pleecan Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Has any one employed the use of mini electric jack hammer ie (1500 watts 120V) in the field for fossil extraction? Tell us your experience with this method of extraction... PL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 Looks like few have ventured and used this extraction tool.... Well just went onto Ebay and bought one... will be used to dig up Eurypterids in that super hard fine grained Silurian Bertie group/ Williamsville formation water lime matrix next summer..... oh well looks like back to the old days lugging a generator to supply power. PL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinodigger Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 The mini jackhammers can be a lot of fun. We've had a lot of experience with these in the field. In Wyoming we worked on a large sauropod dinosaur, genus was Diplodocus but new species. The bones were quite large. The scapula was five feet long and three feet wide. We were in Morrison formation sediments that were rather unforgiving, but having the jackhammers was a huge relief and they worked very well. The bed "Naomi" was lying in was an ancient riverbed. Sediments close to the skull region was sandstone up to ten feet thick. The jackhammers worked very well, meaning that they did chip the sandstone away, but not after having to replace the chisels multiple times. But again, when going through ten feet of sandstone it will wear down. When we got down to the the bone layer with the sacrum and ribs and legs and whatnot, chiseling the matrix away from the bone went smoother. Natural separations between bone and stone were helpful too. Heading towards the dorsals and caudals the sediments became thinner as we rose up from the deeper channel onto riverbank. Here the sandstone was much thinner and the chisel slid through the sediments much easier. The hammer can also be used to undercut big jackets as well. After flipping jackets in the field we always cut away excess matrix to lighten the load. The last month or two we used the jackhammers to help with the undercutting of some tough Permian clay encasing some skeletons. They're great to undercut the jacket before flipping as well. It helps get to properly "define" the lip so it can be flipped a little easier. Couple thoughts on vibrations; the vibrations do created fractures where you don't want fractures, depending on the matrix. The reverberations may shatter bones and delicate things. If working with a jacket this isn't too much of a problem, but if you're doing some excavating through the tuff-stuff to get to certain zones, the vibrations alone can be a reason not to use them. Good luck and have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 Thanks for sharing your experience Dinodigger! These mini jack hammers are sub $150USD excluding shipping and I believe is an excellent tool to have in the field.... having the right tool is so important to get the job done right with least amount investment of physical effort. PL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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