Plantguy Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 Hi Gang, purchased this nodule recently and am very happy with it, however was wondering if it is possible to prep this out professionally and expose the last 1/4 of the nodule without destroying its beauty. Any of you Mazon Creek experts think this is doable/worth the time/cost??? If doable does anyone know anyone who works on Mazon creek stuff...think I saw a thread recently from someone recently on prepping...I'll go do some more looking. Regards, Chris P.S. ...anyone confirm it as equisetiformis?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNN Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 (edited) The whorls are very open. I was wondering if this was Annularia radiata. Edited December 8, 2012 by BNN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I vote Annularia as well. It is a beautiful specimen. Congrats! "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 The whorls are very open. I was wondering if this was Annularia radiata. BNN, thanks! was looking for those local eyes and expertise.. havent gone to look at any Mazon Creek literature yet.Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 I vote Annularia as well. It is a beautiful specimen. Congrats! Thanks. Much appreciated...anyone think it should be "fooled with? or just left alone?? Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I am no expert on this but just wanted to say that is a beautiful specimen! A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 It might be possible for someone who knows what they are doing to prep this out better, I really don't know. Its a shame it was opened with a hammer, this looks like it would have split well with the freeze thaw method. Forum member RCFossils may be able to recomend a good preperator for this type of fossil, or even if this is worth the expense. I would send him a PM. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomanK Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 Great find Chris and fine picture! Looks like a Calamites frond with several nodes! Congratulations! I've never preped my finds so can advice nothing Roman http://s1143.photobu.../donbassfossil/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 Chris.... as your probably aware a nodule has a plain of weakness running through it created by the seperation layer as the contents basically splits in two on opening...I feel the majority of the fossil has been exposed already and if anything you could uncover maybe more of the visible stalk and thats it really airing on the safe side...One option would be if it were a common find and cost you nothing would be to create a slot in the side of the attached chunk for a chisel purchase point ...and whack the rest off with a calculated blow.... this worked for me once with an arthropleura nodule that needed fixing but in this case being such a nice example from experience I would tend to let it be...Obviously its your fossil etc etc and I'm only giving advice... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 Chris.... as your probably aware a nodule has a plain of weakness running through it created by the seperation layer as the contents basically splits in two on opening...I feel the majority of the fossil has been exposed already and if anything you could uncover maybe more of the visible stalk and thats it really airing on the safe side...One option would be if it were a common find and cost you nothing would be to create a slot in the side of the attached chunk for a chisel purchase point ...and whack the rest off with a calculated blow.... this worked for me once with an arthropleura nodule that needed fixing but in this case being such a nice example from experience I would tend to let it be...Obviously its your fossil etc etc and I'm only giving advice... Thanks Steve, Rej, Roman, and AgrilusHunter for the comments and feedback....I bought a number of these guys and have I think 25 bucks into this one so I'm game for some experimenting, even swinging at it with some care! I did just send a note to RC to ask his opinion and was just thinking what about trying the freeze/thaw approach on just the lower unexposed end?? maybe??...it is too bad that approach wasnt tried before..or maybe it was and she just wouldnt open..dont know its history........Anyway that plane of weakness might go aways to expose something more......will keep you all posted after RC responds....thanks to you all... Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Hi Chris, You have a nice example of Annularia radiata. In my opinion, it would not be worth the cost of having it prepped. You could easily be looking at over 100.00. There is definately more that could be uncovered and your best option is to try and freeze thaw the piece to split naturally. You will want to soak only the portion of the concretion that needs to split in a dish of water for several days. Place the concretion in a freezer (the colder the better). Let it sit for a day then remove and thaw using hot water. Repeat the process until it splits. Just be aware that it could take several dozen cycles or it could split on the first one. Keep a close eye on the rock. if it appears that unwanted cracks are opening up, stop the process so that you do not destroy the fossil. Good luck and let us know how it turns out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Hi Chris, You have a nice example of Annularia radiata. In my opinion, it would not be worth the cost of having it prepped. You could easily be looking at over 100.00. There is definately more that could be uncovered and your best option is to try and freeze thaw the piece to split naturally. You will want to soak only the portion of the concretion that needs to split in a dish of water for several days. Place the concretion in a freezer (the colder the better). Let it sit for a day then remove and thaw using hot water. Repeat the process until it splits. Just be aware that it could take several dozen cycles or it could split on the first one. Keep a close eye on the rock. if it appears that unwanted cracks are opening up, stop the process so that you do not destroy the fossil. Good luck and let us know how it turns out Hi RC, thanks for the advice and the confirmation of the ID. She'd be soaking as I write this. Couple years back I had a number of unopened nodules that I experimented with and had some moderate success then. I was thinking the wife might frown about it going into the kitchen freezer this time and I might be relegated to using the old one out in the garage like last time but I was surprised tonight when she pulled out an old candle in a glass from the new freezer that she was trying the same separation technique on...said she seen it on the web!! :wacko:Well, lets just say after I broke off the top of her candle with the base of it still stuck in the glass I'm thinking that was my practice run using the kitchen freezer and the sky is the limit...its supposed to be able to get it down to 20 degrees F. Looking forward to seeing what happens one way or the other on the fossil...thanks again for taking the time to look and offer some thoughts! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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