Round silver shots

I always wondered how the pure silver shots from refiners is produced.once i bought 100 oz silver bar and poured it slowly in water but the shots came like popcorn

Dropping height plays a role in how they get formed, but you can get solid pieces instead of those "cornflakes" simply by pouring the metal through an orifice instead of drizzling it over the edge of a dish or crucible.

Yeah, I know-----that sounds like BS------but it works. I was enlightened by a small refinery in Sparks, Nevada, years ago, and used that method routinely to pour my gold shot, a picture of which is below.

Using a 1/8" drill, run at very low speed, to avoid dulling it more than necessary, simply drill a hole in the center of one of those small melting dishes that are easily purchased at jewelry supply houses. Look for one that is similar in appearance to an evaporating dish, and is made of white clay. They were marketed under the Vigor name years ago, and may still be available.

Should you acquire one of these dishes, be certain to dry it well on a low flame, then coat the interior surface with a layer of borax. Do that by heating the dish to redness (once dry, otherwise it will crack) and sprinkling on the borax, flowing it out with your torch.

I used a stainless container about 12" deep to cool the gold. I agitated the water to keep the metal from forming a steam blanket which would allow the metal to hit the bottom in a molten state. Worked great. For the record, I also introduced ice to the water, especially when I had a lot of gold to pour. As the water gets hotter, it increases the chance that you form a large clump at the bottom, so I found the ice to be quite beneficial.

Luck!

Harold

Gosh. I wish I had a bowl of that for breakfast!!

I wonder how to make silver shots that are predominantly roundish? What technique is required to to do this? Also, how do you make the metal sparklingly shiny after pouring? I put samll amount of nitric acid to the water before pouring the silver. It makes the metal shiny but is there any other way?

The nitric is only re-dissolving your silver, if the silver is pure and it is poured into cold water which is agitated, the resultant beads will be for the most part round and if the silver is pure they will be shiny.

Suspend a #1 unglazed crucible in a holder just over the water surface. The crucible bottom is drilled with 1/8" holes to drain the silver through.

Preheat the crucible to glowing and place it in the holder and quickly pour the molten silver through. This setup will easily handle hundreds of ounces per pour. Some use a flame on the shotting crucible to keep it hot and keep the atmosphere around the crucible oxygen free.

Thanks. Will try to do that.