New air-abrasive set up

[Archie]

Hi guys, a friend of mine is setting up a little prep workshop for us to use and asked me to find out about what sort of gritscan be used (we'll mainly be prepping teeth, scales bones etc. from a relatively soft mudstone), I know nothing about air -abrasion so was wondering if anyone could give me any advice, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sam 

[RJB]

Bicarb would be a great start.  Dolomite for harder stuff.  Walnut shell for softer stuff. 

 

RB

[jpc]

a LOT OF EUROPEANS USE IRON POWDER AS WELL.  yOU HAVE TO TRY DIFFERENT POWDERS TO SEE WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR PARTICUlAR FOSSILS.  

(snarge caps lock)

[Archie]

Brilliant I'll look into these, thanks very much guys!  

[DevonianDigger]

Be careful with iron and aluminum oxide powders, they will blast right through fossil material if you're not careful. Sodium bicarb and dolomite are good, relatively safe bets.

[Raggedy Man]

When using bicarb, you need to make sure its absolutely dry. The dryer the better as it can clump and cause a blockage. I use aluminium oxide and low pressures and it works just fine. I know a few people use their oven to make sure all the moisture is evaporated away. Maybe @ynot can elaborate more as to temperatures and duration for using the oven.

[Malcolmt]

225 farenheight for 30 minutes works just fine

[ynot]

2 hours ago, Raggedy Man said:

Maybe @ynot can elaborate more as to temperatures and duration for using the oven.

Nope, I know nothing of this process.

[Raggedy Man]

1 hour ago, ynot said:

Nope, I know nothing of this process.

Rofl sorry bud. I swear that was you I was taking about it with. I now remember that we talked about tooth paste and the utah bugs. (I hope that is lol) My memory has been coprolite as of late

[jpc]

4 hours ago, DevonianDigger said:

Be careful with iron and aluminum oxide powders, they will blast right through fossil material if you're not careful. Sodium bicarb and dolomite are good, relatively safe bets.

iron powder is not as nasty as I initially thought.  It has a hardness of about 4, bicarb is about 2.5, dolomite is about 3.5 to 4.  Al oxide, on the other hand, will blow through most fossils.  It has a hardness of 9.  

[RJB]

14 hours ago, Raggedy Man said:

I now remember that we talked about tooth paste and the utah bugs.

Being that I dont do much with trilos, its nice to know that trilos have teeth.  I'd better get me some toothpast.  Just found some trilos this past sunday.   and a hardy har har. 

 

RB

[RJB]

@Archie, also tell your friend he's gunna need some kind of vacuum set up.  this stuff can  be bad for the lungs. 

 

RB

[Raggedy Man]

1 hour ago, RJB said:

Being that I dont do much with trilos, its nice to know that trilos have teeth.  I'd better get me some toothpast.  Just found some trilos this past sunday.   and a hardy har har. 

 

RB

LOL

[Vaniman]

We have a FB group where we offer tips and have a few vids of using blasters on fossils.  I would use BiCarb and start with a lower pressure and scale it up as needed.  Depending on the device you are using, the PSI to use will vary. 

[Sagebrush Steve]

9 hours ago, Vaniman said:

We have a FB group where we offer tips and have a few vids of using blasters on fossils.  I would use BiCarb and start with a lower pressure and scale it up as needed.  Depending on the device you are using, the PSI to use will vary. 

I’m almost sorry I deleted my Facebook account after all their problems protecting privacy.  Almost, but not quite.  The world needs a good alternative to FB for these kinds of groups.

[Vaniman]

Heh, I really don't blame you! I'm working on a collective blog right now but when it's done I'll let you know Steve.