I heard Meteoric iron can be forged from a freind of mine, and he told me that when forging it should add some iron. I never see one by eye. Anyone had forged Meteoric iron? Thanks for your posts.

Hi, I (and others on this site) have forged meteorites, the ones I have dealings with I forged in a similar way as I would Wrought Iron

 

The very first time I went quite carefully and found that I needed to have the high forging temperature, consolidated the piece into a block, then drew it down and shaped to the required profile, cut off the excess and used that for another item,

 

The first piece was punched and bent into the shape of Ursa Major, with the stars positions stamped in and the whole thing polished, it gave an extremely bright shiny surface that seems to have lasted without the need for oiling or other finish, I suspect this is due to a high nickel content in this meteorite that supposedly originated from Jupiter.

 

The remainder was shaped, twisted and punched to form a pendant.

 

You can also pattern weld using meteorite as a contrasting material.

 

Link to short film made at the time  http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/02/04/forging_the_bear_video_feature.shtml

I was talking to Hector Cole last weekend and he showed me a knife blade he forged out of a piece of meteorite that fell in China in the 1800's.  Beautiful!  His web site is www.hectorcoleironwork.co.uk  He does some forge classes and was a welth of knowledge.

Small point:  Meteorites don't come from Jupiter since it is a gas planet.  Most of them come from the asteroid belt which lies between Jupiter and Mars.

 

I couldn't see the film for some reason but it sounds like a really cool pendant.  While looking at some of the sites about forging meteorites it appears that additional earth metal is almost always used

because of the absence of carbon in the Ni/Fe meteorites.

 

Neat stuff!

 

Larry

here is the thread about mine http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/10829-space-rock-blade/?hl=%2Bspace+%2Brock

I belong to the Southern Indiana Meteorite Mashers, a sattalite group of the Indiana Blacksmithing Association. We got our name from Billy Merrit, our forge master. He has forged meteorite into knives and viking style swords, and has introduced all of our regular members into the elite club of those who have forged meteorite. Mine became a pendent for one daughter and earrings for the other. Both loved the subtle pattern, and knowing that they were both made from meteroite and that their Dad made them.

Billy Merrit is know as The King of Junkyard Damasacus, and often does welding demo's where all are sure that the billet is far too cold to weld. He gets the welds every time, and often uses only a hammer handle to effect the weld. Handle only, no head!

The material we have been using came from "the Campo de Cielo meteorite field in Argentina.

Billy had us consolidate the billet and then forge to shape.

Forges fair, eats saws:)

I have always wanted to do this since i saw in on a nickolodean show Called Avatar the last air bender they forge a meteorite into a sword.

Just remember that once you forge an iron meteorite you will lose the widmanstatten pattern that is diagnostic of meteorites.  The knives, etc. that you may see with the pattern etched on the blade are made by stock removal and are not hardened or tempered.

 

Crystally,

George M.

THANKS guys!!! :0

I have always wanted to do this since i saw in on a nickolodean show Called Avatar the last air bender they forge a meteorite into a sword.

Space sword!!
Hehe I forgot about that

OK first most folks have addressed using meteorite as one of the alloys in pattern welded stuff; not forging it directly.

 

Secondly it depends a LOT on what the particular meteorite contains.  Some falls are know to be good for forging and others to be very difficult or impossible to forge.  (IIRC some books on bladesmithing mention some of the common falls and how they forge)

 

And as mentioned you lose the  widmanstatten pattern if you forge it.

 

Forging a meteorite directly into a sword gives you a really crappy sword that one forged from a car leaf spring would be MUCH superior to!  Going by Hollywood is not a useful thing.  IIRC there was a Mohgul Emperor who was presented with a meteorite who gave it to his swordsmiths and after much experimentation they finally figured out the ratio of normal steel to meteorite to get a usable material and it was several times as much normal steel as meteorite!