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Re: Odessa

FERNLEA4 schrieb:

> Hello list,
>
> Can anyone advise me on the following problem?
>
> I'm in the process of cleaning a chunk of Odessa before cutting and
> etching.....this piece has several pits and holes but each has
> compacted
> limestone deeply embedded. Scraping this limestone out by hand isn't
> likely to
> leave a very good finish, so.....does anyone know of a method to
> chemically
> dissolve the limestone without damaging man or meteorite?
>
> Many thanks...from Sunny Scotland!
> Rob Elliott.

Hello Rob, hello List,

Can Scotland really be sunny more than a couple of days per year???
Well, I'm sorry - let's be serious!!!
Are you sure it is an Odessa iron? Pits and holes with compacted
limestone deeply embedded remind me of Canyon Diablo irons. Buchwald
mentions caliche incrustations for Canyon Diablos on page 397 of his
Handbook of Iron Meteorites but there is no mention of such caliche for
the Odessa irons. Is it absolutely necessary to remove it? I have a C.D.
individual with limestone intimately adhering to it and it it looks
really nice.
On the one hand, limestone is essentially CaCO3 which can easily be
dissolved with acids, but, on the other hand, this would also attack the
meteoritic metal.
Maybe the embedded parts break loose when you cut the chunk and can then
be removed more easily. You might also try scraping out most of it by
hand first without damaging the original crust, then cut it and finally
remove what is left over. Just my thoughts ... Good luck!

Regards, Bernd
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