. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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