Smelting gold, silver, platinum and other metals at home is a popular trend these days, whereas it used to be of interest only to jewelry designers and artists.
Gold is purified by means of a smelting process, which utilizes pressure, high heat and chemicals to accomplish the task. Like any metal that appears naturally in the earth, there are impurities that must be removed. Removing minerals and other impurities allows gold to be used in its purest form
Have you recently scored some gold dust or small nuggets on a recent creek panning adventure?
Whether you are smelting natural gold you've recovered from prospecting, or the broken jewelry or beat up coins you no longer want, smelted gold is most easily sold or re-fashioned after first removing impurities and casting it into ingots.
Interested in The processes of smelting or roasting your ore to recover its gold and silver? Some fairly rich ores require a lot of work to get all the gold and silver out them.
Gold is purified by means of a smelting process, which utilizes pressure, high heat and chemicals to accomplish the task. Like any metal that appears naturally in the earth, there are impurities that must be removed. Removing minerals and other impurities allows gold to be used in its purest form
Melting means to change something from a solid to a liquid by the application of heat. When the heat is removed, the melted material returns to its solid state. Its chemical content has not been changed. Smelting, however, is a metallurgical term. It refers to "burning off" the impurities that your gold might be mixed with, resulting in nearly pure gold.
The process of smelting is how gold is separated from impurities, with the end result being solid gold.
Before starting process of smelting, the gold, whether it is gold dust, nuggets, or broken jewelry, mineral ore has to be mixed with a medium called flux ( Phyroborat )
In metal refining, a flux is sort of like a cleaning agent because it helps remove impurities from a sample. With some borax, heat, and a little know-how, it’s possible to extract pure gold from a sample of ore. This is because using borax as the flux reduces the melting point of all the elements in a piece of ore, including gold.
Place your gold jewelry, gold powder or nugget inside of a crucible, and most crucibles for smltting are made of graphite, which enables them to withstand the melting of the material inside.
Before starting the melting process wear your safety mask or goggles, Then place the crucibles properly, so as crucibles not to shake and facilitate the process of smelting
Light a propane torch and begin moving the flame over the gold. Hold the flame over the gold until the gold is red-hot.
Prepare to melt the gold. Sprinkle a little borax onto your gold piece. Increase the amount of heat on the torch until the gold starts to melt.
Make sure that everything in the crucible is melted/liquid before you attempt ot pour in to a mold.
Pour into your mold with a torch flame on the material so that it will remain liquid and less left behind on the dish.
Never use iron or any metal vessel to melt in. It is OK to pour the molten metals from your crucible into a metal vessel, but not to actually melt in them.
Some grapite spray, torch smoke, or even some oil will help keep things from sticking to the mold. Obtain, or build a cone type mold. It will make it much easier to get your button at the end of the process.
The mold can even be made from clay if necessary. A brick hollowed out is even an option. Just make sure you warm it before you pour molten metal into the cavity to drive out any moisture.
A steam explosion is not likely, but could potentially happen if you just grab one from the yard 5 minutes before you are ready to pour. With clay or brick you don't have to worry about your pour sticking either.
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