How to Clean Your Fossils [Satisfying Time Lapse!]

How to clean your fossils with crazy results!! Join Charleston Fossil Adventures owner, Ashby Gale, as he covers the easiest way to clean fossils from your collection with common household items.
NOTE: Please do not use this method to clean fossilized shells! This technique is only for mineralized bones and teeth!
In-video links:
Buy autographed copies of A Beachcomber's Guide to Fossils: www.chsfossila...
Charleston Fossil Adventures website: chsfossiladventures.com
Support CFA on Patreon and have fossils shipped to you: patreon.com/chsfossiladventures
Follow FossilsABG on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
Royalty free music from BenSound.com

[@a.d.4832]

Just learning and have many, many questions. I hope to teach my grandsons what I learn. Thank you

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Hello A.D.! Thanks for watching! Fee free to ask questions here if you’d like. I’m all ears! 😁

[@ClockyManBaby]

Nice

[@BrentDives]

So glad I found this video and your channel! This is very helpful for me; I just got back from a "Meg Ledge" trip offshore NC and I have a ton of Megalodon teeth that need proper cleaning and I didn't know the best way. Can't wait to get started!

[@LoganAnthonyChoy]

Thank you too. Blessed look me up too I have dinosaur fossils don’t know how to clean them

[@BirdGardenChannel]

Great info and the book looks fantastic!

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed the demonstration! What's your favorite section from the book?

[@lreese03]

One of the best books I own!

[@JM-yh6ju]

Thank you for making these videos! You present information in an understandable way and I always feel a little smarter after watching them. I'm curious though, is there any way to preserve the barnacles on a fossil? Sometimes they add character to the piece that I'd like to save. Also, how can we clean limestone fossils without harming the piece? Thank you!

[@gaareval]

Great video! Excited to try this out with my find from Venice Beach Florida. Mostly bones and a few teeth.

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Thank you! If your fossils are coated in bryozoan, then this will definitely work! Try submerging them for 30 minutes at a time at first. 😁

[@gaareval]

@@CharlestonFossilAdventures during this process should the vinegar be replaced and if so how often?

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

It should be fine to be used over again on small pieces; just keep a lid on the container while it’s going. And test a small bone first just to confirm it won’t discolor your fossils!

[@ukpurr]

I loved watching the video, thank you. Can’t wait to read the book when it arrives. I wonder if you could make a video or offer some advice on how to clean up echinoids and gastropods stuck in their limestone matrix please. Thank you so much

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Hi Caroline! Thank you so much for watching and the super kind comments! We don’t have very many strata around here with lithified limestone. (That which we do have can be scraped away with a fingernail at times!) We’ll keep our eyes out for some limestone where we could use different cleaning methods. You’re verging on needing an air scribe for some of those pieces!

[@jessicaclary7462]

I’m very much enjoying these videos! I live in SC. 🙂

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Thanks so much for the kind words, Jessica! Glad you’re enjoying our content!

[@robertheuer7670]

we have a limestone quarry on our property..the other day i found tons of fossilized bone in the limestone...but its seem to be more plentiful on the one edge of the quarry....i wish i could tell what they were from

[@krawdadandrusty]

So glad I got to watch you and not smell what you did 😜! Nicely done, I learned a lot, thanks!

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Be grateful this isn’t smell-o-vision!! 😅😅 That stuff was rank after those barnacles had been stewing in there for a while! 😵 Thanks for subscribing!!!

[@jonathanallison2247]

Thanks for the great video. Very professional.

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the kind compliment! Glad you enjoyed the video! Welcome to the channel!

[@rappar9673]

If the fossil is within a calcium carbonate matrix, isn't the fossil itself soluble is the acid, being that it too should by a variant of a calcium mineral?

[@jackery154]

Thanks 👍

[@Letstalkaboutitnick]

How long until it’s finished in the vinegar?

[@clorettemartin7430]

So interesting

[@Trakehner20]

SO I think I found tooth fossils on my land...Lots of sandstone and limestone over them. This means that if I soak them in vinegar, its just getting rid of the minerals and not damaging the tooth in any way? thats what I take from this video.

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Hi trakehner20, thanks for watching! Yes, this technique works best for removing modern encrusting organisms and *some* softer limestones. If your sediment is sandstone, the vinegar will have no affect on the rock; there must be some form of calcium carbonate present to react with the vinegar. Museums also typically use a stronger acid to dissolve limestone, as the 5% acetic acid in household vinegar is just strong enough to work on some of the thicker shells. I’d suggest trying this technique on one inconsequential tooth first, just to make sure it will work. Good luck!! 😃

[@wendykyle1200]

Love learning nmd

[@TheAdventurousRealtor]

I have a crazy fossil banded tulip shell with a pathology 🤗

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Woah, that’s amazing! We’ve never found a pathologic mollusk before. 😱😱 What’s the pathology?

[@TheAdventurousRealtor]

@@CharlestonFossilAdventures the "top" isn't straight, it curves! 😁 Very odd

[@TheAdventurousRealtor]

@@CharlestonFossilAdventures I have a video on my channel I believe

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Wow, that’s fascinating! The apex (top) of the shell is how big the snail was when it hatched out of the egg case, so that pathology was likely something that affected the snail at birth. Really neat!

[@jackmeoff9917]

Can you do this with coral specimens?

[@rachelbazzle8185]

Will this method work for algae on a tooth?

[@antibaca]

I found a massive chunk of limestone full of shells, would vinegar work to clean the stone?

[@valorgaming2281]

lol no, it would dissolve the shells

[@theagesvlogs7187]

Will this work on ammonites?

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Probably not, unless the ammonites are encased in a limestone deposit. Be careful if you attempt to use this method, as if there is any calcite in the ammonite, it will dissolve as well. Most ammonite cleaning uses mechanical methods of chipping away the encrusting matrix.

[@theagesvlogs7187]

@@CharlestonFossilAdventures Thank you so much, I have an oscillating engraver, would that work for smaller ammonites to clean the junk off?

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

@@theagesvlogs7187 Glad to help! Most universities and museums have handheld scribes. I’d check to make sure your engraver has a point strong enough to handle the material. Maybe buy a point just for rock material, as it will likely dull the tip quite a bit. Look into airscribes and see if they are a similar match to your equipment. That’s the type of tool you’d have the most success with.

[@theagesvlogs7187]

@@CharlestonFossilAdventures mine has a 9924 carbide tip

[@sabrinajones1573]

Anyone else think he looks like Winona Ryder? 🖤

[@bentaye]

Fix the hair, fix the world