how to meteorite ?

SVanderkolff

SVanderkolff

Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
979
I have a customer that wants meteorite bolsters for his folder. I have never bought or worked with the material.
How do you purchase meteorite and from where?
How do you work the material? Is it like working metal or stone?
He is looking for meteorite with Widmanstatten patterns.

Thanks for the help
Steve
 
I know you can buy meteorites on ebay. Not sure about specific types or patterns though

My understanding is they work very much like wrought iron, as they are primarily iron with levels of nickel. So forge at comparatively high temps.
 
Work it like Damascus, etch it similarly.


Finding material over 1/10" or so is difficult lately.

Spot weld, hard solder, or attach bolsters to liners the same as you do steel.

Working with it isn't hard, finding it is.

EDIT: Confused the pattern for a particular meteorite name. Turnage has some that meets your needs, nothing above about 1/8" thick though.


Many (most) meteorites are stone, but the iron meteorites like you're looking for work the same as such. It'll stick to a surface grinder chuck, drills and taps pretty easily, etc.
 
I think the pieces that Turnage has are Muonionalusta. Supposedly, not as consistent and corrosion resistant as Gibbeon etc, but significantly more available, and more reasonable in cost. The pieces I've worked with, you have to be careful planning where to cut the bolsters out of because there are occasional hairline cracks.


Personally I prefer to braze or spot weld them to liners, in case any hairlines become apparent after working the material. Screws will be more likely you loose the bolster in that case, where as soldered or welded you're less likely to have a piece come detached.
 
Be very cautious of heat with etched meteorite slabs. The Widmanstätten pattern is formed by the slow cooling of the molten iron-nickle metal at a rate of around 100C per thousand years. During this time the latices grow to huge size. This takes at least ten thousands years. If a piece of meteorite is heated too hot, the pattern is destroyed ( like a hamo would be by heating), and unless you have a few thousand years to wait while it is in the HT oven, lost forever.

Also, any sanding will remove the etched pattern. The best patterns are from using nitol and other metallurgical acids, but with care, nitric acid or FC can show the pattern ( depends on the metal percentages).

By far, the best method to use a meteorite slab as a bolster is to drill it for screws and assemble by screwing to the liners/frame/tang. Once mounted, sand the perimeter flush with the liners/frame/tang, sand to at least 1000 grit, and remove for etching. After etching wax the bolster well and re-assemble.
 
Have you tried a phone call to CharlesTurnage. He often has lots of items in stock not shown in his web site. Seymachan (?)spelling is another good one to show pattern but usually has more cracks and slag than Gibeon . Javan's info on use is right on.
Frank
 
Is the Campo DEL CIELO meteorite a good choice for use as bolsters? Reading this thread it seems like meteorite for bolsters and mammoth ivory for scales could make a neat folder..... or kitchen knife.

Would the Campo Del Cielo meteorite low temperature silver solder to a 416SS liner?

Thanks for any info and guidance,

Ken H>
 
It does not take thousands of years to form Widmanstatten !! I made it in freshman metallurgy course.
Never forge or HT widmanstatten ,it will be destroyed !
You may use low temperature silver solder ,no problem at that temperature.
Proper etching will bring out the pattern.
 
I've had no problem with it using the silver solder I use, but I'll be cautious in the future, it's one of the real low temp brazing alloys though, dunno. Obviously if you spot weld you may see some spots from the heat of those, but you can plan for that. I've only used this material a couple of times thus far however, and didn't really ask about working it before hand.


Be sure to report back if you find any tricks.
 
Last edited:
Campo De Ceilo is junk for most of us to use. It's slag and a bit of steel mixed. You would have to process it and then get it into a bar. One of our members was good enough to let me try some for free.
Frank
 
Last edited:
The Gibeon stuff has gone through the roof over the last 10 years. I remember seeing decent sized pieces of it in the "rock shop" at Newark Airport in 2006-7 at "reasonable" prices. You probably not got to see that ever again.
 
Thanks Frank - I had wondered how much of the typical Campo meteorite was steel and how much was slag. It sounds like I'll have to pass on playing with meteorite - too expensive and too little knowledge on my part to be able to get something that would work. :(

As I said too expensive, here's a 1.5"X.9"X.12" Gibeon for $58!!! That would be an expensive set of bolsters for a folder!!

Ken H>
 
Go to the William Henry website. They have a new limited edition knife with meteorite scales that looks gorgeous. Too expensive, but might give you an idea.
 
Finding matching meteorite in any good quality is hard and expensive. You will want to do what Stacey suggested and fasten on.

Be very careful about buying any named type meteorite from eBay.... I found out the hard way even if the pattern looks similar, it may not be high quality and immediately rust on you no matter what you do. It's easy to work with and you just give it a light etch, just getting the quality kind is the hard part....

For your reference scales that were requested I needed a slab costing over $3k....
 
I agree that Gibeon would be the best for being solid and good patterns.
It is expensive because of the rarity. Think of it like a precious metal.
 
Well I don't understand you fellows having all that trouble with meteorite.I grind on it before shaping and have used hard silver solder to attach an applied lip of D2 around the cutting edge of a blade made of the Seymchan (?).I have never seen the pattern disappear.As well I screw my bolsters on and then contour grind to shape the bolsters. I have some meteorite on hand . Some Turnage called Swedish. In fact it did have good Widmenstatin (?) patterning but heavier lines and not as many. Not as many cracks to work around. I have even done hard silver soldering on cracks. It's expensive more because it can fall apart on you even if it looks good .I find it very special and do bolsters every once in awhile. I also etch it with ferric chloride 1 part to 2 1/2 for 2 sessions of 15 minutes each and then heat color.
I like the way it looks like the fire ball it is coming through the sky. If you order some make sure you can return it. It can come to you full of cracks and junk.
Frank
 
Last edited:
I grind on it before attaching with screws as bolsters and then conture grind and shape while on the liners. Sometimes you can fill cracks but I've also worked on pieces that looked great but then fell apart. I like to etch it with ferric chloride rather than HCL but the ferric chloride can take double the time that Damascus does. I then heat color to give me the fire ball look when it's going through the sky. I still use some now and then out of a bunch I bought several years ago. Figure the cost of Timascus when buying and make sure it can be returned in case it's full of cracks and junk. Hi heat doesn't seem to bother the pattern unless you melt it,. I did an applied edge of D2 on the cutting edge of a blade.
Frank
 
Thank you for your comments Frank - I'll be moving slow on meteorite, but am looking for some. No rush.....

Ken H>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top