Forging meteorite ?

keithf

keithf

Joined
May 29, 2006
Messages
992
A good customer of mine has a 7 lb meteorite and has asked me to make a blade out of it. Anyone had any experience with it or have any comments about it ? Sure would like some help with this one ! :eek: Thanks in adavance.
Cheers Keith
 
Wow! That's pretty cool. I don't know anything about forging but wouldn't you need to know the properties of the metal to get a good heat treat? Are meteorites all metal? Very interesting.
 
Im breaking the popcorn out for this one!

You'd think if the composition is right, then why not right???
Edit*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8scKJdBglA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BagKyePp8Bs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
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I think the Black Knight' Ebony Blade in Marvel comics was forged from a meteorite-know that doesn't help but I've waited almost 40 years to use that in a conversation. This one might be interesting.cwd
 
Eh.. depends on the type of meteorite.. some are heavy iron/nickel, but not all... They are also pretty valuable (especially one that size - a 5lb Iron meteorite complete, will frequently sell for $5-10K plus). Is he sure he wants you to heat that sucker up and start pounding away at it?
 
Aside from being generally unsuitable for a blade, a 7 pound meteorite may have pretty significant market value as it sits. While meteoritic iron may have been a good source of ferrous metal prior to the Iron Age and invention of bloomery smelting, anything you do with it today is pure gimmickry IMO and from what I have heard of late, VERY expensive gimmickry at that. Go price a nice nickel-iron meteorite on the internet. When prices were reaaonbale, slices of etched Gibeon metorite made fro some cool looking fittings, but that is about it.
By the way, if you forge a meteorite, all of those cool damascus like patterns that developed over millions or perhaps even billions of years of heating and cooling out in space pretty much go away.
 
Many knife aficionados who grew up in the 50s and 60s (yes, I know) got their start in that hobby from either reading the novel The Iron Mistress or after watching the Alan Ladd movie that was based on it. The storyline perpetuates the myth that Jim Bowie's knife was forged from steel melded with a piece of meteorite, rendering it unique and almost magical. And was it nice to think so.
 
Randy Haas Jr. and Sr. did a large bar out of some not long ago. It was a type that has a lot of slag in it and required a lot effort just to get rid of that. I expect Sr. will pop in. They did a series of videos. Frank
 
I recall that Dr. Jim Batson did a heavy pictorial article in one of the knife magazines on forging a knife blade from a meteorite.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I might try to talk him out of this project. I reckon it would be really cool just to have a meteorite !
Cheers Keith
 
The August 1998 issue of Blade Magazine has an article called Blades from the Big Bang. It is about meteorite blades.
 
Maybe cut some of it off and combine with different scraps to make scrapmascus and go from there. I'm no maker, but instead of the blade, maybe a bolster or inlay on a
handle.
 
The beauty of a meteorite is a structure called widmanstatten lines. BUT - you forge it and it disappears ! You also have to have a one that has a large amount of metal - not too common.If you have one with widmanstatten the best is to use it for bolsters.I've seen some of these on websites like www.knifeart.com.

Recently I saw an article about someone in Spain that needed a rock to press prosciutto .They picked one nearby and used it for many years. After seeing some info on meteorites they checked out their 'rock' - it was a good sized and valuable meteorite !!!
 
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