ashcraft Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Legally to be called vinegar in the US, you have to have a certain percentage of acetic aicd, it is around 5%. So any vinegar you use will do the same amount of dissolving. I would go with the cheap stuff, unless you like the smell of $20 a bottle basalmic vinegar..... Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tr-J-K Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Just a quick thought, since someone mentioned a water bill. Most tap water is hard. Even "softened" water can have dissolved minerals in it, which can and will deposit on your matrix/specimen. Often times the deposition can be minute, but it does happen. As for "salt crystal forming", I recommend a soak in distilled water. Since it is nothing but hydrogen and oxygen, it has no dissolved minerals to deposit. It will help effectively remove "salt" deposits and eliminate "salt pop-out". Its a trick I learned dealing with prehistoric pottery. Works well on fossils too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverphoenix Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Very good point--the tap water varies from place to place. Mine works fine because it seems to have very few minerals present, but others may not be so lucky. Distilled water would definitely work best--never thought of using it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members viperscout123 Posted July 26, 2009 New Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 I would suggest going online and getting a table of the minerals found in your local water supply; then you can find out how likely it is that you will have minerals deposited onto your fossil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IvePieterick Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Will this work as an air abrasion with baking soda? http://www.ebay.com/itm/271774250403?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AITOR http://www.ebay.com/itm/271774250403?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOM BUCKLEY Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 Very nice. Can't wait till it is finished. And if you are the "acid king", are you married to Tina Turner? Now let's see who the heck knows what I am talking about. "Acid Queen" .......Tommy.......The Who AVOCATIONAL PALEONTOLOGIST STROKE SURVIVOR CANCER SURVIVOR CURMUDGEON "THERE IS A VERY FINE LINE BETWEEN AVOCATIONAL PALEONTOLOGY AND MENTAL ILLNESS" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennessees Pride Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Attached is a photo of what you can do with a little acetic acid (50%, about 10x stronger then vinegar), a dental pick, and an abrasive blaster. It is about 2/3 finished. The crinoids are about the size of a dime, and are ailicified. The limestone is from the Girardeau, an Ordovician deposit. I posted a "waste" piece picture some time ago, this is the main slab. Be jealous, be very, very jealous. The acid king, Brent Ashcraft OH MY GOODNESS! --- Joshua tennesseespride@gmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisvillefossiller Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 People have mentioned using muriatic (hydrochloric) acid , to speed up the removal of carbonate matrix. How about just heating up the acetic acid? Will that make the process go faster than using cold vinegar? Will it speed it up as much as if you had used muriatic acid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 People have mentioned using muriatic (hydrochloric) acid , to speed up the removal of carbonate matrix. How about just heating up the acetic acid? Will that make the process go faster than using cold vinegar? Will it speed it up as much as if you had used muriatic acid? Maybe, if speed is the goal. Patience has its virtues, though! Make your philosophical mindset one of "freeing the fossil" rather than "removing the matrix", and you are apt to do less harm. "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...
minnbuckeye Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I am currently removing the matrix around a bryozoan called Heterotrypa subfondosa. It is 6"x 6" x 6". Many folds extend deep inside the matrix. I have spent 8 hours painstakingly removing matrix with drills and dremels. Now I have reached a depth that my bits no longer contact the matrix. Seeing this post on acid, I thought it may be the solution to removing the matrix which I can not reach. My thought was to place vasoline on the fossil and then submerge it in acid. As more fossil is exposed, it will also be protected with vasoline, a little bit at a time. ANY THOUGHTS? Has anyone tried this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisvillefossiller Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 To minnbuckeye- I seem to recall that some museums will protect the fossil while prepping it, so I looked up how one museum does it. http://paleobiology.si.edu/fossiLab/preparation.html seems they use something called polyvinyl butyral. I don't recall hearing of anyone using vaseline. I'm a newbie myself, someone else probably knows more. I just did a real quick gooogle of How museums prepare fossils. Hope I helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 I use acetic acid (concentrated vinegar)now and then when freeing up Paleozoic shark teeth out of matrix. Note...specimens must be rinsed completely as mentioned in postings above. An easy method of rinsing is to put specimens in a porous piece of cloth, put this in a cup or whatever and place it in the resevoire tank of the toilet for a few days and forget about them. Every time the toilet is flushed, the fossils are rinsed with clean water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Goatlady Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 I wanted to try vinegar because I have some. It is a gallon jug of apple cider vinegar. I had a chunk of limestone matrix about 3 inches long with a horn corral poking out. I plopped it in a glass of AC vinegar a few weeks ago. The smell in the kitchen was driving me crazy, although with five baby goats sleeping in there every night I don't think I'd notice it now. So I put the glass inside a lidded yogurt container to control the fumes. I take it out every few days and scrub it with a brush. Then I'll scratch at it a bit with a nail - until I find where I left my dental pick. It looks more interesting every day as more shells emerge. And before you report me for fossil abuse - I have another thousand rocks just like this waiting to be picked up in my pasture.Wait until I've abused all of them, then report me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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