Thin Rock Splitting Chisel
Details
For years we have made our own chisels because we just couldn't find chisels that were made for splitting shale. Some of these chisels that we own are 15 years old and still going strong. When it comes to collecting fossils these chisels have paid for themselves many times over. You won't find a better chisel for splitting shales and thin, evenly bedded limestones. We do recommend painting them a color of your liking, you'll kick yourself if you loose one of these.
Our 8" 10" and 12" chisels are 1/8 in. thick and are manufactured from quality steel made for shock resistance and maximum fatigue life. Custom ground ends come in two bevels. See our collecting tips page for a description of which chisel is best for your collecting. We use it to collect all of our Cambrian trilobite locations, as well as at our Pennsylvanian fern and leaf localities. Frankly there aren't many places that we don't use it. *We have made custom lengths up to 6 feet for the purpose of releasing large plaster jackets of dinosaur bones specifically for some universities and museums.
We are also offering our even thinner chisels that are made for working more delicate rocks. They are only 1/16 in. thick and work extremely well on finely laminated shales and fissile limestones. These were designed specifically for splitting the rocks of the Green River shales in search of fish fossils and other rare animals. In fact some people refer to these as the Green River Chisels. Any time you need to be just a little more careful about that special find these will help you do the job. Our standard sizes are 1½ in. wide and 11 in. long, and 1" wide and 9" long. We make custom lengths to any specifications, selling many 2, 3, and 4 foot models to persons collecting the Green River Formation in Southwest Wyoming.
We offer a third dimension thickness of 3/32". These are thinner than the 1/8" ones but have some advantages of being easier to drive and are still less flexible than the 1/16". We also sell 1/16" chisels that are 2" wide and 2-3/16" wide.
Single beveled chisels take twice as much work to make so they are priced accordingly.
These chisels fit perfectly in our Custom Rock Collecting Packs. All lengths are approximate.
*Call of or mail for custom lengths.