Anybody have some meteorite advice?

[Ed Wilson 0]

Hi folks. I'm not exactly a beginner, but new here though I've been lurking for awhile. I've been forging blades since about 2000. Just starting to get into doing some damascus the last few years. I picked up a meteorite yesterday and would like to try and incorporate some of it into some damascus. It has enough iron in it that a magnet sticks to it, but thats about all I know about it.

So anyone have any thoughts, advice etc on what I have to do to get from space rock to something I can incorporate into a billet?

Thanks,

Ed

[Dave Stephens 424]

I've just had one meteorite experience and it ended badly. My rock was also magnetic. It crumbled at the first touch of a hammer. Apparently there are lots of ferrous meteors but only some have sufficient ferrous content to forge into a blade.

 

I read a lot about how to forge meteor before my failure. The basic idea is to get it to welding heat, flux it, and very . . . VERY, lightly tap it with the hammer to consolidate it. I read that you should only work it at yellow welding heat and very gently until it's solid and you've driven out the impurities. Kind of like working a really crappy bloom.

 

I'm sure others have better advice than this, but this is what I recall from my research.

 

Luck!

 

Dave

[Ed Wilson 0]

Thanks Dave. I'm going to do a bunch of reading before I tackle this thing.

[Miles Hebbard 2]

Best of luck,Ed oh and welcome, let us know how it goes...

[Bill Kirkley 5]

I know nothing about this but was intrigued by the concept. I wonder if you could crush it into a fine powder, place it on a jar of oil (water might make it rust) , tape a magnet to the side of the jar and shake it up. That may be a way to separate the iron from the rest.

[Gary Mulkey 1,346]

Ed,

 

I have done a few meteorite Damascus blades over the years but haven't used the Mantan variety. Others that I know have without much success saying that was nearly impossible to get to weld. Knowing this I believe that I would either trade it for some "Campo" or try to work it in a can.

 

All meteorites tend to be quite red short. The way that I get around that is to slice them & place the slice between two pieces of high carbon steel and weld the three solid before trying to do any drawing. I would suggest that you use a steel with enough carbon to be able to sacrifice some as the meteorite has none and there will be a lot of migration. Also use 3-4 times the amount of steel as meteorite for the same reason. You want to end up with a billet with no less than .7% carbon when done.

 

If you have success then you will get a billet with excellent contrast as the meteorites usually have 8-10% nickel.

 

 

Good luck and let us know how things turn out.

 

Gary

Edited June 8, 2014 by Gary Mulkey

[Ed Wilson 0]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to cut some slices off of it and see what it looks like before I try anything else. I'll post about what happens.

Thanks again.

Ed