[meteorite-list] Why not oil /diamond blades for cutting meteorites?

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:52 2004
Message-ID: <029b01c40eb0$9d5f06a0$ad971018_at_attbi.com>

Hi Dean and List,

It is crazy using alcohol in a saw that was not designed for it. You need a
very low speed saw (1-300RPM) with the motor isolated from the cutting
reservoir and fumes or else you are asking for a trip to the emergency room.
Alcohol also destroys the rubber seals that protect your bearings and
dissolves the grease in them causing premature saw failure.

Oil does no permanent damage to meteorites so long as it is filtered on a
regular basis. Literally every polishing operation I have seen uses
distilled water. Using tap water is being cheap as it introduces chlorine
into the meteorite creating long term reactions that break down the metal
component and a few other minerals. Oil acts as a temporary sealant during
the polishing operation preventing water from being absorbed into the
specimen. The polishing operation removes most of the oil. A pure ethyl
alcohol bath can be used to extract the rest of the oil trapped in the
specimen. A final treatment should be to slow dry the specimen in a
humidity free environment. We use a halogen lamp for this purpose. All
specimens should be polished immediately after cutting because it reduces
the surface area in which moisture can be trapped.

I hope this helps,

Adam Hupe
The Hupe Collection,
IMCA 2185
Received on Sat 20 Mar 2004 02:21:57 PM PST