Big Boys Hobbies

Metallic rock??

narrowroad

narrowroad

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
90
Location
Manitoba, Canada
Hey all, I need help with IDing something my dad and I found while MDing an old ghost town. It honestly just looks like a rock and we had tossed it aside when digging but checked it when we lost the signal in the hole. What made it stand out for me was its weight, when I picked it up it felt too heavy for its size. When I got it home I weighed it and it weighed 71.18g. I have placed a quarter in the picture for size reference. It is about 2" long and 1" wide at its widest point and no more than 1" thick.
I don't have any VDI or anything on my machine so I don't know how to identify what kind of metal it is, and again, it really just looks like a rock, it doesn't look like metal.
My dad's only guess was that maybe it is a piece of meteorite (which would be cool) but we really don't know and we don't know where to start as far as finding out, so I thought I would tap into the vast fountain of knowledge that is the "Friendly Metal Detecting Forum".
Thanks in advance...here's a pic.
 

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maybe it is a piece of meteorite
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That would be cool, but I think meteorites are rather smooth and pitted from "entry" burn, aren't they?

It is a cool looking rock though.
 
I found a similar item while MD'ing my backyard. I thought it was a meteorite too, but after extensive searching on the internet, I realized that it couldn't be because of the points on the "meteorite", just like yours. When a meteorite enters the atmosphere, all of the points burn down. Test it with a magnet. If a magnet sticks to it, it is definetly not a meteorite. Although meteorites do attract magnets, they will not do it this strongly. Be sure to test all around the object as it may contain impurities that the magnet might not stick to. If you hold the magnet on a string and hold it up to a meteorite, it should only slightly move the magnet. I was really convinced that I had found a meteorite too but it was not to be:no:
 
Good points tony48. You're right, if it sticks to a magnet it's not a meteorite.
 
From a BBC Website:
http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/planetsbeyond/asteroids/hunt/is_it.html

"Industrial slag also has a melted appearance and usually contains bubbles. It is, therefore, commonly mistaken for meteorites. Slag, however, has melted all the way through, rather than having a very thin crust, and contains large gas bubbles."

"Iron meteorites are the easiest to distinguish from terrestrial rocks since they are strongly magnetic and very dense (8 g/cc). It is, however, very difficult to distinguish between industrial iron and iron meteorites and this usually involves a chemical analysis."
 
Yea, from the explainations of meteorites, I would agree that my "rock" is too rough to be one. I will probably try and break it up now, I wasn't sure I wanted to if it was a meteorite. I'll let you guys know what I figure out.
 
When I found a "meteorite" in my backyard, I looked it up on the internet and after some simple tests(magnet) i concluded that it was not. I cut a chunk out of it with a hack saw to confirm it was metal.
 
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