[meteorite-list] Small iron for fire making needed

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Ed wrote:

<<What type of irons would be good for fire-starting? Any  ideas?  Small 
sized ones should be adequate (only large enough to hold  between your left thumb 
and forefinger, along with some dried plant strands or a  piece of 
char-cloth.) From what I've seen, I think that slices should also be  acceptable - but 
they have to be large enough to hold, and thick enough to stand  glacing 
blow-scraping.>>
 
Hola Ed, You probably know some of this but let me run some ideas by  you on 
how meteorites might fit into making a medieval BIC lighter (but it won't  
cost $1.49).  You want the closest thing to hardened steel you can get  which, 
upon striking against a stone has the potential to release tiny  specs of 
frictionally lit and burning ( byproduct=magnetite:-(ughh )With that in  mind you 
probably want to consider the higher carbon meteorites.   Unfortunately you want 
carbon steel, but meteorites are a little lame in this  department.  
Reasonable ones are normally in the 0.2% Carbon  content range.  And on top of that, 
not all meteorites are created and  weather equal.  Some of those like Campos 
that have been weathered can  exhibit breakdown of cohenite into graphite (yes, 
you can actually write with  Campo graphite almost like a pencil).  That is 
needless to say a soft form  of carbon.  You are looking - I think - for 
something that has  conserved its iron carbide (cohenite) content, probably that  
meteorite cutters complain that causes them to run through too many saw  blades 
because of the high cohenite content(some other very hard minerals like  
schreibersite may or may not be beneficial, I would be wary of having too much  of 
them).   This can be on a case by case basis when cutting  samples.  There was 
actually some guy on eBay you might dig up, a  while back cutting curved 
shapes like the "S" in Stuperman out of pallasites (I  don't approve of this waste 
of good material and expressed my opinion, but that  doesn't stop anyone, but 
your limited ritual piece sounds pretty  interesting).  I think a miniature 
flattened S shape would be just what the  Vikings ordered maybe with a 
rectangular end representing Thor's hammer for good  luck since it is by his grace 
that you get some of the lightening stone.   Also you might have better luck by 
soaking repeatedly and drying your charcloth  in extra yellow urine as was a 
Viking custom to make it better (a source of the  sodium nitrate residue, 
similar to saltpeter in gunpowder).  Sure slices  ought to work, especially those 
cut to thin or beveled edges due to the shallow  strike angle you will want to 
use.
 
Finally, not having the time or expertise to interpret and go through the  
carbon and cohenite contents of all the irons, I would suggest you start with  
Canyon Diablo which is relatively plentiful and where cohenite (basically an  
extra-terrestrial or impact mineral) was identified by iconic meteorite  
collector Harvey Nininger.  I am sure it was known by North American  Indians and 
used for something, which relates to you I think as you mentioned  Canada better 
than some other examples we could come up with).  The  meteorite is an older 
one (fell 50 tya) but it may have somewhat "smelted" upon  the heat of its 
impact where even trace quantities of diamonds have been  detected (Diamond being 
another form of carbon quite hard, but not in the steel  as you prefer).
 
The lower efficiency of using iron meteorites as a source of firesteel in  
olden times probably was solved by medieval alchemists, especially  
Germanic/Norse ones who really needed fire to survive and florish,  by working the metal 
over coals where the carbon was combined into the  hardening process as a form 
of the art.  Also, you can check out Damascus  steel, which is the process 
revived today since the first  millenium knowledge of the Vikings and Crusaders 
(and befor that the  middle-east), that does exactly this hardenning in 
addition of carbon up to  2% (above which properties start to change again and it is 
no longer as  desirable for forging swords and blades).
 
Hope you find this useful, Good luck!
Saludos, Doug