I got a pound of campo meteorite shavings that I melted/welded into an ingot today. A quick surface grinding showed no voids. The Campos have a good nickel content that etches out good.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h151/BrentFinnigan/meteoritemelt2-web.jpg

After several etches with full strength FC it revealed a granite type pattern that changes as the light angle changes. IT will become a guard sometime in the future.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h151/BrentFinnigan/meteoritemelt1-web.jpg

Cool! Hey, if it's good enough for Jim's Bowie...

I've really enjoyed seeing some of the peened and etched iron fittings showing up around here lately, but that will take things to a whole 'nother level for sure. Hope you'll show us how it comes out.

chiger,

I have another pound of shavings comming and I will attempt to melt them along with some cast iron shavings to get some fiqured carbon steel. The trial attempt will be just a couple Oz. and pending the outcome I will then go for a bigger melt.

After seeing how the shavings etched I can kick up the fiquring a notch by adding some iron filings. The nickel seems to dominate the pattern and some iron would add more black to it. At least that is my theory for now.

Sounds logical.

I'm still stunned by how irregular and organic the grain came out. I've had to come back to check it out a couple more times. You're right about the granite look.

It's amazin' how you can get some of the most unexpectedly cool things when you experiment.

chiger,

To get the etch I heated the ingot up under hot water and used full strength FC. I just finished up a pendant for my wife out of a Campo meteorite slice. No matter how long I soaked it in a 50% dilution of FC the pattern came out muddy. So I contacted the supplier to find out how he got such a clean etch. Using full strength FC made sense since 5-6% nickel is much higher then the 1.5% that 15N20 steel has.

See Mr. Finnigan, that's what I love about this forum. I've started collecting bits of knowledge on the coolest etching techniques.

This has been added to the folder on my desktop for when I work up the courage to try some more exotica etching.

Thanks for teaching. I can't wait to see how it comes out when you add the iron to your ingot.

chiger,

I assumed that etching a iron nickel meteorite would be the same as damascus or wrought iron. It's not so I had to contact someone that does it for a business. Now that I know I can share the info with everyone on TKN.

This is the pendant I made. It's from a Campo slice and has a 24kt gold eyelet and a black diamond set in. A friend of mine is a jeweler and showed me how to set the diamond and let me use her laser welder to attach the eyelet.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h151/BrentFinnigan/pendant1-web.jpg

I made a box for it out of ancient Kauri wood. It carbon dates to 60,000 yrs old.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h151/BrentFinnigan/pendant4-web.jpg

very cool...

Wow! 60,000 year old wood, a pendant made from extraterrestrial material that may be as old as the earth and a black diamond. Man...I'm glad our wives are on opposite sides of the country. There's no way I could match that. ;~)

That is amazing Mr. Finnigan. Really beautiful. Thanks for posting it.

chiger,

The wood is somewhat brittle to work with so I will stabilize it before using it for knife handles and blocks. I just finished turning a pen with some that I stabilized and it did not chip at all. It is also known for not expanding or contracting with temp or humidity changes. But I screwd up two attempts at making that box. It took a brand new end mill and the highest speed my mill would run to keep the chiping down.

Hollly cow 60000 years old its aged well.....

The cold low oxygen-high acidity peat bog makes a good wood preservative. I also have a few pieces of Irish bog oak that is 6000-7000 yrs old.

I don't remember this thread, but I'm glad it got resurrected! Interesting stuff!!