METEORITE MARKET TRENDS
June, 2009
by Michael Blood
Unlike the previous 6 to 8 months, the market has become a bit unpredictable. The trend up until now has been consistently upward, with the only variations involving the degree of increased prices being based on typology, roughly from unidentified, broken NWA material through the older historic falls.
While this trend is holding generally true, the have been a number of incidences where material of various categories have been offered at notably lower prices than have recently been the case – mostly among the rarer types of identified NWA material – particularly among the “3”s.
The significance (if any) of these lower prices will only make itself known over time. While this is a very limited amount of information, there is another issue perhaps worth discussing:
On an entirely different note, several people have asked me how to cut very small and rare pieces with the minimum amount of mass loss. There are two ways I go about this: One involves a “thin section saw” with an incredibly fine adjustment combined with a relatively thin 4 inch blade. This cuts with the weight of the arbor and stone, itself, as the “driving force.” With this saw, slabbing of material can be precisely performed with a minimum of saw lass with pieces up to about 3.5 inches in diameter. I will not go into it here, as the cost of this unite makes it a financially unsound investment for those who are not cutting for commercial reasons (a blade, alone, for this saw costs $200).
A far more economically feasible saw with slight adaptation to the set up is found in a “standard” 4 inch saw (which is a mini-trim saw, NOT for slabbing). One of these saws can be had on the internet for around $200. I use the “Tiny Trim Saw” ( http://www.dadsrockshop.com/trimsaw1.html ) Which costs $225 now ($89 when I bought it), I am sure the internet via google will produce a number of these type saws with various advantages and prices. I used to feel a major drawback to this saw is that the table is mounted such that the arbor disrupts the surface, limiting the depth of cut to under two inches. However, this is when I was using it for general lapidary work long before I started collecting, then dealing, then cutting meteorites.
I now use this machine exclusively for very costly material of at least several hundreds of dollars per gram. I use a 004 blade that is so thin its structural integrity comes more from the centrifugal force than from its bulk. This leaves an incredibly small “curf” (the space removed by the saw blade). I make a folded white paper “pan” to fit in the bottom to catch even the tiniest frags – and even dust. Lastly, I cut the material with no cooling fluid whatsoever. The saw blades cost about $35 and the diamond edge lost in cutting is far less costly than the material I am cutting.
To finish it off, I make a “false table” to minimize fragment loss from falling through the unnecessarily wide slot in the table to accommodate the blade. I use a scroll saw to cut a plastic medium (in this case, a used collar to keep a dog from pulling out stitches). Of course, this 4 inch saw and blade combined with a dry cut and the described set up works best with the softer materials, such as Zagami, Passamonte, etc, but works quite well with harder Lunars and Marians, as well. In addition, I use it with some of the more extremely rare hammers, where breaking or even smashing them would be far more destructive.
Obviously, one would not want to try this with an iron or pallasite, or with any meteorite of a lower value. Here a 6 inch saw with an 006 blade will do wonders (In such cases, I use distilled water mixed with Bill Mason’s meteorite cutting fluid and soak several minutes in 96% alcohol before drying in a pilot lit oven for a few hrs. afterwards) This latter set up will do just about any job but slabbing, which requires an entirely different set up. I do not do that, myself, so, won’t go into it.
Until next time, HAPPY HUNTING! Michael
