A while back I had a short discussion with a fellow from Fredrick
Md , I believe , about slabbing iron meteorites with minimum loss.
CBN ( Cubic boron nitride) seemed to be the best material but I
didn’t chase down any special saw blades. Today by serendipity I
found some at Graves:
http://www.gravescompany.com/CBN_Blade.htm
Diamond doesn’t work well with iron.
jesse
I have made several meteorite wedding bands and my husband and I
both wear ones that I have made and have always used the standard ole
3/0 sawblade. ( I am also working on a damascus meteorite blade
blank…different story…grind,grind, grind)
In making a ring, I usually start with my circle the size I
want(actually a little smaller …room for finish) and then drill 4
holes in the four cardinal points…then feed the blade through and
start sawing. It is time consuming! but then again working with
nickle iron compounds like meteorites can tend to be more difficult
to work with which requires more time! I then finish the inside with
heatless mizzies (and believe me, the meteorite eats them up too!)
make sure you have proper ventilation…don’t want to be inhaling
space dust! I then lay a gold collett on the inside that has a
circle soldered on one end and I pean the other end over!
wa-la…wedding band.
please remember…DO NOT HEAT THE METEORITE! you will ruin the
natural pattern and will be unable to etch with nitric acid and
alcohol.
also, fyi…if you hit a flaw in the meteroite you are not going to
get a drill or sawblade through it, you will have to go around…some
of the inclusions in meteorites are little tiny diamonds that will
strip your sawblade.
good luck and if I can be of further help, feel free to contact
me…(I also have a photo of a meteorite w/b if you are interested)
-julia
I then finish the inside with heatless mizzies
OK - I’ll bite. What are heatless mizzies? Are there warm ones
too? Do they eat regular food? Or what?
Tas,
Heatless Mizzy…I could see where that would sound like a cold
blooded cute little creature! Unfortunately it’s an ugly little
grinding wheel that doesn’t conduct heat quickly… reality is so
boring sometimes.
-julia