Sand BLASTEDoid :) from Lower Carboniferous

I think I spent about 20 minutes using the sand blaster or air scribe on this Mississippian period blastoid. It is from Sulphur, Indiana and about 5 cm in length. It was given to me with one side exposed in a rock but after I cleaned it with a water jet it came out of the rock revealing a flattened specimen.

I think the formation is Indiana Springs and the matrix is soft so the jet of sand/dolomite slowly began removing material from the fossil. Below are before and after images of each side. I took these in a workshop at night in fluorescent light so the detail is not great.

This is a very cool tool that requires patience and attention to detail.

Phacops rana on a Brachiopod

A cousin found this in Clark County, Indiana. It is a small Phacops rana missing is part of its rear thorax and pygidium. The Devonian brachiopod is unidentified. I like how it is just sitting on the shell.

Air Scribe of a Brachiopod

Over the weekend I got a chance to use an air scribe for the first time. My intent was to clean a blastoid that was recently given to me. I will post my initial work on this soon. After realizing that it takes quite a bit of time to fully clean a fossil so I picked up this brachiopod to clean one side real fast.

This first picture is of the side of Ordovician brachiopod found east of Louisville, Kentucky that was not cleaned.

Here is the picture of the other side that has been cleaned.

A close up of part of the brachiopod. You can see the growth lines.

Different angle view of the cleaned brachiopod.