Hi Mike,
The process you have performed is called "Reverse Electrolysis". It is
typically used to conserve iron or other metallic objects by removing salts
or other corrosive elements that have penetrated the object. It is most
commonly used to conserve iron shipwreck objects found in salt water.
Best regards,
Greg
Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
NaturesVault (eBay)
gmh...@htn.net
www.LunarRock.com
IMCA 3163
Click here for my current eBay auctions:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnaturesvault
- Original Message -
From: "Michael Murray"
To:
Cc: "Meteorite-list"
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Flow lines on the INSIDE! Not. (cleaning
ironsfollow-up)
Hi All,
I put my little suspect iron in a solution of water and calcium
carbonate. I actually wrapped it loosely with tinfoil and sat that down
in the mixture. I got out my trusty battery charger and connected the
red lead to a sacrificial piece of junk strap metal and sat that down
along one side of the plastic bowl. I connected the black lead to the
tinfoil. Actually clamping it against the side of the bowl same as I did
the piece of strap on the other side of the bowl. Anyway, I poured in a
couple teaspoons cleanser and swished it around with a plastic spoon so
it was dissolved good. Plugged in the charger and watched as a steady
stream of bubbles headed from the tinfoil towards the sacrificial anode
strap. After about two hours of cooking, I can now see what I have. A
really sculptured, bright chrome something that is as hard or harder than
tool steel (don't ask how I know that last bit) and shaped like a
stretched out version of Willamette. I did a nickel test and think now
with all I see that it might need to go to someone to get checked further
if I want to know for sure. Anyway, the process worked better than I was
expecting. Doesn't seem to be dangerous to do. I put the charger on
12V, 6 amp scale. I left the solution outside when it was cooking. I
treated my specimen to a bath in penetrating oil when I had finished
cleaning it. One more interesting tidbit, looks like after the red rust
was removed, left on the suspect rock is a very thin black coating in
quite a few places, mostly in the low spots. If that is magnetite then I
answered my own question, no, the process doesn't remove the oxide, only
the red rust. My little experiment worked well enough for my purposes,
but hopefully no one with a stone of any value will follow my lead. I
would hate to think I inspired someone to ruin a valuable specimen.
Mike in CO
On Sep 28, 2009, at 1:52 PM, countde...@earthlink.net wrote:
Hi Jason, Piper, Mike and List,
Gathering my tattered cloak up to cover myself, I must say that even I,
with less than a year in the game, wouldn't be so ignorant as to say I
saw flow lines on the INSIDE of a specimen. What I said.. and did see..
were..and I will be a bit more descriptive here...nearly parallel, but
sinuous, thin, rounded, iron lines orientated in one direction on the
outside surface of a formerly concreted and rusted Nantan that I had
blasted the crap out of and wirebrushed. It looks lovely. Maybe I should
put it eBay and call it a 100% crusted and oriented individual...:o}
Guido
-Original Message-
From: Jason Utas
Sent: Sep 28, 2009 4:45 AM
To: Meteorite-list
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "flow lines" on weathered irons (was
"question on cleaning irons")
Hello Piper,
Of course - hence the differential weathering rates of Campos ("old"
versus "new"), to name one of many examples.
Perhaps the best example of such weathering can be seen on irons from
Gibeon. I unfortunately don't have a copy of Buchwald here, but if
anyone does have access to the second volume, if they could flip
through the Gibeon section, they would find a photograph of a
beautiful mass of Gibeon (I forget the name of the mass) on display in
a museum in Germany. It displays beautiful fusion crust and
smooth-edged, shallow regmaglypts - it looks as fresh as many Sikhotes
on the market today. Compare it to many of the larger Gibeons on ebay
today and you'll see little-to-no resemblance. If anyone out there
can scan a picture of said page, I'd be much obliged. It really is a
good example.
There are, however, a few common irons which I would never expect to
have fusion crust: Canyon Diablo, Toluca, Odessa, and Nantan, to name
a few. I've seen hundreds, if not thousands of examples of each, and
I have never seen a single one of any of them that came close to being
"fresh" enough to retain a trace of fusion crust.
Nantan is one of the most corroded and least stable iron meteorites I
have ever known, though Dronino's turning out to be about as bad.
People need to learn more in order to clear up the misconception that
all meteorites show signs of a hot, violent entry through the
atm
