Meteorites. Even the name sounds
compelling! Just the idea of being able to hold a rock from
another world in my own hands and feel it's strangely alien
surface just blows me away! As a young child I was always
fascinated with space and ever since that first glance through
the little telescope my Grandmother bought me for my 12th
birthday I knew I just had to get my hands on something,
anything, that came from out there.
Well, as with most
anything else, if you look for it long enough, hard enough, and
in the right places you can usually find it. Such was the case
with meteorites. I can't describe the excitement I felt when I
found that for a few dollars I could lay my hands on a piece of
the giant cosmic bullet that blasted that mile-wide crater out of
the Arizona desert so many thousands of years ago. I've been
collecting meteorites ever since, because getting my hands on it
was what really got me started! And I'm pretty sure that's what
did it for the vast majority of folks reading this now.
But as a little time
passed I discovered there were some problems involved with
handling and displaying my meteorites. Rust. Rust from the humid
air. Rust from the salty residue of my fingerprints and more rust
from who knows where. Eventually I got tired of watching my
nicest and most highly prized specimens turn to red dust before
my very eyes, so I cleaned them up, dried and oiled them, and put
them away in an airtight box. They didn't rust any longer, but
suddenly collecting them wasn't nearly as much fun any more. And
the reason was simple, I wasn't getting them out and getting my
hands on them anymore, and with that went most of the enthusiasm
I had for collecting meteorites in the first place! Fortunately
there was a simple solution to the problem and it was right under
my nose.
One of the biggest
reasons Meteoritics has begun to flourish as a legitimate science and to expand
in it's scope is the tremendous interdisciplinary approach that is used to
attack the problems it encounters. For instance, who could have guessed that
the evidence compiled by Drs. Louis and Walter Alvarez, two astrophysicists,
would totally alter the way paleontologists think about mass-extinction
events? Or that planetary scientists and astronomers would need to radically
re-think their positions on how often our planet is struck by errant
asteroids and comets because of information gathered by DOD spy satellites?
The list of contributions to meteoritics from outside and unrelated fields could fill a
book, and this seems to be a growing trend.
So, what does all
this have to do with rusty rocks from space? Well, as I mentioned
earlier, the solution to that problem was right under my nose but
I failed to notice it because it was a solution to a similar
problem but in a totally unrelated field of endeavor. I also
happen to be a hunter and collector of fine firearms. I like to
take my nicest pieces out into the field and enjoy them as they
were intended. But I was always very concerned about the damage
that the elements can inflict on the mirror-polished and blued
finish of a fine rifle. But I found a product called SHEATH that
is produced by the Birchwood-Casey company and is designed
especially for protecting firearm finishes from inclement
weather. This product works exactly as advertised and since I've
applied the SHEATH treatment to my guns I have never again had
problems with rust no matter how bad the field conditions were,
including heavy rain! I was amazed at how well this product
worked and found out later that it actually ionizes with the
surface of the metal, forming a barrier against the effects of
moisture and mild corrosives without altering the metal itself.
It leaves an effective level of protection on the steel even
after all visible traces are gone.
The idea of using
SHEATH to protect my meteorites suddenly struck me one day and it
seemed to make sense, so I gave it a try. As I expected, it works
and works very well. I have yet to see any signs of rust on any
of my irons or pallasites (whole or slices) and they all receive
at least occasional unprotected handling. I have a few whole
irons that I actually encourage my three year-old daughter to
play with! You just can't start teaching kids too young and just
like us big kids, they absolutely must be allowed to get their
hands on those meteorites! So give the SHEATH a try! You may just
find that you will enjoy playing around with those space rocks
again, and for heavens' sake let those little ones enjoy them
too! SHEATH is available at most sporting goods stores as well as
the larger discount chains that handle hunting and shooting
supplies, such as Wal-Mart, etc.
