How do you people find Karat scrap?

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Puff501

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
23
Location
Arizona Desert
I just retired and I now need a hobby. Always been a tinkerer and saw some YouTube videos on gold refining. Been looking for karat scrap fairly extensively in my area (central Arizona) but it is scarce and when found, folks want nearly full scrap value or even more. I mean, do you have to buy a ton at once or make a deal with a pawn shop or jeweler? Seriously, 2 months and I have come up with a 2.5 gram 10k ring and a .5g 14k butterfly. Ebay seems to be a bust. Scrap on there seems to go for full scrap value usually with shipping and tax.
And yes I know I started this thread saying I need a new hobby but from the outside, it seems like it is a hobby that has the potential to pay for itself.
What does everyone think about this?
 
Welcome Puff

This is one the most difficult parts of our hobby. Everyone wants a good source and since we would be competing with each other, there its not much chatter about it. That said, if you can test your own materials, I go to yard and garage sales and find Karat scrap fairly often. Also, look for local auctions as well, rather than eBay. It is a challenge to get started, but once you get a few sources, and you treat them well, you can get enough to work on.

Happy hunting!
 
All I know about ebay is that one must be careful with it, sometimes even irl you might get scammed. And I myself never understood where people finds these deals, im still pondering if to buy half kg silver pottery at 75 eur since the chances of me getting scammed are huge and I cannot process anything yet no chance to check its actualy metal. The offer prolly down by now too lol.
 
Only k scrap I get is given to me by family and such. And then only damaged/junk stuff. I process more e-scrap, but that too is free.

You will never make out buying it to refine unless you open a pawn shop and pay 50% of the gold value to the desperate folks selling it.

People think they can get spot value or worse jewelry value. They never think about or care that you have costs and need a profit.
 
Like most things in life, you have to work hard to be successful. eBay used to be a place where you could find an occasional good deal. I haven't found anything there in quite some time.

If you want to find ewaste, you have to visit a lot of businesses, be willing to take the bad (like old CRT monitors) with the good.

If you want to find karat scrap, you have to visit pawn shops, jewelers, thrift stores, yard and garage sales, set up buying parties, etc.

None of it is easy. Karat scrap doesn't just fall into your lap. You have to work for it.

Dave
 
I am in the exact same boat here. Trying to find another hobby during these crazy times and I'm not even looking to make any money off of it. I'll be happy if I just break even, i just wanna do it for fun. Cuz who doesn't want to pour their own ~24k gold?! I've bid on numerous auctions on Ebay and have yet to win a single one of them. Every one I see, the scrap goes for either exactly scrap price or even over. I'm trying to get scrap for at most 90% of its value, because when I turn around to sell it I'm sure I won't even get that much back. But like I said it'll be a fun hobby when I can get my hands on some scrap and hopefully it'll be a hobby that will be close to paying for itself!
 
With all due respect... have some respect.

It isn’t something you just hop on eBay and start doing you need to forge business relationships with people that work in the industry and like Dave says, that’s through hard work like anything.

Why would you assume karat material or the karat industry is any different? Along with diamonds and fiat paper it’s currency across the entire world. When has gold ever been easy to obtain? Lol. It wouldn’t be so desired if it was easy to obtain. I thought that was obvious?

The best ppl to contact are jewellers that work with high quantities as there are lots of jewellers that will agree to let you refine their rubbish for either a few or some gold. However, why would they opt for a hobbyist when they can go to a pro?

And also, you expect to break even? That had me in fits.... anyone that has learnt to do this properly will tell you... you will run at a loss for your initial year at least. You will not break even believe me, not off of one batch of material.

My advice is if you are doing this purely for money/to pass time, not because you sat and dreamed of doing it for at least a year, you won’t succeeed. Hence why you’re coming here for ideas on how to get scrap.... again, with all due respect, there is a philosophy “where there’s a will there’s a way”. Note how no one that is respected here ever discusses where they get their material.

Yes it’s the devil’s philosophy but in this case it’s very true. I had to beg jewellers in London’s diamond district to give me a chance; I took copious knock backs and people being hostile.

You are better off buying some gold at a loss, doing it, and demonstrating you can do it. This will take a minimum of 12 months with you practising day in day out and then reading the rest of the time.

Sorry but this post really annoyed me... it’s the equivalent of asking someone to do for you.
 
My advice is watch KA Drivers videos.

Until you are, at the very least able to do it with his safety approach and outcome quality, then you cant think about doing it for money or to break even.

You can buy an ounce of pure gold from a bullion dealer and practice with it so I really can’t see the purpose of your post behind looking to steal ideas and material sources from people. You would break even then if you learn successfully. Hell... you’d probably make money On the spot value increase if my suspicions that it will take you months if not years are correct.

You seem more concerned about the financial connotations than safety or the environment. Not one post on either.

Ironically, assayed gold that isn’t jewellery doesn’t sell for much above spot on eBay. So there is your answer. You buy an ounce of pure gold at market value and sell it once refined. You break even or profit the spot. Gold won’t be going down.
 
Gold is like air, or opinion's, it is where you find it. I have one steady source, and a few sometimes sources. I don't get rich, but I can stay almost as busy as I want to. I enjoy it very much, even cleaning up the left over wastes. I very seldom do karat scrap, and therefore I don't compete with many of my sources, especially my main source. I do quite a bit of gold filled, and some e waste components. There are yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores, public auctions, and garbage to name just a few. Last year I found 14 grams of karat gold at stop signs in the form of ear rings (5 total) from 10 to 14 karat. These are a few of the methods I used to locate better sources, and my main one came to me. Eat, breath and sleep it until you can get established. Talk about it until people start approaching you. Do it all with caution as well, not every one is honest.
 
well im willing to tell u where i get mine and without being a jerk about it.
i usually look in garage sales and swap meets . and there are still some bargains to be found on ebay , theyre just very far and few between.
today a package came from ebay . 750 grams of memory boards , which cost me $21 plus $9 postage . so for $30 i got a nice pile of fingers and ic chips . plus theyre old ram sticks which have gold all over them , not just fingers.
and at $53 per gram in australia . ill double my money almost if i can get just 1 gram.

it is a fun hobby . ive been at it for years . and like the others have said , good deals dont jump out at ya . you need to have one eye open all the time .i wish you luck finding the good deals , they are out there . u just have to find them.
good luck and i hope it works out for you.

my advice is , while youre looking for material , study the process because its not as easy as it looks . and take it from me , people on here have attitude when you ask for help . i know cuz its all i get.
i think youre better off stock piling it when you do find it . and really getting to know exactly what youre doing , so that when you do start , it will be joy instead of a nightmare.
 
prospector_pete,

You sure have an attitude for a new guy, you come here asking everyone for help snd then say they have an attitude because they do not tell you what you want to hear, or ask you to do some of your own work?

Why are you snapping your jaws at the hands of those that are trying to help feed you the information you can not seem to find on your own.

How long do you think those hands will continue to try and assist you in getting started learning?

I know you are about to make me think twice about spending my sleepless nights trying to help someone with an attitude like yours talking bad about those trying to assist you.
 
Finding an easy reliable source of substantially below spot (delivered to your hand) scrap gold is about as easy as trying to solve fermats last theorem whilst on death row in a Texas prison. You're basically asking "where can I find me some free money?"

I think its just something you have to figure out for yourself as anyone who shares is just going to make it harder for themselves.

Having people come to you to help them out of a cashflow jam is a good start. You wanna be taking the gold off there hands rather than buying it from them.

Also a thorough understanding of the nature of gold, how not to get ripped off and played takes time effort and a few expensive mistakes.
 
one needs to adopt the mindset of the Truffle Pig
a google search brought this up

"Pigs find the truffles by smelling them but also by moving its nose over the ground. Dogs are faster and can access more truffles than pigs, but both can find quality truffles. Unlike dogs, they do not need training to search the truffles because they naturally seek for them and eat them."

substitute Karat scrap for Truffles
 
I appreciate all the info, and also the non info. I didn't realize that I would be pushing some peoples' buttons with this topic. It's not like I'm asking hey Joe, where do you get your stuff I want to go there too. It was a general question for someone new to this like me.
I've been looking for a while now and I now know a guy who knows a guy, and I have another place as well.....

I've done my first refining and still I'm learning. I will be learning for a long time. However I was careful, I had no disasters, had a net loss of 4 grams from 66.75 gram theo yield. I'm pretty happy with it. Got all my silver back.
I'll be working on another batch soon. Have a theo yield of 44.5 grams sitting on my desk right now.
So thanks again and I am not in competition with any of you so don't worry OK?
 
Puff your loss might not be that much if you worked on the idea that all the gold was plum which in the USA it isn’t, look at the hallmarking rules there and recalculate the yield.
It’s also likely some of your gold is with the silver, in the melting dish, in your filters or in your stock pot.
It might be interesting to keep a file of probable losses and at some future date recover all the gold from the residues and see what your actual loss was, in commercial refineries when working with assayed materials the loss should be around 1/4 - 1/2 % which will nearly all be recovered at a later date.
I’m glad you found a source of scrap as I have posted many times it out there but you have to search and never stop as who knows what may come your way.
 
Puff.
I don't think you "pushed any buttons".
There comes a lot of different people here and some are the ones that like to be handed all the easy answers right into their palms of their hands. Then answers are minted for those too :wink:

The basic fact is that most find it hard to get a steady supply of "resources".
So the answer to your question was that it is hard, but if you work hard and have stamina you may or may not find a steady source, depending on where in the world you are of course.
 
butcher said:
prospector_pete,

You sure have an attitude for a new guy, you come here asking everyone for help snd then say they have an attitude because they do not tell you what you want to hear, or ask you to do some of your own work?

Why are you snapping your jaws at the hands of those that are trying to help feed you the information you can not seem to find on your own.

How long do you think those hands will continue to try and assist you in getting started learning?

I know you are about to make me think twice about spending my sleepless nights trying to help someone with an attitude like yours talking bad about those trying to assist you.
Click to expand...



Iv seen alot of attitude and people being dicks in the 15 minutes iv been on here sounds like alot of people need to practice some humility and get off their high horse
 
You know knowledge should be the one thing that is freely given and there should be no limit on what category that knowledge should have to fall under. If someone asks a question that you dont like why not just not answer it instead of going out of your way to be a pompous arrogant jackass? You learn by asking questions and giving the answers recieved a try. It seems to me if someone is new and asking questions because they are eager to learn and your first instinct is to belittle that person or be mean then your the one with the problems and should probably get over yourself and realize that your turning that person away from something that you yourself find rewarding and fulfilling and giving people that refine and work with precious metals a bad name.
 
AVOGEL522 said:
You know knowledge should be the one thing that is freely given and there should be no limit on what category that knowledge should have to fall under. If someone asks a question that you dont like why not just not answer it instead of going out of your way to be a pompous arrogant jackass? You learn by asking questions and giving the answers recieved a try. It seems to me if someone is new and asking questions because they are eager to learn and your first instinct is to belittle that person or be mean then your the one with the problems and should probably get over yourself and realize that your turning that person away from something that you yourself find rewarding and fulfilling and giving people that refine and work with precious metals a bad name.
Click to expand...

The best of the members here leave their ego at the door when they log on. I suggest you do the same.
 

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