[meteorite-list] Rusting Nantans

[Waldron Cluett]

I read Anne Blacks dilema with her Nantan and had a similar experience with a 2 pounder...crumbling and oozing and rusting. I soaked the fragments in naval jelly ...available at the local hardware store... for about an hour, rinsed them off with alcohol and a tooth brush...let them dry overnight ... then lightly waxed them an polished with paper towel.   They have held up well, and the kids who visit our shop are thrilled to get a fragment for $2-4 dollars @ .50 cents a gram in a round plastic container with a card...If they still are leaking, I take the advise of another list member and soak the specimen in denatured alcohol for a week to eliminate the chemical action and then lightly wax, and polish...   The smaller fragments are also saved and put in little tubes and sold for $2.00 as "Stardust"...the only problem is we have too much Nantan stardust...   Our motto..."No Nantan will go unsold"   'Hope this will encourage some to experiment with their irons... Wally Cluett IMCA 9746 Toad Hollow Gallery & Handcrafted Jewelry 2517 Wakefield Road (Rte. 153) Wakefield, NH 03872 (603)522-6529 visit us on line at: http://groups.msn.com/ToadHollowHappenings Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com