Finished Fossil Preparation - Sabre-tooth Cat Hoplophoneus (Complete video)

So here's the complete time lapse video of the fossil preparation of a false sabre-toothed cat called Hoplophoneus primaevus. This fossil was found exposed on a private ranch in South Dakota and comes from the Brule Formation of the White River Group dating back to the Oligocene 30 million years ago. This time lapse condenses about 30 hours of prep time down to a couple of minutes. Below are a list of some of the tools I used for this prep project:

Hand tools:
Exacto knife - for removing matrix close to the teeth
Pin Vice with Tungsten Carbide stylus - to clean between the teeth

Pnuematic air tools (linked to large air compressor):
Paleotools ME-9100 - Air tool with pointed stylus to remove the bulk matrix from around the skull
Zoic Palaeotech ZPT Microraptor - Lower pressure air tool with fine point for finer detail cleaning

Consolidants:
3-4% Paraloid B72 & acetone - helps penetrate into the smallest of fractures to give the bone strength.

#fossilpreparation #fossilprep #sabretoothcat