Fossil prep I did on a Mosasaur jawbone shattered on me yesterday

I was using a little air scribe at 40 psi, working on this Mosasaur jaw I've been prepping for 3 weeks. The matrix around it was hard but I thought I was being careful enough. Then a chunk just popped off clean. Took the lab manager at the museum about 30 minutes to glue it back with Paraloid B72. Now I'm paranoid and slowing way down. Any other prep people here ever have a major piece break and how did you get past the nerves?

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2 Comments

mary_schmidt2mo ago

I once had a big piece of a fossil fish skull just crumble when I barely touched it with a pin vise and I almost quit right there lol. It took me like a week to trust my hands again, I just started working on really crummy matrix pieces to build back up my confidence. The glue job your lab manager did sounds solid so just take it slow, you got this.

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noah2482mo ago

YES that crummy matrix tip is gold. Worked for me too after I shattered a triceratops horn core just by looking at it wrong. Picking through junk pieces with NO pressure brings the steady hand back way faster than forcing it.

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