Hi Jamie What I know is that the irons will smear if you use a diamond blade (the metal smars on the blade itself and reduces the blades ability to cut. I've heard that for larger irons, they use those carbide cutoff blades, much cheaper overall than diamond and they don't get loaded up or smeared like diamond blades do. The downside is that your limited to whats avail commercially as to thickness of the blade and hense loss of material. Gravity feed will work fine for cutting most things including metal (which is the most common form of saw for cutting industrial metal). For smaller irons though, you might think about using a wire/grit saw. slower, but your material loss will be much less. This is how they cut very expensive opal for triplets and although the machines they use are really expensive, the process is simple and used in principle at many quaries for large blocks Mark ----- Original Message ----- From: Jamie Stephens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Meteorite-List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 9:16 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] Cutting irons?
> List Members, > > Here's a classic question: What's the best technique for > cutting iron meteorites, including irons with schreibersite, > cohenite, and other hard stuff? > > I've looked in the list archives, and the best advice I've > found was "leave it to the professionals". I've taken that > advice (thanks, Jim), and I'll continue to. But I'd also > like to see what I can learn first-hand. (Yet another way > to spend lots of time and money on meteorites.) > > What blades are best? I have a 12" slab saw that can > accomodate 10" blades. Oil only. Are the "meteorite CBN" > blades better than good-quality, traditional diamond blades? > I'd like to use 10" blades to minimize kerf/waste, but blade > strength might be an issue. > > Power feed or gravity feed? I like the idea of constant > force gravity feed into hard minerals. > > I'd appreciate any suggestions. > > --Jamie Stephens > IMCA 2828 > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
