[Nhcoll-l] Stabilizing cannel coal

[Heather Ouellette]

Hello all,
I actually did something very similar for my thesis project. I was working with paper shale from Florissant Fossil beds.
My preferred method of stabilizing very thin sheets of shale with fossils on them was to use thicker rice paper with a 15-20% Paraloid or Butvar solution to glue the paper to the back of the shale piece. I believe I also experimented with Remay, which also worked well.

Heather Ouellette
Research Collections Manager
FAU Harbor Branch
772-224-2206

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Mariana Di Giacomo
Sent: Tuesday, 18 June 2024 6:29 pm
To: Anderson, Gretchen <AndersonG at carnegiemnh.org>
Cc: NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Stabilizing cannel coal



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Hi Gretchen,

I agree that using epoxy is a tricky thing, as it will set and then it's (almost) impossible to remove. I like the idea of experimenting with stabilizing the back with Remay or something of the sort and B72. It all comes down to size. If these are specimens that are not incredibly heavy, then you may very well succeed. Another option could be to prepare a thick B72, so you can "embed" the pieces onto a mold and then cut the mold out (or release it with an acetone chamber).

I'm happy to continue to chat offline if you want to send me photos.
All the best,
Mariana

Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD
Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum
Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC

On Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 17:00 Anderson, Gretchen <AndersonG at carnegiemnh.org<mailto:AndersonG at carnegiemnh.org>> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,

I just received this question from my vertebrate paleontology department and am looking for thoughts on how to better stabilize these fragile specimens.  The specimens are fragile and some are extremely thin.

A Research Associate in VP would like to use a marine epoxy<https://www.jbweld.com/product/marineweld-syringe> to stabilize thin pieces of cannel coal that contain impressions of fossils. His practice is to coat the back of the fossil with a thick layer of the epoxy. He mentioned that this system had been used at the Field Museum.  The specimens are studied by either making a latex peel of them or a CT-scan to yield a positive of the impression. The plan to go forward is to use CT scanning rather than latex peel, when possible. The RA champing at the bit to stabilize a few specimens.

I am concerned about continuing the use of epoxy and would much rather use a method that is more conservation friendly.  I would like to suggest a different way to do this, perhaps using a material like remay or a light carbon steel fabric with Paraloid B-72, lining the back of the fossil to provide improved stability.  This would be reversible. We are currently testing this on some scrap pieces of the coal.
What are the standards for preparing this kind of fossil? Does anyone have experience with this type of epoxy? If so, how stable is it?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Gretchen Anderson

Conservator

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Andersong at CarnegieMNH.Org<mailto:Andersong at CarnegieMNH.Org>





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