mross Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 We had our first fossil hunting expedition to Big Brook on Wednesday (08/19/09)! Special thanks to lordpiney for some local information. We did not do to bad. We found 8 shark teeth. I'll post pictures when I can. We found a bunch of bellemites. I found a thing or two I suspect may be a bone. but not sure. We found a bunch of "not sure so we kept it anyway". I also noticed some of the local ordinances that I was unaware of. Size of sifter I knew about. The one that I did not know was NO shovels trowls only! Limit of 5 fossils per person. Luckily we were well prepared. It was great fun. The kids want to do it again, so maybe one more mid-week before school starts, then weekend stuff. It was kinda a neat as we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We went in at Hillsdale Rd. For the morning we had the place to ourselves then later at lunch time the rush was on. The crowd tripled. Yeah, by that I mean two other families showed up. One when upstream the other was near us, but up stream. I suspect the constant shouting from the kids and rock skipping kept them away! They took great fu in bombing the boats (leaves) as they floated by. All in all, we all had a real good time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 ...the kids...took great fu in bombing the boats (leaves) as they floated by. After my own heart! "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...
Haddy Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Glad that you had fun! I'll attach photos of the sifters I made for those brooks. They work well, no trowel or shovel necessary. They're inexpensive so that you can have lots of them! And they're pretty tough but if one had to be replaced, they won't break the bank. I just nest the bigger-mesh one inside the small meshed one and scoop. Then I hold the inside one up and pick through it (while smaller stones and teeth drop through to the finer-meshed one), and then sort through the bottom one. Scoop again. They're shallow so that you can pick through them easily; some of our teeth can be pretty small. I do carry a trowel just in case but found that scooping with these is quicker. I purchased two white plastic coated mesh 6"x12" drawer liners at the Dollar Store. They're about 1/2" mesh (sometimes smaller, depending on what batch they're from). I bought a small roll of 1/8" mesh from HD, cut it with Dollar Store plant snips so that it covers the sides of the drawer liner. I attached the small mesh to the inside of the 2nd drawer liner with plastic wire ties. I especially like them since I can fit 2 sets in a small backpack; my hands can be free so that I can move around easily, climbing up and down banks and over fallen trees. Then I scoop using one set, put it in the brook to wash out the sand while I work with the other set. Some people like larger sifters but I find them more tedious to work with (for this application). I also bought a fine-mesh "In-box" from Walmart (the kind that sits on a desk -- you can get them right now at the Dollar Store also in black or silver with the back-to-school stuff) if I want to look for smaller teeth -- I just put it under my set of sifters. Used it a couple of times but prefer just using my sifters! I have larger sifters but they sit in the car when I'm in the brooks; also found them to work well at Calvert Cliffs, MD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mross Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 Haddy, I like that! I made a sifter similiar to your fine mesh one. I used the design from here; http://www.blackriverfossils.org/Features/...79/Default.aspx But after awhile of hauling large rocks out, I started thinking about a multi-level shifter down to my 1/4 inch shifter! I like what you did an will be adding it to what I have. I think I may need to redesign anyway. I was not as careful as I shoudh have been cutting the mesh and kept stabbing myself. Ouch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordpiney Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 congrats on your first fossil outting! im really glad my advice paid off for you, and the kids had fun. im sure you'll be going more often now, and anytime you want company...just ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haddy Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Thanks. A friend made some really nice sifters using 2" wood, very pretty. But we found the smaller wire sifters easier to carry around, and they won't get carried away by the flow as easily. He actually uses things that he picked up at garage sales as his primary sifters now -- a strong mesh BBQ veggie tray nested inside a really well-made salad strainer! So there's lots of ways to tackle this. Yes, I made mine while wearing work gloves! I cut the mesh so that there wouldn't be any wire sticking up to get me later. You could of course add a layer of duct tape to your current sifter to make sure that that you don't get cut. Layering is really helpful. We don't have that many giant teeth, so the top sifter can be picked through pretty fast. Just a matter of finding the screen sizes that work best for you. PS -- I really like the sifter that you made as well. If I were doing major excavation with a shovel, I'd make a giant one that way -- well, gotta have one large-meshed one nested inside the other! Container Store has nice big closet drawers that have a lot of surface area and aren't too tall (easier to pick through). Just haven't needed one so far. Garage Sale kitchen items used for sifting by a friend: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n30c Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hey I'm new to the forum but not to fossil collecting, my uncle and I were able to find some stuff in hop creek the other day with advise from lordpiney's post i was able to find the creek and we ended up finding 20-30 teeth and a few vertebra and some turtle stuff. any ways we found a few things that seemed like fossilized coral is that what it is? or is it just limestone of some type? Also we will be hitting the creeks in Monmouth if any one wants to meet us and go with or has some ideas or other places we are game my uncle is going back to Florida soon so we are trying to hit some spots up here while hes up here so if any one is interested let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordpiney Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hey I'm new to the forum but not to fossil collecting, my uncle and I were able to find some stuff in hop creek the other day with advise from lordpiney's post i was able to find the creek and we ended up finding 20-30 teeth and a few vertebra and some turtle stuff. any ways we found a few things that seemed like fossilized coral is that what it is? or is it just limestone of some type? Also we will be hitting the creeks in Monmouth if any one wants to meet us and go with or has some ideas or other places we are game my uncle is going back to Florida soon so we are trying to hit some spots up here while hes up here so if any one is interested let me know. glad to help. you should post pics of the finds that you need id's on. id like to see your verts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n30c Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 glad to help. you should post pics of the finds that you need id's on. id like to see your verts. I got all of this in a little over an hour my uncle had a few less than i did he also found some ray teeth i didn't find as well as a piece of fossilized bone of some type il see if i can get pictures when i see him. teeth vert1 vert2 mystery tooth of some kind it has enamel on it but I haven't a clue what it is. coral? All the pieces I have have a hole in the middle almost like a bead i have a few pieces these were 2 nicer ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n30c Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Also I'v read allot about red hill can you just show up and hunt or is it restricted or how does that place work? I'm 90% sure I'v found the place but I only read of groups going so I wasn't sure if you have to register or get permision or what not if any one knows please let me know I was looking at what you can get up there and I would love to hit that place but I could also see it being restricted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordpiney Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 I got all of this in a little over an hour my uncle had a few less than i did he also found some ray teeth i didn't find as well as a piece of fossilized bone of some type il see if i can get pictures when i see him. teeth vert1 vert2 mystery tooth of some kind it has enamel on it but I haven't a clue what it is. coral? All the pieces I have have a hole in the middle almost like a bead i have a few pieces these were 2 nicer ones. ok...first let me say, nice finds. that crow shark tooth at the top is real nice. the first vert is a fish vert. i dont know what species, but ive found a bunch of them in both ramenessin and big brook. the second vert isnt a vert...it's a tip of a crab claw. i dont have a clue what the mystery tooth is. id have to check it out in person to get a better idea of what it's from, and the coral pieces arnt coral. the first one is an iron tube, and the second one looks like a worm burrow. we'll have to get together one of these weekends soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 congrats on your hunt success, in a beautiful place. please resize your pictures down to where they are perhaps a thousand pixels wide or so, because we do have members with lower connection speeds that will have their machines locked up for quite a while trying to load the bigger stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 The black "mystery tooth" could possibly be a broken saw fish rostral tooth. The root divides and often you find just that part with only a small section of tooth. Look up Ischyrhiza mira. The "corals" all may be burrows. There are several types to be found in those brooks. But as mentioned there is a wide variety of iron concretions to be found as well as weird siderite and limonite nodules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n30c Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 The black "mystery tooth" could possibly be a broken saw fish rostral tooth. The root divides and often you find just that part with only a small section of tooth. Look up Ischyrhiza mira. The "corals" all may be burrows. There are several types to be found in those brooks. But as mentioned there is a wide variety of iron concretions to be found as well as weird siderite and limonite nodules. It is a nosrtral tooth. I found a very simular pic on this site. nj fossil site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n30c Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 It is a nosrtral tooth. I found a very simular pic on this site. nj fossil site i fixed my posts but lord needs to delete the quote or relink to fix that part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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