[meteorite-list] Rust Question about my stone meteorite. BKF is the best :)

Mon Sep 13 13:48:27 EDT 2010

Hi Martin and Listers

Martin BKF is an acid and nothing more.... The acid doesn't bleach the surface and the active ingredient is oxalic acid, naturally occurs in plants and animals. The acid acts like an accelerant to the surface by stripping away the rust. The oxalic acid is nothing more then acid rain on steroids. But in this case the rust is stripped away from the meteorite, preserving the meteorite. 

As for making the meteorite worthless for being used for science, I think we can leave that up to the scientists, and to be honest, I think most meteorites in peoples collections are void because I bet scientist have strict rules on handing and storage of meteorites. But again I am not a scientist nor are most people on the list. But at any rate, if a scientist was going to use the L6 meteorite for research, I think that they would use an acid as well to strip the surface away to get to the good stuff in the middle :) 

As for changing a weathered meteorite from a W4 to W0 is probably impossible if the meteorite is a W4. The reason is because the weathering isn't superficial and the weathering is through out the meteorite. You would have to strip down the meteorite to nothing. Now do I say that everyone go out and do this no, but what I do say is if your confident and know what your doing then do it because rust for a meteorite can spell trouble.

As for devaluing a meteorite for research, Martin again I have to say that most meteorites that people own could be deemed as worthless because of how they are handled, cut, sliced, buffed and stored. But again I don't think we all have a science lab in our bedrooms performing science experiments on our meteorites. If any thing I was able to stop the process of the meteorite from rusting and restore the surface to its original form. In that regard I am able to identify the meteorite from its physical features now, making the L6 more important from a scientific observation stand point and because I can see the meteorite and not rust from old age. 

Science 101, to stop an acid one can use a neutralizer aka water

Shawn Alan 
IMCA 1633 
eBaystore 
http://shop.ebay.com/photophlow/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p 
4340 

[meteorite-list] Rust Question about my stone meteorite. BKF is the best :)Martin Altmann altmann at meteorite-martin.de 
Mon Sep 13 08:24:16 EDT 2010 

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Humhem...please! 

No offense. It's absolutely you're private affair, what you're doing with 
your meteorites. 

Though in general I think it's a big No-No to manipulate stony meteorites 
that way, to artificially bleach them. (Just was looking, "Bar Keeper 
Friend"s main reactive agent is oxalic acid). 
Stone meteorites are no irons. In my opinion such a treatment will make them 
to a certain degree worthless, 
as they can't be used anymore for scientific measurements. 

What I would urgently expect, is to avoid, that such bleached chondrites 
would be brought in circulation. 
The meteorite sector, other than the minerals and fossils sector, all in all 
was so far relatively spared from manipulated or fudged specimens. 

It would be in my very personal opinion everything else than good, that W2, 
W3, W4 material now would be pimped to be suggestive of being a W0 or a W1. 

I hope we all can agree about? 
Worried 
Martin 

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- 
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com 
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Shawn 
Alan 
Gesendet: Montag, 13. September 2010 07:59 
An: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com 
Cc: Jimski47 at aol.com 
Betreff: [meteorite-list] Rust Question about my stone meteorite. BKF is the 
best :) 

Jim k and the List, 

I took your advice and used the Bar Keeper Friend on my L6 meteorite 
fragment to remove the rust on the surface of the meteorite due to age and I 
would have to say, wow, this stuff really works. The meteorite looks so much 
better. I can see the true color of the meteorite, I can see the texture and 
the gray matrix. I have a link down below of before and after images of the 
meteorite :) Take a look and you will be amazed of the results. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48262799@N03/4985819064/sizes/l/in/photostream/ 

Shawn Alan 
IMCA 1633 
eBaystore 
http://shop.ebay.com/photophlow/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p 
4340 

[meteorite-list] Rust Question about my stone meteorite. 
Jimski47 at aol.com Jimski47 at aol.com 
Sat Sep 11 07:38:57 EDT 2010 

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Hi Shawn, 

I doubt that soaking a meteorite in alcohol will remove rust. I've used 
fine grit sandpaper to remove rust from slices. Lay the sandpaper on a hard 
flat surface and gently rub the meteorite onto the sandpaper. For removing 
rust from iron etched slices, I use a product called "Bar Keepers Friend", 
this can be found in most grocery stores cleaning supplies isle. It comes in 

a powder form, so you have to make a thick liquid out of it. Wet the 
meteorite with warm water then apply the liquid BKF. Rub it onto the 
meteorite 
with your finger gently. Rubbing to hard can damage the etch. After removing 

the rust, rinse the piece, soak it in alcohol and bake it dry in an oven 
about 200 degrees for 2 hrs. 

You can try the BKF process on a chondrite fragment and use a toothbrush 
to scrub it. It should work but you might want to experiment with a cheap 
uncl. NWA first. 

Jim K 

In a message dated 9/10/2010 11:14:49 P.M. Central Daylight Time, 
photophlow at yahoo.com writes: 
Hello Listers, 

I have a question about rust and how to clean it off your L6 meteorite. 
Now can you just soak the meteorite in a 99% alcohol bath for a couple days 
and the rust on the surface will some what come off the surface or are there 

other steps? 

The the size of the L6 fragment is 3.45g, so I dont have much room to work 
with. I used a sand/finger nail file and sanded the surface, but not sure 
if that made a difference and it seems that the L6 meteorite surface is 
stronger than the sand paper on the finger nail file. 

If any Listers have some suggestions let me know please :) 

Shawn Alan 
IMCA 1633 
eBaystore 
http://shop.ebay.com/photophlow/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p 

4340 
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