Cleaning some old finds

[Collector9658]

Some of us prefer to clean up fossils, while on the contrary, many like myself would rather be out on the hunt. Perhaps it is an addiction, but I would rather look through rocks, wether it be an adventitious adventure, or a well planned and read-out outcrop that those before me had done such work on.

 

 A switch from focusing on collecting crinoids to local trilobites fauna has also led me to collecting more than I'll ever clean. My current vehicle is out of commission, so I figured what better chance than now to go ahead and scratch away at some stone I've got sitting around.

 

I lack proper tools and confidence to clean trilobite finds, and have much more experience cleaning echinoderms, so that is probably what I'll share mostly.

 

First here is a common, but favorite of mine. I found an Azygocrinus calyx exposed after flipping over a large slab of limestone back in April.

 

 I trimmed the block down to size with my grinder, then proceeded to pick away at it slowly. Air tools are packed up, so I use a small box cutter and a nutcracker I had taken apart to pick away at the limestone. Rock can be sticky, but it's all about using the blade at the right angle and pressure.

 

 After a few hours, I cleared it out of the rock and removed all the limestone away from the calyx. To remove the iron oxide staining, the specimen will need to be abraided in the future or chemically bathed. It is too easy to scratch the calyx plates trying with hand tools.

 

[Notidanodon]

Nice prep!

[Collector9658]

Today, I pulled out a nice Pentremites pyriformis blastoid from one of my rock boxes laying about. I found this specimen last October, and if I recall correctly it is from the Golconda Formation of Illinois.

 

 It had a few dings, but was a nice sized specimen. Most of them I found were already weathered out of their host rock. I thought this could look nice left in it's rock with majority of the calyx cleaned up, so that is what I tried to do.

 

 The front side was weathered more, making it easier to clean, while the backside was much stickier.

 

A few hours in, and I think this is the best I can achieve with my hand tools. The rest of the work really needs to be finished off with magnification and air tools to avoid doing damage to the calyx. I did manage to get the ambulacra and spiracles mostly exposed.

 

 The front looks okay, and is mostly finished. You can see below the stem facet and on the right of the stem below, another blastoid's feeding groove was exposed. I haven't decided if I'll probe into the rock further to expose another potential calyx or not.

Edited July 27 by Collector9658

[Collector9658]

After getting some lunch, I figured I would trim and clean one more rock for the day. I had found this Spiriferid brachiopod on a large piece of chert 5 or 6 years ago.

 

Washed up, it was nice as-is, but the rock encasing it was heavy weighing about 12 lbs. I thought it could look better with more shell exposed, and trimmed down.

 

 I used my grinder to trim the matrix, then my rock pick with sometimes a chisel to do controlled blows to fracture away rock from the fossil. It didn't take much time, and the specimen was starting to look better.

 

The turtle wins the race in this situation. Working too fast can shatter the brachidium, or split the rock incorrectly. Going along making some cuts, I noticed a little late I had ended up cutting right into another brachiopod. Shell had split off, and I could see something within. One hit with a hammer, and off popped some rock to reveal a nice Terebratulid brachiopod.

 

Terebratulids differ by having just a simple calcareous loop to support the lophophore. I'm glad I decided to work on this one today. It is now more displayable, with two specimens that show a window within a brachiopod.

Edited July 28 by Collector9658

[patelinho7]

Wonderful prep jobs! Those last two brachiopods are stunning.

[Bobby Rico]

Nice work

[Collector9658]

I found this specimen back in November of 2022. The rock appeared to have a calyx slightly exposed, and looked to be a large Uperocrinus. The rock was trimmed down as shown, taken home, and packed up.

 

 Looking through some photos earlier today reminded me about this specimen. It looked like a good candidate to remove and clean out from the surrounding limestone. Eventually, I found it in one of my storage boxes, than began work.

 

 Around 4 hours of work was put into my cleaning attempt. The calyx was worked out of the limestone, with one half mostly exposed. The other half is still mostly covered in chunky, sticky calcite.

 

 The backside either needs gone over with an air scribe, Dremel tool, or a lot more patience than I have currently to continue.  Calyx measures 2.2 inches in length, and compares well with Uperocrinus pyriformis. I've hit my limit today with this one.

Edited July 28 by Collector9658

[Collector9658]

After I got off work today, I worked on a couple of crinoids. That last Uperocrinus definitely needs air or power tools to finish the job. No point risking any damage to the fossil, when I can focus on detail work later on.

 

 I found this next specimen back in October of 2021. I couldn't locate an older photo of it upon discovery, but I do have this photo I captured last week, when I dug it out of my trunk. It is the bottom right specimen, and was found as-is.

 

 It is almost finished after around 2 hours of scratching about. It needs a bit of detail work; a final go over with an air abbraider or possibly a short chemical bath. I have a handful of crinoids to ID, so I will add that information when I get time to do comparisons.

Edited July 31 by Collector9658

[Fossildude19]

Making some nice inroads on these great fossils!
Thanks for posting these up.  Good to see you still working away, despite your recent misfortune with your car.

Hope that gets straightened out sometime soon.

[Collector9658]

On 7/30/2024 at 7:52 PM, Fossildude19 said:

Making some nice inroads on these great fossils!
Thanks for posting these up.  Good to see you still working away, despite your recent misfortune with your car.

Hope that gets straightened out sometime soon.

Thank you sir! Issues should be solved this month, I hope! If I had enough motivation, I would share something here everyday. Easier said than done, for myself.

 

 Got home today, and I felt pressured to clean some more crinoids. I find most of them around my home town, but didn't have time to rescue any this visit.

 

 Here is another Azygocrinus calyx I found January 2024, I cleaned up today. During trimming/ cutting, I ended up getting a nice brachiopod out as well.

[Brian James Maguire]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:23 AM, Collector9658 said:

After getting some lunch, I figured I would trim and clean one more rock for the day. I had found this Spiriferid brachiopod on a large piece of chert 5 or 6 years ago.

 

Washed up, it was nice as-is, but the rock encasing it was heavy weighing about 12 lbs. I thought it could look better with more shell exposed, and trimmed down.

 

 I used my grinder to trim the matrix, then my rock pick with sometimes a chisel to do controlled blows to fracture away rock from the fossil. It didn't take much time, and the specimen was starting to look better.

 

The turtle wins the race in this situation. Working too fast can shatter the brachidium, or split the rock incorrectly. Going along making some cuts, I noticed a little late I had ended up cutting right into another brachiopod. Shell had split off, and I could see something within. One hit with a hammer, and off popped some rock to reveal a nice Terebratulid brachiopod.

 

Terebratulids differ by having just a simple calcareous loop to support the lophophore. I'm glad I decided to work on this one today. It is now more displayable, with two specimens that show a window within a brachiopod.

This is a beautiful specimen, absolutely fantastic 

[Shellseeker]

13 hours ago, Collector9658 said:

Got home today, and I felt pressured to clean some more crinoids. I find most of them around my home town, but didn't have time to rescue any this visit.

 

 Here is another Azygocrinus calyx I found January 2024, I cleaned up today. During trimming/ cutting, I ended up getting a nice brachiopod out as well.

You have impressive talents ,  both in finding and prepping..  Thanks for sharing... 

[Collector9658]

Spent a few more hours cleaning some calyces. I found the first one back in December of 2021. I remember doing some scratching around to see if the calyx was all there. It was a bit compressed.

 

 There was a crack running through the back third of the Macrocrinus, so I left matrix there to operate as a stand, and to help stabilize the specimen.

 

 This second crinoid I found back in February of 2023. After doing some reading, I'm not certain now what Mississippian Formation this crinoid from Cole County, MO hails from. I will do research once the specimen is finished being cleaned.

 

 After trimming and some cleaning 

 

 The calyx is loose and exposed bottom side up, so I will remove all surrounding matrix. I made decent progress today, but will finish it later on.

 

 Note to self, don't let the cat on your lap when looking at fossils. The rascal rabidly leaped off me to chase a bird, and took the rock with him. The calyx is a bit chipped, but it's really not that bad or big of a deal.

Edited August 10 by Collector9658