METEORITE DAMASCUS
Early summer of 2008, I met a man who finds meteorites .... for a living. He also cuts, polishes and
acid etches meteorites. A strange coincidence - his name is Mike Miller, same as my name, and he lives
in Kingman, AZ , same as me.
I've had an interest in meteorites since I was a kid and from the beginning
of my knife-making career I've wanted to incorporate meteoric iron into some damascus for a knife blade.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Well, we came to an agreement and Mike provided me with some meteorite
materials to do just that - make meteorite damascus.
Mike has the distinction of being one of the
few people on earth who have found pieces of the very rare "Glorieta Mountain" meteorite in New Mexico.
Some of the materials that he provided me with are from this rare meteorite.
Below are some examples
of meteorite damascus knives I've completed over the past several months. Most are made with "Glorieta".
All of these blades are of "san-mai" construction. That means that a "core" of high carbon steel
is sandwiched between two bars of the meteorite damascus, so that the high carbon "core" forms the cutting
edge. This ensures that the cutting edge will heat treat and harden to "knife edge" quality, even if
the sides (meteorite materials), do not. These are all fully functional knives, not just display pieces.
All of my production of "Glorieta" damascus will be sold through Mike's website. Use this link to get
there: http://www.meteoritefinder.com.
I will occasionally have meteorite damascus made with
other meteorite materials available here on my website, on the "available knives" page.
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#H394
Blade: Glorieta meteorite / 1084 high carbon steel
Guard: Seymchan meteorite
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Blade: Glorieta and 1080
Guard: Muonionalusta
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B-103
Blade and guard of damascus with Gibeon, Henbury and Chinga meteorites, and 1084
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#H340
Blade: Glorieta Meteorite / 1080
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#H336
Blade: Glorieta Meteorite / 1084
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#H359
Blade: Materials from Gibeon, Chinga and Henbury meteorites / 1080 and 1095
Bolsters: Etched
Brenham meteorite
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#H333
Blade: Glorieta Meteorite / 1084
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#H334
Blade: Glorieta Meteorite / 1084
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#B088
Blade: Materials from Gibeon, Chinga and Henbury meteorites / 1080 and 1095
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#H332
Blade: Glorieta Meteorite / 1084
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Below are listed some of the meteorite materials that I have used in blades, along with their chemical
compositions. Percentages of elements listed are only approximations.
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Glorieta Mountain Meteorite
(Stony-Iron, Pallasite)
Location: Canoncito, Santa Fe County
New Mexico
Time of Fall: ?
Discovered: 1884
Composition: Fe - 87.05%
Ni -
12.04%
Co - 0.54%
P - 0.37%
Cr - 6.4 ppm
Cu - 248 ppm
Ga - 14.2 ppm
Ge
- 10.9 ppm
Ir - 0.014 ppm
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Gibeon Meteorite
Location: Great Namaqualand, Namibia, Africa
Time of fall: Prehistoric
Discovered: 1838
Composition: Fe - 91.8%
Ni - 7.7%
Co - 0.5%
P - 0.04%
Ir - 2.4 ppm
Ga - 1.97 ppm
Ge - 0.111 ppm
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Henbury Meteorite
Location: Northern Territory of Austrailia
Time of Fall: Approx. 4,000
years ago
Discovered: 1899
Composition: Fe - 91.95%
N - 7.51%
Co - 0.45%
P -
0.09%
Ga - 18 ppm
Ge - 34 ppm
Ir - 13 ppm
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Chinga Meteorite (Ataxite, Ni-rich)
Location: Tanna Tuva, Turvinskaya, Russia
Time of
Fall: ?
Discovered: 1913
Composition: Fe - 83.6%
N - 16.38%
Ga - 0.181 ppm
Ge
- 0.82 ppm
Ir - 3.6 ppm
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