Not heating meteorite?

Markus-

What about inlaying a strip of meteorite along a wedding band?
What would you suggest? I don’t want to loose the texture,
especially since I’ll be long gone and one seriouse popsicle
when I would get it back, but…I gather that the material might
not be the best for this type of technique, but would possibly
be better in brooches or pendants?

NB: I haven’t done anything with meteorite yet, but I am
interested in the design potential as a contrast against stone
in a inlay piece of jewelry. Thanks- Calvin

What about inlaying a strip of meteorite along a wedding band?
What would you suggest? I don’t want to loose the texture,
especially since I’ll be long gone and one seriouse popsicle
when I would get it back, but…I gather that the material might
not be the best for this type of technique, but would possibly
be better in brooches or pendants?

I have done exactly this with meteoric iron and it is fine. I
soldered it in, filed, sanded, and polished, then treated with
nitric to reveal the crystalline structure. The crystalline
structure was not lost.

JE

What about inlaying a strip of meteorite along a wedding band?

Hi Calvin,

The only option that comes to my mind is to look for a plate of
meteorite material as thick as the band shall be wide, then turn
a ring from it on a lathe. You’ll have to cut the ring at one
place in order to get it into place in the wedding ring. Iron for
a ring, however, is a bit of a problem, as there will be heavily
corrosive conditions (from sweat, soap etc.), and protective
varnish will not last very long. There is another thing about
iron rings: in ancient Rome, they were worn (inlayed in golden
ones, too) by ex-slaves, who by law were allowed only to wear
iron rings. This law was not adhered to too strictly in later
times.

good luck, Markus

If you look at the pieces on the Orchid Gallery you will see a
ring that I made using niobium, you could do a similar ring with
the meteorite. While my ring is soldered on both sides, one side
of the band could be a tight fitting rim with the internal band
flared with a suita. I suitably sized dapping punch. I hammer the
rims towards the center metal to tighten up the ring (and yes I
got a 4 year old band back because the center was moving
slightly, just last week). Someone is already doing bands like
this with meteorite and rose gold.

Rick Hamilton
Richard D. Hamilton

Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography

http://www.rick-hamilton.com
@rick_hamilton

Hi Jeffrey,

Well, I looked it up in the book: “Reheating of the structure to
900 to 1000C for a short time, however, can destroy it.” So you
could solder meteorite, but one should be careful.

The structure (Widmannstaetten pattern) is built up by lamellae
of kamacite (nickel-poor iron-nickel-alloy), which form the
broad bands, and taenite nickel-rich alloy), which separate the
kamacite bands. There is a third element, plessite, which is a
fine intergrowth of both, and fills the wedges between the
lamellae. These lamellae are in fact cross-sections of plates of
kamacite sheathed by thin films of taenite, that are arranged
parallel to the 4 surface pairs of an octahedron (double pyramid
of 8 equilateral triangles). Hence, the pattern of the bands
depends on how you cut the meteorite: cut parallel to the
surface of the octahedrite or parallel to an edge of the girdle
and at right angles to the girdle plane, you get a figure where
the lamellae cross at 60 degree angles. Cutting parallel to the
girdle plane of the octahedron, they cross at right angles.
Random cut produces - composite angles. There are other types of
iron meteorites than octahedrites, namely hexahedrites with less
than 6% nickle - only kamacite, which show very fine, parallel,
so called Neumann lines (cross sections of twin lamellae, formed
because of mechanical stress), and ataxites,which show no
pattern.

Books on meteorites:

Meteorites, Messengers from Space, by F. Heide and F. Wlotzka, Springer-Verlag,
Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN3-540-58105-7, 1995

Handbook of Iron Meteorites. Their History, Distribution, Composition and
Structure, by VF Buchwald, 3 vols., University of California Press, Berkeley,
1975

Meteorites and Their Parent Planets, by HY McSween, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1986

I also started a web search and found a site where meteorites are sold, and
furthe is given: www.meteorite.com
Another interesting site is www.meteoritecentral.com

Markus

< If you look at the pieces on the Orchid Gallery you will see a
< ring that I made using niobium, you could do a similar ring with
< the meteorite. While my ring is soldered on both sides, one side
< of the band could be a tight fitting rim with the internal band
< flared with a suita.

I’m wondering how you were able to solder the niobium . . . I’ve
always heard that that is one metal that cannot be soldered.
Maybe the I’ve had was wrong?

Well, I looked it up in the book: “Reheating of the structure to
900 to 1000C for a short time, however, can destroy it.” So you
could solder meteorite, but one should be careful.

SNIP…

Hi Markus, Thank you for the wonderful dissertation on meteoric
iron, I sincerely enjoyed it, and I think I’ll look a little
further into it myself.

One of the things I do (as a jyotish jeweler) is supply iron
rings for people. The vedic literature states that the iron
should come from either; the nails from the hoof of a black horse
or a nail from a funeral barge (saturnian things). I have heard
that meteoric iron would be the ultimate, but since it is not
stated explicitly in the ved, I’m stuck with the traditional
sources! :slight_smile:

Just thought you might be interested in further uses for iron
rings…

JE

Niobium cannot be soldered, but at a 4300 F melting temperature
it can stand having gold soldered next to it. Thats why the ring
in the image has a gold tube inside.

For some reason, it cannot be cast in place in gold alloys- it
seems to dissolve into the alloy.

Rick
Richard D. Hamilton

Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography

http://www.rick-hamilton.com
@rick_hamilton