Forging meteorite?

DanGraves

DanGraves

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
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I have some nantan meteorite and would like to forge it in to a Damascus billet. I know it has some impurities in it that need to be forged out. Dont have a clue where to start or the process and any tips would be most appreciated. Also, What steel is best to use with this? Tempersure when forging? How much to use? Just any info will help. Thanks
 
I know Del Ealy does some once in awhile. He'd probably have some good info. I know he told me it has a tendency to crumble at first and you have to keep collecting the chunks and bits to weld them together...
 
Maybe you could contact Tim Zowanda, Im pretty sure he's used a good deal of it. Real nice guy. I talked to him for a good while on the topic a few years ago, but never had the chance to use it yet.

Also forgot most of the tips he gave me, since I never persued it's use.
 
A couple months ago I used some Campo shavings in a can weld. I got a nice little bar and will try it again with some 1084 powder and in a larger can. I roasted it at weld heat for a 1/2 hr till most of the can oxidized off. Then a few thunks with the hammer is all it took for a good weld.

meteoritemelt2-web.jpg
 
Much depends on the quality of the meteorite. Every piece is a little different. If its a chunk that has a lot of porosity, you may have to fold it a time or two to get a good solid piece. Those pieces that that are solid often have a high iron/nickel content, and very little if any carbon.

What that means for you is that in order to keep it from crumbling, you want to forge it at fairly high temps (I generally forge meteorite above 2350F). Due to the generally low carbon content, the forge welding temp will be higher than what your used to (if you've forge welded wrought iron, it about like working with a poor grade of that material)

I've done a number of billets for other makers, and have created several San Mai billets for myself. Its somewhat of a different experience if your used to forging billet of high carbon steels....mainly the temp differences. I also recommend that once the forge welding is complete, ensure you thermal cycle the billet a few times because your going to be overheating any high carbon steel you might use in the mix.
 
Thanks for the tips. It is a solid chunk that is not porus at all. If it does crumble, do you use flux in trying to re-weld? I will be using 1095 with it and will try a san Mia blade. Do you ever take it to the power hammer after several forging sessions as when it appears solid? Like when I do san mia.
 
Dan,
Call me tomorrow after 11am, I'll be in and out of the house, but if you get the machine I'll call back as soon as I get in. Nantan meteorite has some special tricks up its sleeve for you.
Thanks,
Del
 
On a related topic, has anyone ever used slices of some of the wildly "figured" meteorites for fittings? Would our normal FeCl etching process work for meteorites too? I have seen some on Ebay that have outrageous geometric crystalline structure.
 
I hope you come back and report your phone conversation back to us. This is fascinating stuff!!!
 
Joe, Michael Miller has a knife in the gallery with meteorite slice bolsters... very cool. There's a guy down in South Alabama, can't remember his name but he only makes folders with meteorite blades and fittings. He's down near Mel Pardue but not sure of the exact town or his name.
 
I've never used meteorites so I have no personal experience. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The single most outstanding aspect of the meteorite is the Widmanstatten designs exhibited on the surface. Other than this, they are mostly made up of iron and nickel with virtually no carbon and are utterly worthless for blade material, per se. An inner core of steel can produce a san mai blade and meteorite can also be mixed into a damascus billet. In the latter case I would think that your overall carbon content would be reduced drastically.

It's also my understanding that upon reaching forging (or perhaps even critical) temperature, the much-desired Widmanstatten pattern disappears forever. This is why for bolsters it is cut, ground and implimented in its natural state with no heating.

Except for being able to state that your knife was made from meteorite (cool factor), I can't think of a good reason to use it except for guards & bolsters.

Am I on the right track?

Cheers,

Terry

Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
 
tvandeventer said:
I've never used meteorites so I have no personal experience. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The single most outstanding aspect of the meteorite is the Widmanstatten designs exhibited on the surface. Other than this, they are mostly made up of iron and nickel with virtually no carbon and are utterly worthless for blade material, per se. An inner core of steel can produce a san mai blade and meteorite can also be mixed into a damascus billet. In the latter case I would think that your overall carbon content would be reduced drastically.

It's also my understanding that upon reaching forging (or perhaps even critical) temperature, the much-desired Widmanstatten pattern disappears forever. This is why for bolsters it is cut, ground and implimented in its natural state with no heating.

Except for being able to state that your knife was made from meteorite (cool factor), I can't think of a good reason to use it except for guards & bolsters.

Am I on the right track?

Cheers,

Terry

Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
Click to expand...
Cool factor can be. well. cool, but I agree with you. I would be more interested in retaining the surface patterns.:thumbup:Mr. Finnigan is not the first guy I have heard of using meteorite milling "scraps" as a component in canned damascus.
 
First I want to thank Delbert for taking his time to explain the process (also correct me if I miss state something as my memory is not what it used to be). Tack weld a handle on the meteor and heat to welding temp. Light taps with the hammer and most likely small pieces will crumble off. Immediatly flatten small pcs and save. re-heat and re-peat until it starts acting like steel and then fold. Do not hit on edge to square up. when folding hot cut hinge in the middle and fold into itself such as if you get an egg shaped flat then hot cut hinge the egg in half. The small chunks that fell off he welds to medium carbon shim stock and weld into billet. He recommends 9 folds. lets say you get a pc that ends up 1" X 5" by 1/8". Sandwich it with 1095 or 01 that is 1/2" (both sides for a total of 1 1/8" thick) then weld and fold until at least 98 layers and should have a billet of about 1/4 thick by 10" long and 1 1/2" wide. It will etch like nickel or 15n20. Sure there is carbon migration. As far as being the best edge weapon, Delbert claims the stuff is very tough stuff. After I do mine I will san mia a 1095 for the core and cutting edge. And hell yes its cool. Again, thanks to Delbert for this (probably miss-quoted) info.
 
tvandeventer said:
I've never used meteorites so I have no personal experience. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The single most outstanding aspect of the meteorite is the Widmanstatten designs exhibited on the surface. Other than this, they are mostly made up of iron and nickel with virtually no carbon and are utterly worthless for blade material, per se. An inner core of steel can produce a san mai blade and meteorite can also be mixed into a damascus billet. In the latter case I would think that your overall carbon content would be reduced drastically.

It's also my understanding that upon reaching forging (or perhaps even critical) temperature, the much-desired Widmanstatten pattern disappears forever. This is why for bolsters it is cut, ground and implimented in its natural state with no heating.

Except for being able to state that your knife was made from meteorite (cool factor), I can't think of a good reason to use it except for guards & bolsters.

Am I on the right track?

Cheers,

Terry

Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
Click to expand...

Terry,
You are right on track, however there is a factor in your assumptions that may helpfill in the details.
The best windmanstatten patterns are found on only a few of the metal meteorites, the gibeon and canyon diablo(I think). These types have a pattern that is crystalline in nature and most of the others have a pattern that in amorphous. Some have very little pattern at all. These are the ones that I use for forging in damascus. The are meteorites, and they have the cool factor of being so. However for bolsters or whatever else, they are useless.
Thanks,
Del
 
Hi Friends,

So where do you guys source this stuff? And, how much should a fella pay for it? (Psst, just tell me. Don't tell these other bums. I don't want the prices getting forced up! :D)

I looked on eBay and found a bunch of meteorites. I see that that there are a whole lot that are mineral in composition (not iron). Some of them look pretty sweet sliced into slabs though. Maybe they could make good scales. Then there are a few nice looking iron/nickel pieces that have been etched to highlight their cool patterns. They'd make good handle hardware I'd imagine as they're too sweet looking to cream into a billet.

Anyway, thanks for sharing all this stuff with us! -Phil
 
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