Chris Coffee Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Well, I had my big 282.2 gram meteorite cut today by Bob V. and man is it awesome. He said so much about it I am having a hard time remembering everything, but I do remember him saying that it is a new fall and possibly a W1. He also looked at the rest of our CDL collection with his microscope and found only 2 "wrongs". Normally I would be disappointed but I kind of figured those two were no good anyway...and not to mention, April Ables found a 19.6 gram piece today mere seconds after I found a 7.4 gram piece.Many thanks to Bob V. for his time, work, expertise, and also for joining us on a hunt today! It was a fantastic experience for me. So anyway, here is a picture of the inside of the big one, and you can clearly see the fusion crust on it's edges. Awesome. Enjoy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Chris,That is a good looking slice! You have entertained and hunted with a real expert who I appreciate. He has posted many nice photos and helpful articles.Mitchel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikestang Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Looks awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleomanjim Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Nice Chris. That fusion crust layer is cool and some nice large nickel/irons specs too!.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Coffee Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Thanks, Jim. I was real excited to see the inside of it. Now I just need to figure out how to put a nice polish on the piece that I kept. I want it to shine..lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertsunburn Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Hi Chris,Glad to see you moving forward with the classification. That cut looks really rough...or maybe wet??? What did Bob use to cut it with? If it feels rough when you slide your thumb over it, you are going to have a heck of a time polishing it without loosing a lot of material.Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Coffee Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Jim,He used a 6" saw. Not sure what model but it had a 1/16th inch diamond blade on it. The cut side of the piece I retained is 99% smooth when I run my finger over it. A couple of very small ridges from where the blade torqued a bit, but not bad at all. Is there anything you would recommend to polish it with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Chris, I'm in the custom homes construction business and I think the same tools use for polishing granite/stone countertops would be just what you need to do the polishing, but I have never tried to polish a meteorite, so I'm not sure. Anyway here a link to some of the kits that are used to polish areas on the tops that have to be cut onsite during installs. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AGranite%20Polishing%20Kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Coffee Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Chris, I'm in the custom homes construction business and I think the same tools use for polishing granite/stone countertops would be just what you need to do the polishing, but I have never tried to polish a meteorite, so I'm not sure. Anyway here a link to some of the kits that are used to polish areas on the tops that have to be cut onsite during installs. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AGranite%20Polishing%20KitThank you, Au. I will check them out. Happy New Year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikestang Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) Progressively finer and finer sand paper will polish it up nicely, just stop going to finer grit once you achieve the look you're after. Edited January 1, 2014 by Mikestang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wet/dry mixer Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Used wet/dry silicon carbide, 100 grit to start and finished with 300 grit with water on this end piece, bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Used wet/dry silicon carbide, 100 grit to start and finished with 300 grit with water on this end piece, bobIs that a meteorite ? I need to get into this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wet/dry mixer Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 It is, waiting for classification. This piece has been sitting outside in the weather for the past five years. Forgot about it, until moving some junk a week ago.Looked for it numerous times, funny, wasn't looking for it when found. No rust on any of these fall-rocks.bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extractor Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Looks good ! Post up a picture after you get it polished . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 bob,This is off the thread track but:What do you mean yours is waiting for classification? When will it get a name?Mitchel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wet/dry mixer Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 My long time friend who witness the fall is having them classified. Was with him when we discovered them in the area of the fall. He will let me know when he receives the result's. Will post them, bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Chris,Here are some slices available for sale in Tucson you can compare your slice to.http://michaelbloodmeteorites.com/AuctionTucson2014.htmlMitchel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikestang Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) Chris,Here are some slices available for sale in Tucson you can compare your slice to.http://michaelbloodmeteorites.com/AuctionTucson2014.htmlMitchelMitchel, I do not think using Blood Auction specimens as a comparison is valid. Nothing for auction there is a California meteorite find, nor are the prices realized in the auction a representation of the open market value. Valid comparisons would be other CA/AZ/NV dry lake finds, and you don't see those offered for sale very often (especially after the BLM memorandum from 2012). A good source for meteorite values is Kevin Kichinka's "Global Meteorite Price Report", it shows average sale prices for tons of meteorites. But at the end of the day true value is only what someone is willing to pay. Edited January 9, 2014 by Mikestang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) Mike,Did you see Twink's finds and pictures on that site? She has a slice of The Golden Rule which is a famous Gold Basin.I was there last year and these are dealers paying these prices at the auction. I think I would be ok with paying dealer prices if I wanted one.Steve and Jeff were there buying at the auction. I think they resold them rather than keep them.Mitchel Edited January 9, 2014 by mn90403 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikestang Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) A piece of Golden Rule would not be comparable to a Coyote DL find, it's a much more uncommon meteorite to see for sale than even CA dry lake finds. Of course you could go the other way with that, too, and say Golden Rule is "just another Gold Basin chondrite" and maybe someone wouldn't want to pay all that much for it.Of course you'd be ok paying dealer/wholesale prices, we all would! But what I'm saying is that if one was selling a piece of their find they would like to realize a full retail price, not a to-be-re-sold-at-a-later-date dealer price. Edited January 10, 2014 by Mikestang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Mike,I was just posting it because it had lots of slices for someone to see. I didn't think about it any more than that. Just a visual thing only. I liked the pictures showing the inside of meteorites and the polish on them.It should become obvious to some when they slice their rocks that they don't have a meteorite.Mitchel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertsunburn Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hi Chris!I would start by cleaning it in 99% alcohol. I'd stay away from any water as it tends to desolve sulfides and promotes oxidation.I would epoxy impregnate the surface.Then start polishing on a flat plate using 600 grit silicon carbide powder and kerosene. I would do this until it was flat and all the cut marks are gone (viewing via at least 20x loupe or scope) and the entire surface is exposed and optically flat. I would then clean it again. You will note that this gives a matte finish. I would then move to 9 micron aluminum oxide powder and kerosene on a separate flat plate until all the matte from the 600grit finish was gone.This will be a finer matte finish.I then would clean it in the alcohol again and dry it out for a couple of hours on a warmer or oven at about 140 degrees.I would move to an optically flat wheel that turns about 150 rpm and begin polishing on paper with 6 micron poly diamond paste until all matte was gone and the troilite began to polish clean and then just a bit more. Now you begin to see a polished surface the begins to reflect light well. This might take more than an hour to two and your hands might be done in!After cleaning, and inspection, I would then move to 3 micron poly diamond paste on another optically flat wheel and polish until all the 6 micron marks were gone. At this point the metals are highly polished and for the human eye, no further would need to be done if it's just going to be for display. Your piece would then look professionally polished and flatBut that's just me.Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Coffee Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Jim, thank you for the instructions on how to polish the cut face of my meteorite. That is exactly what I will do AFTER I get a couple more slices cut from it. Hopefully the next cut will not leave the same issues as this time and I won't have to remove so much material before polishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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