[meteorite-list] Navel Jelly

From: tett <tett_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:11 2004
Message-ID: <3B202485.EE751E88_at_bmts.com>

Hello List,

I have been meaning to write to the list for some time regarding the use of
Navel Jelly to clean rust from specimens.

I have soaked the following specimen slices:

Juancheng
Mocs
Zag
Homestead
Selma
and others with great results. Most, if not all, of the residual rust is
removed from any polished surfaces and the cleaning brings out beautiful fresh
looking details. Every sample I have tried has turned out better in my
opinion. It also brings out better definition if any brecciation present.

One down side is that any very rough surfaces can get a very faint pink tinge.

I soak my specimens for about an hour. On a Moroccan slice I left it a day but
I think most of the rust the was going to come off did so in one hour. After
soaking, I wash the specimen in distilled water and then soak in alcohol for a
few hours minimum.

A few questions I have are:

-Has anyone used other acids with good results? The pink tinge is a downfall of
Navel Jelly.
-Am I taking a risk with some samples? I have some which were cleaned with
navel Jelly over a year ago and they still seem stable.
-Should I soak the specimens in a caustic solution to better neutralize the
acid?
-Am I changing the "pure appearance" of my specimens?

Cheers,

tett
Received on Thu 07 Jun 2001 09:04:05 PM PDT