Best types of gold scrap to refine

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SilverHound

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
17
Hello all-

I have had the pleasure of refining fingers, pins, and many types of plated material. Much met with great success! I am looking to purchase from ebay(or other recommended site) more material to refine. I am just curious as to what type of gold bearing material most find suitable for cost vs. quantity. I do not want to mess with karat gold at this time.

Thanks in advance
 
Pins- in my opinion, not much gold with the amount started with
Fingers- Best amount of gold I have found thus far
 
avoid ebay... You will pay more than the actual PM content..

check scrap yards in your area... or computer shops... Low ball them for their material, cherry pick the good stuff, sell back the scrap after...

my2c

Alex
 
SilverHound said:
I am just curious as to what type of gold bearing material most find suitable for cost vs. quantity. I do not want to mess with karat gold at this time.
The best type of scrap is KARAT scrap. Why do you not want to do karat scrap?
Ken
 
jeneje said:
SilverHound said:
I am just curious as to what type of gold bearing material most find suitable for cost vs. quantity. I do not want to mess with karat gold at this time.
The best type of scrap is KARAT scrap. Why do you not want to do karat scrap?
Ken


Not yet able to inquart. Havent processed enough silver
 
SilverHound said:
jeneje said:
SilverHound said:
I am just curious as to what type of gold bearing material most find suitable for cost vs. quantity. I do not want to mess with karat gold at this time.
The best type of scrap is KARAT scrap. Why do you not want to do karat scrap?
Ken


Not yet able to inquart. Havent processed enough silver
You can use Copper to inquart if need be. Silver is the best choice but, copper will work.
Ken
 
alexxx said:
avoid ebay... You will pay more than the actual PM content..

check scrap yards in your area... or computer shops... Low ball them for their material, cherry pick the good stuff, sell back the scrap after...

my2c

Alex

The single most stupid piece of advice I have seen on this forum in a long while. Follow this advice and guarantee yourself a finite, and ever dwindling supply of material. It's really quite useless.

Alternatively do your homework, learn what material yields, and then pay a fair price for it so you can keep going back and getting more. You're better off making 40% of a lot of money than 100% of very little.

Jon
 
spaceships said:
alexxx said:
avoid ebay... You will pay more than the actual PM content..

check scrap yards in your area... or computer shops... Low ball them for their material, cherry pick the good stuff, sell back the scrap after...

my2c

Alex

The single most stupid piece of advice I have seen on this forum in a long while. Follow this advice and guarantee yourself a finite, and ever dwindling supply of material. It's really quite useless.

Alternatively do your homework, learn what material yields, and then pay a fair price for it so you can keep going back and getting more. You're better off making 40% of a lot of money than 100% of very little.



Im inclined to agree. Fact is PM's are due to rise and what fiat money I used to buy will be less now than later. I think that thought came out the way I meant it.
I have found 5 oz of pins for $10.00. Even if I get a gram im still in the black. But Im not in it for the money, I find it a great hobby for my son and I! Also, math and chemistry doesn't hurt the boy at all!
Jon
 
SilverHound said:
I have found 5 oz of pins for $10.00. Even if I get a gram im still in the black.
WRONG...by the time you count your chemicals to process the material, your time, electric used, chemicals to neutralize the waste solution and then, disposal of the waste solution, you are in the hole. YES!!!,,, i know, we all say it is for the learning, BS, it is about the money. That is why we do this.

First, you need to truthful with yourself, then you can move forward in your learning of this skill.

Ken
 
Until you run out of it.

Excess money doesn't assure happiness, but the lack of even a small excess guarantees misery.


In any event, I think karat is a good material.
 
jeneje said:
SilverHound said:
I have found 5 oz of pins for $10.00. Even if I get a gram im still in the black.
WRONG...by the time you count your chemicals to process the material, your time, electric used, chemicals to neutralize the waste solution and then, disposal of the waste solution, you are in the hole. YES!!!,,, i know, we all say it is for the learning, BS, it is about the money. That is why we do this.

First, you need to truthful with yourself, then you can move forward in your learning of this skill.

Ken



Easy there sparky.... First- NO, its has nothing to do with money.
Second- Chemicals, electricity, disposal...... all part of the hobby
Third- my time is worth what I say it is worth
Forth have a coke and a smile.... and if it was all about the money every one would be doing it!
 
Nah you see Silverhound that's where we will probably disagree. In an open and friendly way of course but we'll still disagree 8) 8)

Once you get over the initial excitement of producing your first beads of precious metals, and the rush of good feeling subsides, you'll not do it for very long if you lose money at it- I can promise you that from experience...

A lot of people "claim" to be happy doing it for a loss whilst grinding their teeth and wishing they could make money at it, and that's a well known fact amongst the community here. It's a great hobby AND it's very very easy to make money at it but you're better off listening to the folk who DO make money as opposed to the ones who don't (mostly because they don't listen to the ones who do and think they know better.)

Either way you have fun with it and I wish you all the very best with your journey.

Jon
 
SilverHound said:
jeneje said:
SilverHound said:
I have found 5 oz of pins for $10.00. Even if I get a gram im still in the black.
WRONG...by the time you count your chemicals to process the material, your time, electric used, chemicals to neutralize the waste solution and then, disposal of the waste solution, you are in the hole. YES!!!,,, i know, we all say it is for the learning, BS, it is about the money. That is why we do this.

First, you need to truthful with yourself, then you can move forward in your learning of this skill.

Ken



Easy there sparky.... First- NO, its has nothing to do with money.
Second- Chemicals, electricity, disposal...... all part of the hobby
Third- my time is worth what I say it is worth
Forth have a coke and a smile.... and if it was all about the money every one would be doing it!
A thousand pardons... Good luck Sir.

Ken
 
To do this as a hobby is fine but to do it safely does cost money and with all the other costs thrown in it mounts quickly. You don't have to make money but it can be done so that it doesn't cost you, the main problem most have is sourcing materials to work with, that's the first thing to look for, a regular source.
It can be done it takes time and effort plus a knowledge of what is worth chasing and what to pay for it.
If you want your son to take an interest in math then make money and share it with him, that will encourage him to look for materials and learn their worth, the recovery and refining will teach him some chemistry
Many members here refine in the grams or ounces per year, we have a fair few that do kilos a day and the general consensus is to make it pay, maybe not by a lot but it has to worth the risks, money and effort.
 
The way I look at it is I could be spending my time sitting in the recliner drinking beer watching TV. How much does that pay for my time?

Or I could spend my time keeping my mind sharp by learning something new and maybe break even or make a bit, and get a shiny little bauble for my trouble. Won't get paid for my time, but may get enough return to cover chemicals.

As a hobby you won't be able to pay for your time and you won't even cover the cost of chemicals, lab glass, safety gear and such if you have to pay for your source material. Set yourself up as a "free computer/electronics recycler". Many places have banned e-scrap from the landfills and actually charge to dispose of it. You may be surprised at what you can get just by asking around and offering your "services" to take it off their hands.

Dismantle it, sort it, recover what you can/want to and sell the rest to someone else, maybe even on eBay. :lol: What I sell to others actually pays for my chemicals so what I recover is mostly profit. BUT, I do get all my source material for free, if I had to pay for it, I wouldn't be doing this at all.
 
Lou's post hit the nail on the head ...

As well as a few others' posts..

Yeah, it's an expensive 'hobby'...but it can pay back, so long as you pay your dues... And not just buying the chemicals, but devoting your time to properly learn the trade..

A few quotes that have served me well in my limited venture so far--"the stingy man pays the most"-Irons
"Money can't buy happiness...but it can buy a jet-ski...you ever seen someone NOT happy on one of those?"
 
Overall, while I'm not terribly concerned about making lots of money while I learn, I would like to make money off refining eventually. Besides, I have enough expensive hobbies--this one needs to be at least revenue-neutral ;)

Anyway, back to something at least more related to the OP:
jeneje said:
SilverHound said:
jeneje said:
SilverHound said:
I do not want to mess with karat gold at this time.
The best type of scrap is KARAT scrap. Why do you not want to do karat scrap?
Not yet able to inquart. Havent processed enough silver
You can use Copper to inquart if need be. Silver is the best choice but, copper will work.
Especially since you say you're not in it for the money, silver is not that expensive (<$15/ozt.). You could buy a troy ounce from me or any number of forum members, and that'd be enough to inquart almost 18 grams of 14K gold!

It may be more fun to use silver that you've refined, but that's a pain best reserved for larger quantities, and that would put inquarting even farther into your future.
 
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