ashcraft Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 We went and hunted Cold Water Creek for Pleistocene material, didn't find much. I did come back with some 30,000ish year old spruce pieces. Anybody ever tried to preserve actual wood of that age? Nothing I came back with is great, just thought I might play a little and go for a big honking log next time out. Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcraft Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Thanks for the link, I used to analyze for chlorodane at parts per trillion levels, and that wasn't nearly so complicated. I think I can do the sugar version however, and use borax as the bactericide/insecticide. Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 We went and hunted Cold Water Creek for Pleistocene material, didn't find much. I did come back with some 30,000ish year old spruce pieces. Anybody ever tried to preserve actual wood of that age? Nothing I came back with is great, just thought I might play a little and go for a big honking log next time out.Brent Ashcraft Brent - Coldwater Creek....my back yard!! Did you find any beaver gnawed wood? I have a couple of pieces that a beaver really went to town on 30k years ago. To preserve them, I soaked them in acetone for about a week. It gets all the water out. I then added some vinac to the acetone and soaked some more - gradually increasing the amount of vinac. Preserved it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRaddict_1 Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 We have some 100 myo wood that is carbonized (looks like burnt wood , charcoal) , it flakes , would the vinac/acetone stabilize it and keep it from flaking ? Hunting fossils is fun , but discovering is better ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 We have some 100 myo wood that is carbonized (looks like burnt wood , charcoal) , it fakes , would the vinac/acetone stabilize it and keep it from flaking ? I imagine that it would. If it's dry, you would just need to do a quick dip in a dilute vinac solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 We have some 100 myo wood that is carbonized (looks like burnt wood , charcoal) , it fakes , would the vinac/acetone stabilize it and keep it from flaking ? the problem is getting it dry without it flaking because it has to be dry to use the vinac/acetone, or it will cloud up. and it's probably flaking because it's drying. vicious cycle going on, there. i have used white glue (PVA) diluted somewhat with water to preserve subfossil bone that would have gone funkitated (tj's word) if i'd let it dry normally. if i recall correctly, i've even done that and then let it sit a month or so and then used vinac/acetone on it, since vinac is PVA too. or did i really do that? knowing me, i probably did. i should not admit this, but i've sort of adopted the "life's too short" theory of dealing with some of that stuff, and if i don't think it will outlast me at least, i tend to treat it as a leaverite. tj tends to treat things as throwerites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcraft Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Brent -Coldwater Creek....my back yard!! Did you find any beaver gnawed wood? I have a couple of pieces that a beaver really went to town on 30k years ago. To preserve them, I soaked them in acetone for about a week. It gets all the water out. I then added some vinac to the acetone and soaked some more - gradually increasing the amount of vinac. Preserved it well. I wish, but these are just small rounds of spruce that I'm playing with so if I ever do find somthing wooden that needs saving, I'll have a clue on what or what not to do. I am trying the old elmer's glue in water soak, we'll see how it goes....... Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I wish, but these are just small rounds of spruce that I'm playing with so if I ever do find somthing wooden that needs saving, I'll have a clue on what or what not to do. I am trying the old elmer's glue in water soak, we'll see how it goes.......Brent Ashcraft Let me know if that works...I haven't had much luck with it. What all did you find? Did you get any of the carbonized cones from the spruce? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 the problem is getting it dry without it flaking because it has to be dry to use the vinac/acetone, or it will cloud up. and it's probably flaking because it's drying. vicious cycle going on, there. i have used white glue (PVA) diluted somewhat with water to preserve subfossil bone that would have gone funkitated (tj's word) if i'd let it dry normally. if i recall correctly, i've even done that and then let it sit a month or so and then used vinac/acetone on it, since vinac is PVA too. or did i really do that? knowing me, i probably did.i should not admit this, but i've sort of adopted the "life's too short" theory of dealing with some of that stuff, and if i don't think it will outlast me at least, i tend to treat it as a leaverite. tj tends to treat things as throwerites. For flaky coal fossils I use a diluted mixture of white glue and water as well. It seems to work great. I'll try to get in contact with the local fossil center which specializes in those types of fossils to try to find out if they use anything different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcraft Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Let me know if that works...I haven't had much luck with it.What all did you find? Did you get any of the carbonized cones from the spruce? No, I was wanting one, but didn't come across any. The weren't many finds, heavy rains may have washed everything downstream, and since this stream looks to go down instead of outward, it'll take a while to replenish. The best find of the day was a muskox vertebrate. Bruce took several buckets of molluscs, which he is going to have at the next EMSP meeting, although it is such a trip fo me, I doubt I'll be there. Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 No, I was wanting one, but didn't come across any. The weren't many finds, heavy rains may have washed everything downstream, and since this stream looks to go down instead of outward, it'll take a while to replenish. The best find of the day was a muskox vertebrate. Bruce took several buckets of molluscs, which he is going to have at the next EMSP meeting, although it is such a trip fo me, I doubt I'll be there.Brent Ashcraft Next time you go, shoot me a PM. I've got a canoe and know where we can get some cones and can screen for small bones/teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcraft Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Next time you go, shoot me a PM. I've got a canoe and know where we can get some cones and can screen for small bones/teeth. Will do-thanks! Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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