Tools For Field Collecting

[Pitviper]

So I just cyber-stumbled on the Deer Lake fossil site, schuykill PA. I happen to be in driving distance and I want desperately to find my own trilobyte! Can anyone tell me what tools are best for such a site? and where I should get them? home depot??

[tracer]

i know what I'd take, but nobody else is gonna agree that a rockhammer, polycarbonate glasses, bandaids, some ziplock bags, and two pieces of bread tied around a bottle of hooch (hey, it's a sandwich, ok?) would be an appropriate field kit. oh, anybody but me think MREs are squeezed to get embalming fluid?

[Pitviper]

i know what I'd take, but nobody else is gonna agree that a rockhammer, polycarbonate glasses, bandaids, some ziplock bags, and two pieces of bread tied around a bottle of hooch (hey, it's a sandwich, ok?) would be an appropriate field kit. oh, anybody but me think MREs are squeezed to get embalming fluid?

Where would one buy a rock hammer?

[Guest solius symbiosus]

^^Hardware store

[jkfoam]

Pitviper,

I don't know what kind of collecting tools you have so I'll just tell you what I would take. I like Estwing hammers and chisels. I would take an Estwing rock hammer (rock pick) with a pointed end, I would take an Estwing Crack hammer either 2 or 3 lbs., and a Estwing gad point. I would also take a couple of cold chisels. If you don't wear glasses I would take some sun glasses or something for eye protection (rock slivers are really sharp). Take some collecting bags to tote your finds out with and take some paper towels or a roll of toilet paper to wrap the really good finds in to get them home without being ruined in the bottem of a collecting bag. If your up around Schuykill, Pa, I assume you will be collecting in some kind of shale outcrop.

Most all rock shops/Lapidaries carry Estwing tools, they are kind of pricey. Lowes or Home Depot may carry Estwing rock hammers but I don't think you will find a crack hammer or gad point there.

When I'm collecting in a rock outcrop the main tool I use is a 2 lb crack hammer. Its a more serious tool. If I'm scratching around for some agate pieces a rock hammer is fine but if I want to GET something or MOVE something I use a crack hammer and a gad point.

[TheFossilHunter]

hi, at deer lake you dont have shale, its more like mudstone. i normaally use a 2.5 long handle sledge and a masonry hary hammer, both can get at home depot hardware section. their new masonry hammer model is very good. also get safety glasses. trilobites are not eztremely common at deer lake.