[meteorite-list] Stange Happenings in the Shop

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:27:45 2004
Message-ID: <07dd01c3a5b3$a027d580$d2dbe60c_at_attbi.com>

Dear List Members,

We had a pretty strange thing happen in our shop today. We purchased some
so-called "magic cleaning potion" at the Denver show from a hippie that had
beautiful mineral specimens for sale. He told us the stuff works great for
removing calcite from minerals. We asked about meteorites and he said it
would be safe because it is natural, does not pollute and is a "green
product". We mixed up a batch with some distilled water as he directed and
threw a handful of Taza irons into the solution. What happened next was
pretty scary. The bucket started to bubble (or boil, we are not sure) and a
noxious brown cloud that smelt like rotten eggs permeated our shop gagging
everybody present. We were tempted to call a hazmat team but decided to
deal with the problem ourselves. We didn't have gas masks so we had to
reenter the shop with wet towels over our faces, put the bucket outside and
open the windows. Once we felt it was safe to go near the bucket we dumped
out the contents on the driveway and hosed everything down. What we found
was that this stuff not only removed the calcite but also etched the
meteorites from the outside and ate a large hole in the driveway. If we
would have soaked them overnight like the hippie advised there probably
would have been nothing left including the bucket. Needless to say, this
will be a limited addition item as we are going back to the air-abrasion
tool method to clean irons. Assuming this stuff was some kind of very
powerful acid we neutralized the irons using baking soda, washed them with
pure ethyl alcohol and heat treated them. Although it was a bad experience,
the end product looks pretty cool. If you are interested in seeing what
they look like check out this link:

http://www.lunarrock.com/11-7/taza1.jpg

To help offset the costs of repairing the driveway, we are making this
limited addition run available on eBay. If you are interested, here is the
link:

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/meteoritelab/


Wishing everybody well,

Adam and Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
IMCA 2185
Received on Fri 07 Nov 2003 11:48:59 PM PST