Soaking fossils in fresh water to remove salt

[McHorse]

Hi all,

I am an amateur with fossil hunting and preparation. On my second fossil trip ever, I found a large fossil of whale bones. It was found on the shore of a beach. My question is:

Is it good practise or completely necessary to soak the fossil to remove the absorbed salt as many threads tend to suggest? What are the risks and benefits of doing this especially on fossilised bone?

Heres my second ever find:

[tooth_claw]

Depending on how solid the specimen is and what minerals are present then it may be a good idea to give it a few baths. Salt will crystallize at ambient humidity and can cause deterioration of fossils.

I have had to soak bones that were recovered from a salt lake, they would grow a salt crust overnight which was deteriorating the surfaces. A few clean baths later and a gentle drying and I was able to treat them with consolidants as normal.

[oilshale]

Necessary if you found it on the shore of a beach. Give it a few baths. I used to put the stuff into a net in the toilet tank.

Thomas

[JohnBrewer]

Necessary if you found it on the shore of a beach. Give it a few baths. I used to put the stuff into a net in the toilet tank.

Thomas

It never ceases to amaze me the tips and tricks I pick up on this forum. I have a plesiosaur vert from a beach (albeit rough but I want to keep it) that need desalination.

[tooth_claw]

That toilet trick is inspired genius oilshale!