To crack or not to crack?

[HobbyCollectorWNY]

Okay, so I am very new here though I've been perusing occasionally for tips and answers. I went on my very first fossil hunting foray last September at awesome Penn Dixie. Since then I've become a bit hooked and have started to casually fossil hunt. (I never realized how many orthoceras fossils I passed right over every time I went to the lake before) 

Anyhow, I picked up some great specimens in the shale and I wound up off the beaten track in what looked like a dried up creek bed. I found an abundance of brachiopods and such in the walls that rose up. Judging from the map they have and what I was finding I am guessing I was in Windom shale or Wanakah shale. I was breaking away shale and I came across two rocks that were nothing like the rock around them. I removed them from the wall and found them so interesting that I took one with me. They were so incredibly heavy for their size and seeing as I had never done this before I did not have great equipment or carrying such heavy rocks. It'll sound stupid but half the reason I took it was because it looked like a bird to me and I was charmed. lol

The woman from the group that runs the pit looked it over and believed it may be a concretion. It also sounded like it wasn't something that had been brought up to her often there.

 

So now that I have read a little I am debating whether to try cracking this thing open. I don't know if there is much value in doing so but from what I have observed many people crack them open to see the core. I am not even sure how I would do this because the material is so dense and hard. There are tiny little nodules on it that are metallic and I think they might be metal. There are also a couple of small fossils on it. Do I try (yet again.. I'm not sure what could possibly crack this) or just enjoy it as is? Also is it in fact a concretion?

[HobbyCollectorWNY]

From top and bottom

[Fossildude19]

This looks like the hard limestone nodules from that area, ...  that very often contain rolled up trilobites. 

I'd give it a few whacks. My tool of choice would be a 3 # or 4 # sledge hammer, and maybe a cold chisel. I would do it against another, larger rock, though. 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I have been collecting long enough that I have become fairly discerning of the fossils that I keep. 

You only have so much room,... after all. 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. 

Regards, 

[Ash]

WAIT!

 

Ok, got the popcorn! Go for it

[RJB]

This is interesting.  Would also like to see how it ends up?

 

RB

[Phevo]

Carpe Diem

 

Good luck

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, Phevo said:

Carpe Diem

 

Good luck

 

Or... carpe et malleum

[Scylla]

I can't tell from the picture on my cell phone, but you might have a pyrite nodule. Looks metallic. You can find some at Penn Dixie too.