[meteorite-list] Fired up the saw for the first time today!

[michael cottingham]

Hello,
Congrats, you just entered an amazing world of endless discovery and  
excitement. After countless of meteorite cuts (maybe 5,000 or more) I  
still love opening up a meteorite for the first time. Meteorites,  
remind me of books and each cut is like turning a page of a story...

Best Wishes

Michael Cottingham
On Jun 26, 2009, at 8:29 PM, Galactic Stone & Ironworks wrote:

> Hi Listees!
>
> I finally fired up my saw today and did my first cuts!
>
> First, I had no idea that cutting stony meteorites was so EASY.
> Albeit, I was cutting small ones.
>
> I did my very first cut on a non-descript UNWA stone.  It cut right in
> half like butter.  So, then I was feeling increasingly brave, so I cut
> some NWA 869 and Oum Dreyga.  It was surprising how easy it was to cut
> nice, thin, and even slices.  The NWA 869 and Oum Dreyga turned out
> very nice - the latter has black crust around the edges.  All of the
> slices are small - the Oum Dreyga slices were made from a 10 gram
> crusted chunk and the NWA 869 was cut from a 42 gram stone.
>
> I also cut several oddball meteorites I have been sitting on for a
> while - waiting for a saw.  Most were run of the mill H-type
> chondrites with metal flecks a few sparse chondrules.  One was an
> Al-Hagg type EL chondrite.  But one was interesting.  It has a grey
> matrix with dark grey and white clasts.  It also has a few ill-defined
> chondrules.  The stone shows a very slight attraction to a neo-magnet
> and I don't think it's a wrong.  (although I could be wrong) - it
> bears a visual resemblance to a eucrite.  I'll snap some photos and
> post them soon.
>
> I used distilled water as a coolant.  After cutting I dried the slices
> and endcuts on paper towels and then baked them in an oven for a few
> hours afterwards to purge the moisture.  Amazingly, I did a decent job
> cutting them - very few saw marks and nice even flat cuts.  Some
> slices have no visible saw marks without using a loupe to see them.  I
> haven't sanded or polished any of them yet.  I don't think the NWA 869
> slices need polishing - they look quite good as-is.  The Oum Dreyga
> shows a dual lithology or some clasts (not sure what terminology to
> use).  It reminds me of how Peekskill looks on the inside.  Maybe it's
> brecciated?  I'll try to post some pics.  There are also some nice
> well-defined chondrules.
>
> One last observation about my first cutting experience - the 6"
> lapidary saw was alot quieter than I expected it to be.  I also
> expected a big mess from coolant being flung everywhere - this didn't
> happen either.  In fact, the wife didn't even know I had been cutting
> until afterwards.  She couldn't hear it from the garage.  I guess I
> was expecting something loud like a circular saw. LOL
>
> I had fun cutting stuff and now I can't wait to start cutting other
> rocks and stuff. :)
>
> Regards,
>
> MikeG
>
> -- 
> .........................................................
> Michael Gilmer (Louisiana, USA)
> Member of the Meteoritical Society.
> Member of the Bayou Region Stargazers Network.
> Websites - http://www.galactic-stone.com and http://www.glassthrower.com
> ..........................................................
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