Excavation tools mainly include hammer, pick needle, electric pick, chisel and so on. The choice of mining tools depends on the softness of lithology and the preservation type of fossils. As far as geological hammers are concerned, there are generally two kinds of hammers for fossil excavation, one is a pointed hammer and the other is a flat hammer. When used on different rocks, the two hammers have their own advantages. When the fossils are preserved in three dimensions and the rocks are hard, the sharp hammer can easily clean up the surrounding rocks; When fossils are preserved on a plane, especially in shale or mudstone with layered structure, it is more convenient to use a flat hammer and a sharp shovel. The choice of chisel type and specification also depends on lithology. When the surrounding rock is hard (such as limestone and sandstone), a sharp chisel is needed, and the chisel blade should cut into the rock 5 ~ 7 cm. However, when encountering surrounding rocks with lower hardness, such as slate and shale, a chisel with wider blade will be used.
Packaging repair tools mainly include reinforcing agents, labels, markers, newspapers, cotton paper, cartons, specimen bags, adhesive tapes and so on. For important large vertebrate fossils, it is necessary to order boxes in advance if necessary.
Safety protection tools for field work are even more essential. When using a hammer and chisel to cut rocks, the debris may collapse to the eyes, which is very dangerous. Therefore, goggles are one of the necessary protective tools. In addition, in the chisel operation, if you are not careful, the hammer will hit your hand without hitting the chisel. Therefore, wearing leather gloves on the hand holding the chisel can avoid hurting or hurting your hand. When working on cliffs or steep quarries, wear safety helmets to avoid being injured by falling rocks.