jimmy1971 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Found a new location in north west Denton County today. Me and my 6yr old son decided to go check it out and see what we could find. We started under the bridge of the creek we were exploring and didn't have much luck. We found a few scallop type shells but nothing too exciting so we decided to move down the creek....and we did pretty well I think. We found some partial Ammonites, a couple of gastropods, a huge oyster, and quite a few echinoids! We were very excited about the echinoids! Some of them have been crushed and some are partials, but a few of them look like they might look pretty good after some cleaning. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean them? Here are a few pics....sorry about the quality...they were taken with my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Best bet for cleaning, an old tooth brush and water. Congrats on the finds, and it seems that those are partial ammonites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekCrawler Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Great job Jimmy those are some nice finds! Wish we could have met you today! maybe next time! Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 well, the good thing is that you found a place with a lot of different species of things. most of those things are probably homogenous limestone, which means "cleaning" them can be difficult, since the material you'd like to remove is the same as the material you don't want to remove. the toothbrush and water suggestion would definitely be a place to start. i have used vinegar before, and air abrasive (miniature blaster that shoots a pressured stream of powder at the fossil) to clean superficial carbonate off of the calcite shells ("tests") of urchins. but neither of those things necessarily work well on heavily encrusted or cracked urchins. my suggestion would be to practice seeing what works best for you on your worst examples of things, and then you don't have to worry too much about messing them up. keep looking around up there and you will find even better preserved things and more variety. all it takes getting out and looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 What a great day! I'm trying to remember being 6 years old; I'll bet both you and your young 'un will remember this adventure forever! The thought of that young child discovering all that cool stuff with his Dad makes me really happy (and a little misty). "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 don't play misty for me. hey, look, about preppin' those things. don't try to hurriedly mount the echies in a stabilizing layer of backing, because we don't want another faster macraster/holaster plaster caster disaster happening around here... <bowing> this is your brain on fossils... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy1971 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 Tracer and Nicholas- Thanks for the cleaning tips. Looks like they'll be getting a toothbrush bath tomorrow. Snakekeeper64- Yes I really wanted to be out there with y'all today. I will defintely try to make the next group trip. Auspex- It really was a great time with my son and we are definitely building great memories. He's having a blast and wants to do it again tomorrow! It doesn't take much arm twisting to get me to go fossil hunting so I think we may go tooth hunting in the morning. I'll let you know how we do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy1971 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 don't play misty for me.hey, look, about preppin' those things. don't try to hurriedly mount the echies in a stabilizing layer of backing, because we don't want another faster macraster/holaster plaster caster disaster happening around here... <bowing> this is your brain on fossils... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megaselachus13 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I do not know if will work with these echinoids, but here the potassium hydroxide works very well with the marls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Some cool ech's ya got there. How about trying air abrasive? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screweduptexan Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Nice....there are a couple places I will be traversing soon in Denton county and I hope to find some good stuff. Maybe some of us should get together sometime? I can't come up with anything clever enough for my signature...yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy1971 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 Nice....there are a couple places I will be traversing soon in Denton county and I hope to find some good stuff. Maybe some of us should get together sometime? Cool..let us know what you find. And yes...getting together as a group would be fun. I missed the NSR trip yesterday, but something like that would be great. I'm thinking of joining the Dallas Paleo Society to be able to go on some of their trips and to meet other "fossil heads". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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