[meteorite-list] thin section waste?

[Tom Knudson]

Hi Göran and list. My problem; I have a meteorite in for classification, the
lab doing the work said it looks, only a guess, but, a Strange carbonaceous
either an R or CO. However, there appear to be C-pockets in the matrix
(unusual)."  He has not received the thin section back, so it is only a
guess!!!  The meteorite weighed 205 grams.  I bought it as an unclassified
stone and was just looking for something to practice cutting and maybe sell
the slices on ebay. Not knowing it was possibly something different,  I cut
away and made a bunch of really nice thin slices and an end cut. I still
have the main mass of 78 grams. I sent 21 grams off for classification, I
sent 4g part slice off to Superman, at least that is what I think of him.
: )  After the cut loss, the meteorite is disappearing.
  http://www.petrography.com   wants you to send them a 10mm thick piece to
make a thin section. All my slices are 2mm to 4mm thick, so to get a 10mm
thick piece, I would have to cut it from the main mass and that would be a
third of it, for one thin section, the main mass is only 78 grams, that
would be 25 grams.
  Lets say it is a carbonaceous, 25 grams for one thin section, no way!  I
wanted to know if I cut one of my 2mm slice into four pieces, if I could
make four thin sections out of that. I read a few websites that said you had
to start with a 10mm thick piece, so I figured that must be the way it had
to be done. : )


Thanks, Tom
peregrineflier <><

----- Original Message -----
From: "Göran Axelsson" <axelsson at acc.umu.se>
To: "met list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] thin section waste?


> Hi Tom!
>
> Do you really think the rest of the material is being wasted? I would
> guess that the piece left is returned to the owner if he wants it back
> and then it doesn't really matter if it's 4 or 10 mm thick.
>
> The website you linked to is a general description on how to make
> a thin section (very good site, I've bookmarked it for the future)
> apparently aimed for students or temporary visitors. It's not a
> description on how to make thin section of meteorites as the way
> to measure thickness is to look at the color of quartz.
>
> I think that they could work with almost any material size and
> thickness if it's only rare enough and you pay them for the work.
>
>    :-)
>
> /Göran
>
> Tom Knudson wrote:
>
> >Hi List, I know nothing about thin sections or how they are made. So, I
went
> >to Google like a good boy and read about it.  All the sites I visited
said
> >the same thing, but gave no explanation. They said you end up with a
"chip"
> >it is the piece that is clued to the slide.  They say to, take a "chip"
27
> >x 46 mm rectangular and 10mm thick epoxy it to the glass then cut off the
> >chip as close to the glass as possible leaving just a thin slice attached
to
> >the glass.
> >   Okay, I said in the beginning, I know nothing about thin sections, but
> >that seems like a waste of time and material to me!!!  You just wasted
3/4's
> >of the material! Why not take a piece 27 x 46mm and 4mm thick and epoxy
it
> >to the glass and save your self the second cut and 6mm of your material?
> >You can call me what you will, but I can not see the reasoning behind the
> >waste!  If you are making a lunar thin section, that is an expensive
> >proposition!
> >
> >http://almandine.geol.wwu.edu/other/thinsections/
> >
> >
> >Thanks, Tom
> >peregrineflier <><
> >
> >
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