Plantguy Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Hi Gang, if I've used up my quota of questions for the year already please advise. If not, here's yet another. What do you all recommend for preserving fossils in diatomaceous shale? Is shellac the only coating of choice?? I've got both leaves and some of those Miocene Pinnixa galliheri crabs from the Monterey Formation in Carmel, California that I'm concerned about. The crabs dont appear to have been coated with anything yet and are alot more stable than the Pliocene leaves from Napa, California which are in a much more soft material similar to chalk. Some of the leaves were coated with something we had in the garage 35-40 years ago that is now yellowed and is beginning to peel/fall off on some of the specimens. I dont remember what the heck it was...but it seemed to work for the first 30 years but now its almost completely peeled off the one and happening pretty quick on the 2nd. I think I can cleanup both with out too much damage but what to recoat with???? Any and all recommendations welcomed! Thanks, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Don't have an answer, but those crabs are cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clype Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 What a rare crabs!!!!!very interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Hey Plantguy. I know guys in wyoming that use watered down elmers, but you living in florida would have problems with the glue feeling sticky being so much humidity. I personaly use Glyptal and only put in on the leaf to save what little there is left. Im sure you can use vinac and butvar or any of those types of glues. i do belive that those last two may be both water and oil base? Mix with water or acitone. Hope this helps Here is a Huge Gasterosteus from Nevada that is in pure diotomatious earth and extreamly lightweitght, but I coated the intire rock with glyptal to hold it all together. It is a very soft rock that you can literaly carve with your fingernail. And a fossil leaf that is in much more stable rock but the carbon on the leaf was very powdery so I gently brushed on a coating of glyptal just on the leaf material to hold that together. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 use a modern copolymer intended for consolidation of fossils. definitely do NOT use shellac. sources and types of consolidants have been previously discussed ad nauseum in the forums. use the search function to look for butvar, vinac, etc and you'll find the discussions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 Don't have an answer, but those crabs are cool! What a rare crabs!!!!!very interesting MikeD and Clype, thanks for the looks and comments. I do like those little guys too! Hey Plantguy. I know guys in wyoming that use watered down elmers, but you living in florida would have problems with the glue feeling sticky being so much humidity. I personaly use Glyptal and only put in on the leaf to save what little there is left. Im sure you can use vinac and butvar or any of those types of glues. i do belive that those last two may be both water and oil base? Mix with water or acitone. Hope this helps Here is a Huge Gasterosteus from Nevada that is in pure diotomatious earth and extreamly lightweitght, but I coated the intire rock with glyptal to hold it all together. It is a very soft rock that you can literaly carve with your fingernail. And a fossil leaf that is in much more stable rock but the carbon on the leaf was very powdery so I gently brushed on a coating of glyptal just on the leaf material to hold that together. RB RB, thanks for the feedback. Nice specimens...Yep, this diatamaceous is almost as soft as butter and parts are very powdery. I'd love to see the actual diatoms that make up this stuff. No microscope at this point so thats another project for another day. Maybe in my lifetime! use a modern copolymer intended for consolidation of fossils. definitely do NOT use shellac. sources and types of consolidants have been previously discussed ad nauseum in the forums. use the search function to look for butvar, vinac, etc and you'll find the discussions Tracer, thanks for the response. I'll go reread some of those entries...I saw shellac mentioned in one of those previous postings as having been successful on this rock type so I wanted to verify. Thanks for the input...I'll have to experiment a little with this some of the stuff that you and RB have mentioned. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 What do you all recommend for preserving fossils in diatomaceous shale? Is shellac the only coating of choice?? I've got both leaves and some of those Miocene Pinnixa galliheri crabs from the Monterey Formation in Carmel, California that I'm concerned about. The crabs dont appear to have been coated with anything yet and are alot more stable than the Pliocene leaves from Napa, California which are in a much more soft material similar to chalk. Any and all recommendations welcomed! Thanks, Chris Plantguy, I might get in trouble with Harry and others but I have been using clear shellac cut with denatured alcohol on those Pinnixa crabs from Carmel for at least twenty years (and I learned it from other people who did it long before) and I still have a couple of them from that time and can report no peeling or other deterioration. As you know, the crabs are preserved as a carbon film impression. It will flake off or powder away at some point without some kind of preservative. You want to apply it with a pin or something else very sharp to coat the legs and pinchers without darkening the surrounding matrix too much. However, I don't want to talk you out of the copolymer. I haven't tried anything else. If that's better, use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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