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  • #21161
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    My favorite memory of the PaleoBlitz was touring the Labs and fossil storage room. This is something that helps connect amateurs to the professional world. It helps with understanding why the curation of your collection is so important.

    Well done!!

    #5441
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    I built a full size screen wood box screen that I can take apart and reassemble for air travel, but it needs some improvements before I publish.

     

    #3631
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    Julie ( @julie-niederkorn), Your Nurse shark is a great tooth. I just found my first one in Possum Creek during our field trip last week. I am very excited to have one in my collection now.

    Jon Cartier

    #3626
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    @rleder, @case-miller, @john-christian, @matthew-speights, @jkallmeyer

    Here are a couple more pictures. I do not have a picture of the final form, but the last picture below is the completion of the pick work – right before the air abrasion. I use 50 micron Sodium Bicarbonate on this matrix. occasionally, I will mix in a little Aluminum Oxide if the matrix is too hard.

    Jon

     

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    #3621
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    @rleder, @case-miller, @john-christian, @jkallmeyer, @matthew-speights

    Black Cat Mountain Trilobite

    I had the pleasure of getting to spend some time with the famous Bob Carroll, the sole lease holder of the Black Cat Mountain (BCM) trilobite site near Clarita, OK. His shop is filled with homemade tools and techniques learned over a lifetime of prepping JUST Trilobites from this one Quarry.  He is not just talented. he is a Michaelangelo with Trilobites. He allowed me to ask questions and even capture a bit of video so that I could study and practice working BCM Trilobites. Bob is a very kind and generous guy and I really appreciate his willingness to share some time with me.

    I studied what he showed me and practiced on scrap trilobites for 3 years before I was brave enough to show him some of my work. I am still not near what he can do, but I am definitely getting better. Here is a sample of working a BCM Trilobite and my technique.

    I start with air scribes to take off the big matrix and expose the outline of the trilobite. Getting too close to the trilobite will cause damage, so the airscribe work must be slow and under magnification. the trilobites are typically one inch or less long.  Stop with the airscribe once the edges are exposed.

    Next I move to swivel pin vices and dental picks sharpened on diamond grinding stones. I pick at an exposed side and uncover the entire Trilobite a little at a time. Once it is exposed, I work the landscaping around the base of the trilobite to give it a surface that makes it look living.

    After I have the Trilobite exposed and roughly landscaped, I start on the cleaning of the surface. It is challenging to avoid damaging the fine features on the surface of the shell. I have tried several methods, but I do not turn to air abrasives until I absolutely cannot get any more matrix off with the Exacto tip. Under magnification, I pick and chip off as much matrix as I can, working deep into the segments and around the dermal bumps trying to avoid scratching the surface. As soon as I have as much matrix off as possible, I turn to the air abrader. I only hit the surface of the Trilobite in very short passes and check to ensure I am not burning through the shell. You can tell you are burning through the shell when it starts turning lighter color. it is only the width of a few sheets of paper in many areas.  The eyes are especially thin and fragile. be extremely careful here to avoid damage. Also the base of the axial lobe down the center of the thorax is challenging to clean.

    Once the trilobite is clean, I finish landscaping and present.

    Jon Cartier

     

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    #3617
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    @rleder, @case-miller, @john-christian

    Some of the Mosasaur teeth that come straight out of the North Sulphur River are extremely brittle. Sometimes they come out fine in the matrix but most times the teeth are extremely fractured and explode when removed.  Putting PaleoBond Field Consolident or diluted white glue on the fossils prior to removal is helpful if the matrix is dry, but in the lower levels where the Ozan layer is, is often constantly very wet during the prime hunting seasons.

    If you get a tooth that exploded into cubes when removed despite your best efforts, here is what I do.

    1. I wrap the wet broken pieces in heavy aluminum foil. sometimes to keep it stable and not make it worse, I will collect a handful of fine grain mud and pack it around the pieces after soaking it in white glue or PaleoBond Field Consolident .

    2. When I get home and let it dry out, I get it under good light and my dissection microscope. Any magnification is better than none. I take the largest free piece of tooth enamel and soak it with low viscosity PaleoBond penetrant stabilizer. (40CPS). I soak up extra glue with a rolled up section of paper towel so it does not create thick glue areas that prevent the pieces from fitting back together. Once it dries, I clean all surfaces with the tip of a new Exacto blade. it makes cleaning inside each of the vertical tooth grooves much more manageable. The thin layer of glue will peel off the enamel without too much trouble and it even helps lift some of the dirt and sediment from the exterior enamel of the tooth.

    I repeat this process with each piece of the tooth, cleaning and stabilizing each one at a time. as I find sections that fit together, I test fit and work them to fit as tightly together as possible. Then I will use the penetrant stabilizer to glue them together. many of the pieces are as small as 1 mm.

    Over time the pieces assemble into a tooth that is all or mostly complete.

    I have enclosed a few pictures of an exploded Tylosaur Mosasaur tooth from the Ozan in the North Sulphur River and the progress toward a reassembly.

    Jon Cartier

     

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    #3551
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    @rleder – I am totally on board with that. I have many friends interested in prep work who span the spectrum from novice to advanced and everything in between. I just want to encourage the pros to share what they know.  : )

    Thanks Ronny!

    Jon

    #3493
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    @rleder, @jkallmeyer, @matthew-speights, @john-christian, @case-miller

    I am a huge fan of preparation and have been learning steadily for several years. I want to encourage people to continue to share tools and techniques for those of us that are amateurs. However, some amateurs are more advanced than you think. For example, fossil prep is my hobby, but I have a nice dissection microscope with 5MP camera that is the BEST tool I own for prep. Large or small, everything I prep goes under the microscope. Is it wrong to love high-end optics?  I also have a dual tank Comco air abrasion unit and 3 PaleoTools airscribes (Paleo ARO, ME-9100 & MicroJack 3). I have an 80 gallon compressor with an Ingersoll Rand Thermosorb Air Dryer and high-end desiccant dryers. I also have the big Comco vacuum system that connects with the large work cabinet. I use Butvar and the gamut of Paleo Bond adhesives and I am experimenting with diluted vinegar, but I want to learn more. Not having a knowledge source readily available, I am hoping the experts do not hold back by assuming amateurs only have rudimentary tools. Prepping is a passion and I am fully invested.

    Thanks!

    Jon Cartier

    #3475
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    Here are a couple more pics of prep work.  The big one has teeth that measure 3″ of enamel. The Platecarpus has some meaty bones and teeth too! My son nicknamed the Tylosaurus “Bubbles”. Despite my best efforts to not name him that, my friends quickly adopted the name. Therefore, following the subsequent discovery that there were two Mosasaurs mixed in with the find, the only logical name for the second smaller Mosasaur was “Tiny Bubbles”. in fact, I believe he has his own song…

    Pictured is the dig site in the Cliffside of the North Sulphur River in Texas, a picture with a pointer to what I think should be a mandible with 10 tooth tips showing in line (too much matrix to tell for sure and I have not prepped it yet). I have the right lower jaw and mandible along with most of the pre-maxilla. Lots of pieces missing. it was a disarticulated and scattered find. Same for Tiny Bubbles. Some pieces were mixed together making it confusing until I found 2 different Atlas Vert Innercentrums (see pic below of cleaned specimens). The last pic shows what I have cleaned so far from both specimens.

     

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    #3470
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    I do love working sites and excavating remains! Is it wrong to love preparation as much as hunting?

    October 2015 Excavating a pair of Mosasaur (one Tylosaurus Skull and one Platecarpus) found within 10 feet of each other. I am still prepping the specimens, but have included a picture or two of the progress.

     

     

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    #3469
    Jon Cartier
    Participant

    While I am very interested in hunting at the Belgrade Quarry, I have not yet had the pleasure. I have however hunted mammal skeletons in the Brule and Chadron of Nebraska several times, I love the way they prep out! The thread is a great example of the power of the Internet. These forums present a unique venue for diverse and disparate thoughts to be shared and thus allow us all to grow in our collective wisdom.

    Oh look! a picture of a Peccary!

    Collared Peccary photo 43CollaredPeccary.jpg

    I am looking forward to meeting everyone!

    Jon Cartier

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)