Mohawkite

David Wesner

David Wesner

Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
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I am hoping for an answer from a geologist , metallurgist , jeweler or someone who has worked with or knows about this material. Mohawkite is a naturally occurring compound that consists of silver,copper,cobalt,nickel & iron.Kind of a natural mokume. It develops a beautiful patina after polishing. Some of you may know that I do some metal detecting looking for artifacts,float copper etc. I occasionally come across mohawkite and would like to use some for bolsters etc. The piece in the pics is what I have to work with now.One pic shows the natural look when found (minus dirt) , the other is a side that I sanded smooth and polished just a bit. I hope to cut it into slabs. It seems rather brittle & being a metal (??) can it be annealed to reduce any brittleness.If not how should I go about using this material ?
 
Hi Steve,I was hoping you might reply.I have seen one description that listed arsenic in mohawkite. Others just listed silver,copper,cobalt.I have seen bookends ; paperweights etc. made from this stuff.Most was done with what looked to me like lapidary tooling,I have zero experience working with stuff like that. From what I have been told it is a very rare compound , found only where I live. The piece I have is indeed heavy,about what a copper nugget that size would weigh. Do you think it could be made less brittle by annealing ? I am aware that heat will probably release some arsenic vapors if it is present.
 
From what I read, most of the As is as Arsenates, which are oxide compounds and from working in the NV gold mining industry, the Oxides tend to be quite toxic. Much of what we dealt with were Arsenic Sulfides which were not so toxic, but as they oxidized the arsenic got more available to cause trouble. Miners who took mineral samples home often had toxicity problems from dust that got on their hands and clothes. It isn't just the vapors/fumes you have to watch out for.
 
Thanks Steve. More research will need to be done before working with this material. It sure is beautiful though when the patina starts forming. Almost every color in the rainbow.
 
There are some of the sulfide minerals that give neat oxide colors. Bournite is called peacock ore for its rainbow irridescence, Covellite is a deep blue and Chalcopyrite gold to irridescent. It never occurred to me to try and use them on knives, but I would lean more towards them than the Arsenic compounds.
 
Mohawkite is copper arsenate. It has traces of Nickel and Cobalt. I would be cautious in grinding on this material.Both the arsenic and the cobalt won't do you any good to inhale. You might stop exhaling.
Stacy
 
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