Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza

[Ptychodus04]

I’m at 70 hours on the paddlefish prep now. Unfortunately, the head is somewhat distorted and throwing off the streamlined look of the fish. It could be worse but I’m a bit disappointed with it. 

 

[fossilhunter21]

 

8 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I’m at 70 hours on the paddlefish prep now. Unfortunately, the head is somewhat distorted and throwing off the streamlined look of the fish. It could be worse but I’m a bit disappointed with it. 

 

I still think it is looking amazing.  

 

-@fossilhunter21

[Bobby Rico]

It is a gorgeous fossil. 

[Ludwigia]

3 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

It could be worse but I’m a bit disappointed with it. 

 

I can well understand your feelings after so may hours work, but it still is quite a unique specimen. Is all that brown around the head and at the top from the Paraloid or is that natural?

[Ptychodus04]

36 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

 

I can well understand your feelings after so may hours work, but it still is quite a unique specimen. Is all that brown around the head and at the top from the Paraloid or is that natural?

It’s natural. There’s a bunch of preserved skin on this fish. The fish looks kind of like it exploded from the top instead of the bottom as one would typically see. The darker section near the bottom of the skull is preserved soft tissue.

[RJB]

Nice job Kris. 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

83 hours later and the paddlefish is done. I never want to prep denticles again! They are a pain and there’s no way to get all the matrix off around them.

 

The disarticulated head makes it look a bit like a baby dolphin.

[Top Trilo]

Wow, absolutely stunning. I was wondering if the tip of the rostrum was there or not. How large is the slab its on?

[fossilhunter21]

Looks very good! You did a phenomenal job on that fish.

 

Looking forward to seeing more of your amazing work.

 

-@fossilhunter21

[Randyw]

Beautiful job! It looks great!

[Kane]

Truly amazing work! 

[Ptychodus04]

Thanks guys! It was a beast of a prep!! I have a couple small preps to do and then I have a nice double fish plate to work on.

 

@Top Trilo the fish is in 2 pieces. Thankfully, they found the tip of the rostrum that got cut off! Both pieces together measure 4’x3’

[Sjfriend]

That came out beautiful. I kinda like that you can see the skull from the top (I assume) and see the bone shape. 83 hours? So, less then 3.5 days  work. Not to shabby 

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Sjfriend said:

That came out beautiful. I kinda like that you can see the skull from the top (I assume) and see the bone shape. 83 hours? So, less then 3.5 days  work. Not to shabby 

It’s kind of from the top-ish. They were cartilaginous fish, so their skeletons don’t preserve well on principle. The skull members often float apart. This is what happened to the top left of the skull. It basically spread open like a book.

 

It’s pretty rare to find one intact. I was fortunate to get to prep this thing.

 

It doesn’t sound as impressive when the scale bar is shifted from hours to days. 

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

It’s pretty rare to find one intact. I was fortunate to get to prep this thing.

 

Yup. This one is really something special and certainly more than worth it to the owner.

[Ptychodus04]

4 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

 

Yup. This one is really something special and certainly more than worth it to the owner.

Thanks. I’m ready for some mindless prep now, like a Diplo or a Mio. Wait a minute, my next fish slab in the queue looks like it has both of them. 

[Top Trilo]

11 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Both pieces together measure 4’x3’

What's the largest piece you've worked on?

[Ptychodus04]

21 minutes ago, Top Trilo said:

What's the largest piece you've worked on?

 

The largest single piece is probably a tie right now between this one and the Pentanogmius fritschi blocks. The fish was almost 6' long and was mostly in 2 big blocks. It is the largest complete specimen that I've prepped. I've worked on larger animals at the Perot Museum, but those were individual dinosaur bones rather than a complete specimen.

 

I have a giant Phareodus in queue that is on a roughly 4'x4' slab. That one isn't going to be fun to move around. 

 

[daves64]

4 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I have a giant Phareodus in queue that is on a roughly 4'x4' slab. That one isn't going to be fun to move around. 

Maybe you should try moving the lab around the slab? Might be easier. 

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, daves64 said:

Maybe you should try moving the lab around the slab? Might be easier. 

It might be.

[RJB]

  I cant imagine just how tuff this prep was.  Saying it was tuff is truly different than actually doing it.  Ive never done one of these, maybe I was lucky.  I know you said you were disapointed about the head on this thing, but it looks purty dang good Kriss.  Nice job.

 

RB

 

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

  I cant imagine just how tuff this prep was.  Saying it was tuff is truly different than actually doing it.  Ive never done one of these, maybe I was lucky.  I know you said you were disapointed about the head on this thing, but it looks purty dang good Kriss.  Nice job.

 

RB

 

Thanks. I’m always a bit hyper critical of my preps but I think it turned out pretty well. Those denticles were the worst. They make the thin scales on a Diplomystus seem thick! If the head wasn’t distorted, it would look a lot sleeker but you can’t do anything about how the bones are placed. 
 

That HW-70 scribe really makes for a next level prep. The power sits somewhere between and Aro and an ME-9100 when running at 20 psi but the air consumption is so low that it doesn’t blow pieces off with the exhaust. There’s also almost zero vibration transmission to your hand, so prepping for 10-12 hours at a time isn’t out of the question.

I’m starting a double today. Looks like it will be a Diplomystus and a Mioplosus, but I won’t know for sure until I get some rock off the fish.

[fossilhunter21]

32 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I’m starting a double today. Looks like it will be a Diplomystus and a Mioplosus, but I won’t know for sure until I get some rock off the fish.

 

[snolly50]

On 2/27/2022 at 7:37 PM, Ptychodus04 said:

the paddlefish is done

 

Late last night I heard a ruckus from the back sunroom. It was not the usual unworldly haunting noises frequently voiced by the restless spirt of the long departed Notogoneus that resides there. No, is was more joyful than eerie. Poking my head in I asked the moody spook, "What now!?" "It's Kris," the shade replied. "He's done it again, he freed Patrick!" Incredulous, I inquired, "what?" "My friend Patrick the paddlefish. He got him out of the rock just like he did for me. He's a great fellow - for a human." Following that pronouncement the ghostly 'goneus reverted to his typical haunting cacophony, "ooooooohhh, snolly, oooooooohh." Ignoring the incorporeal critter, as has become habitual of necessity, I determined to sent Kris congratulations on another fine piece of work.

 

Here is the Notogoneous happy and free in his workshop...

 

 

[Ptychodus04]

@snolly50 your specter has swapped genders. It used to be a female spirit. 

 

Wow, I forgot how clean and organized the shop used to be.  I’ve upgraded my equipment (and the mess) a lot since then.