[meteorite-list] "not the best place to hunt meteorites"

[Jerry]

Lasse,
That's neat and simple but I learned that magnets can be deceptive in that 
there's an ungodly amount of terrestrial iron in the rocks here in New 
England. [maybe these here parts was never molten, ye think]
But It's a good 1st step.
I've yet to employ my newly acquired metal detector that Rubin used so 
successfully out west so I'm all talk at this point. But I did become 
discouraged after sending several magnetic samples off for testing before I 
learned how to recognize most meterorites in the hand.
Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lasse Lindh" <3l at comhem.se>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "not the best place to hunt meteorites"



> Hi Michael and all

>

> We have had quite a lot of discussion about neodymium magnets for

> hunting on Skyrock Cafe. Some of the members there have used that method

> for some time. It does work quite well. In have a neo on a monopod stick

> with 40 kg pull force. But I was not satisfied with this solution

> because the chance to miss that little chondrite or iron is too big when

> using just one small magnet, so I desided to make a rake like you have

> done. This rake is bit larger and have wheels for easier pull and to

> keep the magnets off ground so they won't wear down too much or the duck

> tape that protects them.

>

> This is a 3D drawing of my Neo Meteorite catcher... ;o)  It's slightly

> modified the wheeled rake by using five 4 inch neo magnets with 140 lbs

> pull force. That allows me to cover just over 2 feet search area at the

> same time.

>

> http://www.swedbird.com/meteorite/met_mag.jpg

>

> Regards

>

> Lasse

>

>

> Michael Murray skrev:

>> Hi List,

>>

>> (This is somewhat of a rehash of information I have posted before)

>>

>> If the meteorite hunting bug has landed on your shoulder but you think 

>> the area you live in is not the best for finding meteorites, you should 

>> give my hunting method a try.  You could be pleasantly surprised at what 

>> you come up with.   I went to a local hardware store a few years back and 

>> purchased a shop magnet cane.  It has a wooden handle about 40 inches 

>> long with a ring magnet on the bottom that is sandwiched in between two 

>> plates of steel.  I also purchased a couple 2" x 2" x 7mm neodymium iron 

>> boron sugermagnets which I placed very carefully side by side on the 

>> trailing edge of the bottom steel plate.  Please note: If you attempt 

>> this beware, strong magnets like that can injure your fingers quite 

>> easily.  Use plenty of caution.  I put the cane in a vise so it could not 

>> move before attempting to place the first magnet on.  The second magnet 

>> was a bit harder to get into place until it got close enough to the first 

>> one.

>>

>> I have drug my magnet cane all over the place, mostly wherever there are 

>> gravels.  I have not had any of my finds substantiated by experts. 

>> None-the-less I have come up with some very possible "suspect" stones. 

>> Some are what I believe are irons and some stonys.  A couple suspect 

>> stonys I found in dirt not gravels.  This is what leaves me to believe 

>> that even if you might not think hunting in your area would be very good, 

>> you may still find that the magnet will find them anyway. The smaller 

>> objects falling to earth most likely will not penetrate very deep into 

>> the soil when they hit.  Some not at all if the surface is somewhat hard. 

>> Erosion can also expose them over time.  I live in an area where a river 

>> cuts its way through the valley.  I have found that the river gravels 

>> contain quite a few of what I term "suspect" stones.  I suppose the 

>> reason for this is that in time, due to constant washing from snow runoff 

>> and forceful rains, a lot of small material finds its way into the river, 

>> including meteorites.

>>

>> It takes a little time spent looking close at local rocks to get to where 

>> you can pick the unusual out from the rest with any certainty.  Of 

>> course, if you live in an area with very few rocks, anything you pick up 

>> might be worth investigating.

>>

>> After I have drug the magnets for a bit, I clean off anything that has 

>> stuck to them into a fine mesh (window) screen sitting down in a gold 

>> pan.  I put water in the pan so it covers the material.  I then wash the 

>> materials vigorously in order to get rid of the dirt and fines, which are 

>> usually magnetite.  Then I screen the material again through a 1/4" mesh 

>> screen.  That lets me look at similar sized pieces less than 1/4" by 

>> themselves, and then also those larger than 1/4" that have been separated 

>> by the screen by themselves.  I will keep some water in the gold pan with 

>> the smaller material and do what is known in the gold panning world as a 

>> blueberry bounce.  That moves the heavy material to the one side of the 

>> pan and lets me see any iron or metal fairly easily as otherwise those 

>> pieces might remain buried under other lighter weight stones.  Then I can 

>> pass a strong refrigerator magnet barely above the rocks and pull out 

>> almost all the bigger magnetite and iron pieces.  I place the stuff that 

>> that small magnet collects onto a small paper plate and examine them for 

>> possible suspect stones before tossing them.  (kind of like gold panning, 

>> you don't want to throw out a nugget)  Then I will drain and let all the 

>> stones in the gold pan dry completely.  Once dry, I once again do the 

>> blueberry bounce technique and look over the material closely again using 

>> my low-power m-scope.  A hand lens, field microscope, or illuminated 

>> magnifier all work but the low-power microscope has been the easiest on 

>> my vision when used for any length of time.  I also spend time closely 

>> examining the rest of the material in the pan because stonys don't always 

>> move with the heavier materials.  Once I find a suspect stone, I pull it 

>> out of the pan with plastic tweezers and place it on a small magnet and 

>> put it under my scope for a good look.  Some I recognize to be unique and 

>> put them in vials for study later on, and some I keep for examples of 

>> good meteorwrongs.  Usually 99.999% are simply earth rocks, although even 

>> some of those are quite interesting.

>>

>> Not all the suspect stones are small but most I have found are 1/2" or 

>> less.  A waste of time you say?  Well possibly, but it has been a good 

>> way for me to learn about meteorites.  This hobby has helped me also get 

>> interested in learning about other solar bodies as well as the earth.  I 

>> have a lot of folks on the Met-List to thank for most of that type 

>> information.  As far as meteorites go,  I'm not so much into buying, 

>> selling and collecting.  I just really enjoy finding them myself and 

>> seeing them up close.

>>

>> So again, I hope some of you who live in the "not the best place to hunt 

>> meteorites" give this a try.  But be extremely careful how you handle 

>> strong magnets.  I wouldn't want to see anyone smash a finger doing this. 

>> If you are one of the young enthusiasts in this hobby, I would have to 

>> recommend you don't attempt to add any magnets to the cane.  Use it just 

>> like it comes from the store.  I did for a while and still I found some 

>> very interesting stones with it.

>>

>> I have a picture here that shows both my cane and my latest attempt at a 

>> magnet rake.  The rake has three 80 mm square x 10 mm thick NDIB 

>> supermagnets on it.  If you look at it and wonder why I spaced the 

>> magnets so far apart on this apparatus, suffice it to say I was too 

>> chicken to get them any closer.  I may move the two outside ones in about 

>> an inch each at some point.  I can tell you, I had a enough fun trying to 

>> separate them when getting ready to put them on this rake.  I wouldn't 

>> want to get a body part in between two of them.

>>

>> Everything was muddy when I last used both these things.  It's cold and 

>> freezing here still so I haven't tried washing them off. I apologize, the 

>> picture is not the best.   I think if you can zoom in on the cane by the 

>> wheel of the air compressor, you can still make out the  2 - 2" magnets 

>> there side by side on the front edge.   Don't look too close at the rake, 

>> its my first attempt.

>>

>> I must explain too that my hunting method and the use of water are not 

>> highly recommended by others in the world of meteorites.  The magnetism 

>> might affect testing the stone later on, and tap water may cause rust 

>> prone stones to rust.

>>

>> Anyway, best of luck with your hunting,  If you find something, share a 

>> picture or two

>>

>> Mike in CO

>>

>> BTW, the last four pictures are of my first finds using my home-made 

>> magnet rake.  I have used it twice now on some short distance walks.  I 

>> believe the "suspect" iron is a match to 5 other pieces I had previously 

>> found with the cane.  Most likely a piece separated out of an 

>> octahedrite, as I suspect the others like it that I have are.  I can't 

>> wait for warmer weather so I can take it out to more areas.   Pictures of 

>> the stones aren't too good as they are taken with a camera on the 

>> m-scope.

>>

>> <http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p124/mmurray_02/IMG_0579.jpg>

>>

>> <http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p124/mmurray_02/2008_i2.jpg>

>>

>> <http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p124/mmurray_02/2008_i1.jpg>

>>

>> <http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p124/mmurray_02/2008_s1.jpg>

>>

>> <http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p124/mmurray_02/2008_s2.jpg>

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>

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