Subject: Re: Iron-Nickel Meteorites

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 09:09:42 -0500

Re: Iron-Nickel Meteorites
I fooled around with a couple of small meteorites which I purchased from an
old gent in Arizona years ago.  I had the same experience, despite the
temperature, the metal crumbled when struck.  About twenty heats later and
with the softest of touches with my lightest hammer it began to coalesce. I
ended up many heats later with a workable mass that continued to be very
sensitive to over working.  The final product was a thin small knife blade
for a jack knife.  Curiousity got the better of me and I wondered what the
blade would look like if I etched away the scale.  A qucik dip in nitric
proved near disaster as it ate thru the blade in the areas where the scale
was thickest (and by the way, it looked much better before the acid etch).
 The finished knife was more of a conversation piece, do to its origin, than
anything else.  I have often thought of trying to get a larger meteorite and
trying again and a goldsmith friend of mine is interested in a co-venture for
jewelry use. Anyone know of a good source for meteorites? Oh yea, we did
stick together some 24 K gold and some pure (vacuum melted) iron and formed
the black patina on the iron which looked great against the greengold color
of the 24k.
Aint it fun! 
In 1975, in preperation for the bicentenial,  I worked with a gang of
historians here in the Boston area and we actually smelted some bog iron as
they had back in the colonies and again, what we thought would be a yield in
tons, or at least hundreds of pounds of pigs, ended up with enough wrought
product to make ONE trade axe.
Bill, if I can find a picture of the knife I'll get back to you for your
address and send it to you.
Mike Schermerhorn

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From: Ralph Snel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 23:43:13 MET

> product to make ONE trade axe.
I never tried it myself (yet), but I've read a few books by archaeologist
who tried to smelt some. They had best results by processing the ore/iron
twice. After the first pass they had too low a yield, but the ore had been
refined very much anyway. Running it a second time through the smelter
(or whatever the right name for it was), gave workable iron in much greater
amounts.

Ralph Snel
[email-masked]
Sweden