Newbie - Help with preperation and mounting a Mastadon rib bone

[Terry989]

I have a Mastodon rib bone that was left to me by my grandfather.   It's finally time for me to clean up and preserve the bone if necessary and mount it for display.  In the past I have used bronze wire mount a round vase to a stone base and a bronze rod to mount a metal bust to a rock base.   My current plan is mount this over a piece of petrified wood I found out in front of our house, by  forming a cradle using bronze or aluminum wire.

 

Questions:

1. What if anything should I do to prepare and preserve the rib bone?
2. Which wire would be better - - - aluminum or bronze?    I read somewhere that bronze wire can discolor bone over time?   Since it will just be a structure to cradle the rid, what a urethane coating applied to the structure prevent this?  I could also use felt at the bone to wire contact points

 

Thanks for any help or advise before I begin.

 

Terry

[Terry989]

After doing some more reading on this subject, I believe I just need to soak the bone with a 40 volume peroxide gel in order to remove any of the organics followed by a soak in a mild detergent.

 

[Ptychodus04]

17 hours ago, Terry989 said:

After doing some more reading on this subject, I believe I just need to soak the bone with a 40 volume peroxide gel in order to remove any of the organics followed by a soak in a mild detergent.

 

 

If it has been in storage for a long time, you don't need to remove any organics. Simply submerge it in a roughly 2% solution of Paraloid B72 dissolved in acetone to stabilize and consolidate it. 

 

The concern regarding discoloration is minimal unless you live in a very humid environment. It's the copper in the brass that could discolor but that's not a major concern. The Paraloid will give it some protection as well.

[Terry989]

Kris - Thanks for the response.   I'll give this a try.

 

Terry