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Post by tims on Sept 9, 2021 14:36:54 GMT -5
Haven't hit my baculite spot all summer but finally got out yesterday for a couple hours. Lots of muddy pieces, but some freshly exposed with colorful nacre intact. The brown and yellow ones i think are barite replacement. And a little ammonite that is a rare find for this kid: Just curious, does anyone have hints for cleaning up pieces with colorful nacre? I'm afraid to even use a toothbrush on them, just gave these a light rinse.
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Post by tims on Sept 9, 2021 18:45:20 GMT -5
Kind of a fun one: Muddy baccy Barite baccy Same baccy and some pieces with void or nearly void chambers, light and delicate as egg shells
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 9, 2021 19:23:21 GMT -5
That's a load of nice finds Tim! Congrats on the ammonite! Okay, in the pic above, what are the pieces that look like a Hippo on its back with its legs sticking straight up - in the center of the pic is a good one? (Best way I could think to describe them! LOL) I find a lot of pieces that look like those and have always dismissed them as I didn't know what they were!
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Post by tims on Sept 9, 2021 19:56:56 GMT -5
That's a load of nice finds Tim! Congrats on the ammonite! Okay, in the pic above, what are the pieces that look like a Hippo on its back with its legs sticking straight up - in the center of the pic is a good one? (Best way I could think to describe them! LOL) I find a lot of pieces that look like those and have always dismissed them as I didn't know what they were! Those are Buffalo Stones. Individual segments of the baculite body, separated at the suture line. In life each was a mostly hollow chamber that the baculite could use to control buoyancy, but most fossilized segments have been filled solid. From the side they can resemble a bison, hence buffalo stones, but hippo stones is pretty fitting too
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 9, 2021 20:07:40 GMT -5
That's a load of nice finds Tim! Congrats on the ammonite! Okay, in the pic above, what are the pieces that look like a Hippo on its back with its legs sticking straight up - in the center of the pic is a good one? (Best way I could think to describe them! LOL) I find a lot of pieces that look like those and have always dismissed them as I didn't know what they were! Those are Buffalo Stones. Individual segments of the baculite body, separated at the suture line. In life each was a mostly hollow chamber that the baculite could use to control buoyancy, but most fossilized segments have been filled solid. From the side they can resemble a bison, hence buffalo stones, but hippo stones is pretty fitting too LOL - Being from here, I should be able to remember "Buffalo Stone"...but knowing me I'll resort to Hippo Stone and no one will know what I'm talking about! LOL Thanks for the explanation! Maybe I should start picking those up from now on!
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 9, 2021 20:16:34 GMT -5
I had to run outside and get a pic. These guys were in our load of river rock from Wasta.
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Post by tims on Sept 10, 2021 1:58:46 GMT -5
FFS my hosting company did something with my SSL today, and it looks like I lost all image links. Grrrr.
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Post by fernwood on Sept 10, 2021 3:02:35 GMT -5
FFS my hosting company did something with my SSL today, and it looks like I lost all image links. Grrrr.
Oh no. Find them, quick. I am considering purchasing some Ammonites that have deposits on them. Need to determine the best way to remove the deposits from them. Most are in the middle of the natural sides.
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Post by tims on Sept 10, 2021 3:35:40 GMT -5
Oh no. Find them, quick. I am considering purchasing some Ammonites that have deposits on them. Need to determine the best way to remove the deposits from them. Most are in the middle of the natural sides. Aha, they disabled my SSL for some reason but I got it set back up. Sheesh. What kind of deposits, do you know? Mine come from shale beds and if they're not completely weathered out they're stuck in a matrix of compacted shale that is a pain to remove. I have to resort to trying to pry pieces out or carefully chip away at the matrix and either way often results in breakage or stripping of the nacre if it's still intact.
Here's a wad of baculite in matrix for comparison, your deposits may be something completely different:
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Post by fernwood on Sept 10, 2021 4:13:51 GMT -5
Awesome that your photos are back.
The deposits in mine look like gray mud and some tan sand. I am leaving everything with pyrite replacement as it, including the deposits. Am thinking about gluing the Ammonites to a board, like done when slabbing end pieces of rocks. Then carefully using Dremel to grind away a little. Then use diamond files for some. Who knows what after that.
Some of mine with deposits have an amazing chatoyancy and patterns.
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Post by tims on Sept 10, 2021 4:31:31 GMT -5
Awesome that your photos are back. The deposits in mine look like gray mud and some tan sand. I am leaving everything with pyrite replacement as it, including the deposits. Am thinking about gluing the Ammonites to a board, like done when slabbing end pieces of rocks. Then carefully using Dremel to grind away a little. Then use diamond files for some. Who knows what after that. Some of mine with deposits have an amazing chatoyancy and patterns. Chatoyant makes me think they've got the original nacre, which on my stuff is very fragile and prone to pop right off. It's also possible that the nacre is gone, which on mine is when you see the detailed patterns best, and that whatever material has replaced the original in the fossilization process is what's giving the chatoyancy. In that case it might be easier / safer to grind away the deposits. I'm mostly a rockhound and am pretty clueless about proper fossil prep ... would be tempted to run it by fossilman or one of the pros rather than taking any kind of advice from me. The Fossil Forum also has some prep guides and the community there seems pretty responsive from my limited experience there, thefossilforum.com. Do you have any pics up? Would love to see them if so.
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Post by tims on Sept 10, 2021 4:34:59 GMT -5
Are you referring to the ones in your Ammonites thread? I didn't see any noticeable deposits on those but gonna take another look ...
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Post by fernwood on Sept 10, 2021 4:36:15 GMT -5
Not ones on my thread. I did not take photos of the ones that need help. Don;t want to purchase more of these until I know how to properly refine them.
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Post by tims on Sept 10, 2021 4:52:41 GMT -5
Gotcha. I'm guessing it's going to come down to a lot of manually picking and prying with tiny pointy tools. If you end up going that route, maybe start working on the one you love the least just to get a feel for it and get the nasty surprises out of the way before you tinker on the more precious ones. I'd be happy to send you some baculite mudballs if you want something to practice on ...
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Post by fernwood on Sept 10, 2021 5:58:11 GMT -5
Gotcha. I'm guessing it's going to come down to a lot of manually picking and prying with tiny pointy tools. If you end up going that route, maybe start working on the one you love the least just to get a feel for it and get the nasty surprises out of the way before you tinker on the more precious ones. I'd be happy to send you some baculite mudballs if you want something to practice on ... Sounds great. Will PM you.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,676
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 6, 2021 10:35:40 GMT -5
Baculites are my favorite fossil and are fun to work with... You scored a nice bunch there .. I cut my longer pieces in two, length wise, you can see the chamber patterns and each one in different... I just use the expando wheels and sandpaper on the exterior of the fossils, they do bring up a great polish.. Photos are on here from long ago ..
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Post by tims on Oct 8, 2021 4:33:35 GMT -5
Baculites are my favorite fossil and are fun to work with... You scored a nice bunch there .. I cut my longer pieces in two, length wise, you can see the chamber patterns and each one in different... I just use the expando wheels and sandpaper on the exterior of the fossils, they do bring up a great polish.. Photos are on here from long ago .. I've seen some of your sliced pieces in old threads and they are pretty. I've cut a few but most of mine are so crumbly that i haven't attempted polishing any. Tempted to hand-polish one for fun.
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 8, 2021 9:03:24 GMT -5
Baculites are my favorite fossil and are fun to work with... You scored a nice bunch there .. I cut my longer pieces in two, length wise, you can see the chamber patterns and each one in different... I just use the expando wheels and sandpaper on the exterior of the fossils, they do bring up a great polish.. Photos are on here from long ago .. I've seen some of your sliced pieces in old threads and they are pretty. I've cut a few but most of mine are so crumbly that i haven't attempted polishing any. Tempted to hand-polish one for fun. When a person says "hand-polish for fun", anyone not a member of this forum would think that person has gone off the deep end...but pretty much any member on this forum would think, "Yeah...I can see that!" LOL
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