Boogra Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 So I'm trying to read as much as I can on this forum before I go out on my first trip this Thursday to Osbourn, Mississippi to walk an exposed cretaceous bed which apparently runs right off of a highway. I actually think I can pinpoint it with satellite photos based on the description on a website I found. My understanding is that this area also has a creek bed. Would I find concretions in this area perhaps? And then when I find a concretion, what do I do with it? Do I gingerly tap at it with my rock hammer (a 16 ounce Estwing masonry hammer I have) or what? If I'm not going to find concretions here, where is the best place to find them? I live in the Black Prairie Belt of Mississippi, Clay County to be exact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkchaser Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 I was told the best way to crack a Mazon Creek concretion was to put it in a container of water and freeze it. Supposedly the odds of it breaking along the plane you want are better than if you cracked it with a hammer. RAWR! I am zeee dead bobcat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosldog Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 a great deal of fossills I find here in NW Oregon are in concretions. I went out yesterday and found a few and am hoping for at least 1 crab in the lot. My metheod is to wrap them in a bath towel and microwave them for about 4-5 minutes then drop them in a bucket of cold water. The heat cold shock usually reveals the natural plane where the concretion will split out upon. All that remains is gentle tapping along the crack that begins to develop. Usually I need to repeat the process a time or two depending on size of the concretion. Several cautions, always wear gloves as these suckers can get quite hot from the inside to out, wear eye protection to keep hot shards of rocks out of your eyes and always wrap them in a towel as Ive had them pop before. While this is not a foolproof method, I find it to be better than indiscriminatly smacking it with a crack hammer. Good luck and good hunting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 a great deal of fossills I find here in NW Oregon are in concretions.I went out yesterday and found a few and am hoping for at least 1 crab in the lot. My metheod is to wrap them in a bath towel and microwave them for about 4-5 minutes then drop them in a bucket of cold water. The heat cold shock usually reveals the natural plane where the concretion will split out upon. All that remains is gentle tapping along the crack that begins to develop. Usually I need to repeat the process a time or two depending on size of the concretion. that sounds good to me but I would place them in a bucket of water and not drop, you dont want to damage it right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinus Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Over the years I have collected a lot of concretions from Mississippi that have crabs in them. I find that splitting them doesn't work. It generally ruins the crab. Instead, I work them down to the crab using a scribe. I don't know where or what you will be collecting, but mine are from Cretaceous formations in Northeastern Mississippi (Ripley FM.). Ususally you can see parts of the crab sticking out of the concretion so that is your clue not to split it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Daniel AKA (Bones) Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 a great deal of fossills I find here in NW Oregon are in concretions.I went out yesterday and found a few and am hoping for at least 1 crab in the lot. My metheod is to wrap them in a bath towel and microwave them for about 4-5 minutes then drop them in a bucket of cold water. The heat cold shock usually reveals the natural plane where the concretion will split out upon. All that remains is gentle tapping along the crack that begins to develop. Usually I need to repeat the process a time or two depending on size of the concretion. Several cautions, always wear gloves as these suckers can get quite hot from the inside to out, wear eye protection to keep hot shards of rocks out of your eyes and always wrap them in a towel as Ive had them pop before. While this is not a foolproof method, I find it to be better than indiscriminatly smacking it with a crack hammer. Good luck and good hunting Using this method, have you ever had one explode in the microwave? I would hate to blow up my wifes built in microwave. v = 0.25 * g0.5 * SL1.67 * h-1.17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenixflood Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Using this method, have you ever had one explode in the microwave? I would hate to blow up my wifes built in microwave. Also make sure there is no metal in your concretion if you try this. Some metals and microwaves do not mix very well. You may have a very toasted fossil I remember I was lazy one day and stuck my chinese food container, you know the little tote ones, and forgot it had a metal handle. Where the handle met the container caught on fire! You may also try the reverse of what fosldog was saying and freeze them and then microwave. Let the water soak into the concretion and then freeze, then microwave to remove the remaining liquid and change to vapor. You might want to practice on some. Also, I think the river would be a good place to look because rivers naturally are good eroders and carries of material as well if concretions were in the river the river would wear them down naturally, perhaps. I don't think it would split them for you though. The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Absolutly amazing what kind of advice is here!!! Ive found literally 1000's of concretions from the west coast. Heard every kind of idea there is to "pop' these things open. I heard from a guy who was supposed to know about the 'microwave' method and caught his 'wet' towl on fire. Ive also heard about concs exploding in the microwave and destroying both the fossil and the microwave!! Soaking them, drying them in an oven, resoaking them and so forth. There seems to be no "surefire" way to do it? Here is my advice. But also keep in mind this is for concs from the miocene and eocene of the west coast of oregon washington and canada. The thing is, ruffly 50% will have nothing inside them, so right there is a very good reason to not waist your time. After that 50%, then another 50% or so are just pieces of snarge with incomplete crabs and just pieces. Only 3 or 4 really nice A-Grade crabs for every 50 to 100 concs? So, after many years, I just wack them open with a hammer, if they work out, then its good, if not, then who cares? I can leave behind many many pounds of unnessisary rock and more importantly, leave behind many many hours of prep work with trying to freeze thaw, hot oven, microwave and again and again only to find out that most are what I call "Big Fat nothings" and pieces of s@%t!!! You guys do your way, I will do mine. Good luck All of these were "whacked" open by a sledge hammer by a Neandertal named 'RB'!!! HA!!! JESUS KRYKIES IM FUNNY!!! And a big WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO to go along with that..... And I have many many more. Life is good. Time for a nice steak over the campfire. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenixflood Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 All of these were "whacked" open by a sledge hammer by a Neandertal named 'RB'!!! HA!!! JESUS KRYKIES IM FUNNY!!! And a big WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO to go along with that..... And I have many many more. Life is good. Time for a nice steak over the campfire.RB HA I have a feeling that's how you aproach life too! Not a bad way to live either The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 so see, folks? THIS right here is why me and al created the internet. where on earth else heck fire could you go to get into a discussion regarding the many methods of attempting to try to proberly crag crabby nodules? i mean, this totally transcends my collitch edjumication, and i love it deerly (but without cheek lumps). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Hey Tracer. My son and I leave in a couple of hours. Why dont you join us. You would be great to have around the campfire. RB so see, folks? THIS right here is why me and al created the internet. where on earth else heck fire could you go to get into a discussion regarding the many methods of attempting to try to proberly crag crabby nodules? i mean, this totally transcends my collitch edjumication, and i love it deerly (but without cheek lumps). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil Magnet Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 WOW!!! This is a very interesting topic. I had no idea there were so many ways to skin a (petrified) cat... Perhaps I might try some of these crazy methods out on lesser fossils from the UK, ones I wouldn't mind losing... The microwave and towel method sounds very interesting... I wonder, if you used a wet towel, perhaps that would reduce the risk of it catching fire...??? Mental thread, but great reading!! Gethin "We try not to use the word insane, we prefer the term mentally hilarious... " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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