Unclean Split - I now need to a very fine split to piece together the full fossil.

[fossil_fun]

Hello, I recently found a fully articulated fossil after splitting Altamira shale. However, the break was not even. I now have the fossil in two pieces and want to put them together. However, the bottom portion is not fully exposed but very thin. I need to split it in order to have the fully exposed fossil, but am worried that it will just break into a million pieces if I try. As you can see from the picture, I need the small rock to fully split along the fossil line. Any recommendations on how to approach this? 

[rocket]

Would you like to transfer parts from one half to the other? Then you have to glue it together (I use superglue, very thin) and prep from one side.

 

[Kane]

And before you glue it together, ensure you meticulously clean off every bit of dirt and debris with a soft brush on both faces to be glued. Even the tiniest grains might result in a poor fit. This is even more important when the fossil is thin. 

[fossil_fun]

Yes I plan to glue it. But first I need to split the small rock and I don't know how to do that in a way that would not endanger the fossil.

[RJB]

13 hours ago, fossil_fun said:

But first I need to split the small rock

Would be safer to glue, then scribe and not attempt to split.

 

RB

[Fossildude19]

Nice fish fossil, although, it does look a bit disarticulated or poorly preserved, at least, at the head area.

[Ptychodus04]

I agree with @RJB and @Kane

 

Clean the joint, then glue the pieces together and then prep the block. Don’t try to split it as this almost never goes as planned.