A removable steel armature holds vertebrae in Sue's tail. Working under a microscope, a preparator removes matrix from a fossil. Joseph Skulan removes matrix from a fossil, using a mini-jackhammer.
Few fossils are shrink-wrapped, clean and neat, when discovered.
Preparing good specimens could take years with hand tools. Today, air-operated tools are augmenting hand tools. You're thinking jackhammers, we're actually talking a miniature version of a tool designed for industrial engraving. Air oscillates the piston at up to 40,000 strokes per minute. The piston moves a small tungsten-carbide cutting tool, which quickly dislodges whatever happens to be in its way.