CompuServe Messages

Hi Joe– If I recall rightly, I already have a pyrite (G), but if you want, I wouldn't turn down an odd shaped specimen. I'm putting together your stuff right now, and for an extra pyrite, I might be able to toss in a few Pennsylvanian leaves (DANG! I still haven't found any dragonflies!) or Miocene clamshells…… You recall rightly. My main forte is minerals. I'm a chemist and a crystallographer. My hobby (and if the market were right, my profession) would be minerals. (Go figure….. (G)) (I have tons of them in my front yard, all up for trade.) My interest in fossils comes from the fact that I live in, and always have, fossil areas. Cincinatti Ordovician, here (MAJOR Devonian), etc. Minerals *are* better, but *I* should be fussy? Toss in a pyrite, I'll toss in extra fossils. Dissolving shale: You're asking *me*? I'm soon going to be a consulting chemist and hopefully feed my face giving advice. (And no, I don't plan on charging members of the forum. This is the *FUN* part…..) Anyway, shale (God, I HATE shale!! (G)) or mudstone is, roughly speaking, solidified Silt Of The Ages. That will be mostly quartz and other silica forms, and clay minerals, and calcite fossils. Hydrofluoric acid will work. It will also destroy the fossil and pose *MAJOR* health risks. Any acid will likely destroy the fossil. BUT not the shale. (DANG!!!) For some shales, with a high clay content, household ammonia will loosen the fossils a tad, allowing easier work. Depends on the shale. But in most cases, shale is *ONLY* worked with hand tools. Perhaps you begin to understand why I hate shale. You didn't ask, but limestone isn't much better. It dissolves in almost any acid. So do the fossils, for the most part. Fossils in most cases need hand work, unless they're silicified or pyritized. As in, most fossils can't be chemically etched. I'd be a millionaire otherwise…….JD