Silver refining mistake! Newbie here any knowledge is appreciated:)

[refining520]

Newbie here!

I have done a successful batch of about 2 oz of silver from jewlery, cleaned, and melted this into a bar. It went great for my first try!

So I decided to do the larger amount of silver jewlery I had about 480 g. I used water and about 300ml nitric acid. This time though I seem to have failed as the solution has turned foamy and a white powder has settled to the bottom.

Any advice on I failed or if there is a way to fix it would be greatly appreciated. Agian I am a newbie still learning.

 

[refining520]

Pic to accompany my fail

 

[4metals]

You did not use distilled water or somehow got chlorine into the mix. You now have silver chloride. Digesting Silver requires distilled water to prevent this.

 

[refining520]

You did not use distilled water or somehow got chlorine into the mix. You now have silver chloride. Digesting Silver requires distilled water to prevent this.

Thank you for replying! I don't think there is chlorine in the I use. It is from a well not city and I put it through a filter before use. Is there any other way chlorine could have gotten in here?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Thank you for replying! I don't think there is chlorine in the I use. It is from a well not city and I put it through a filter before use. Is there any other way chlorine could have gotten in here?

Welcome bye the way.

Can some of the jewelry been hollow ware of kinds?
Then there might have been fillers i it.
Edit to add:
This might be Tin, and Nitric and Tin do not play well together.

Her are some links to study.

We ask our new members to do 3 things.
1. Read C.M. Hokes book on refining jewelers scrap, it gives an easy introduction to the most important chemistry regarding refining.
It is free here on the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=19798
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/safety.47/
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/dealing-with-waste.10539/

Suggested reading:
https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/the-library.101/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/when-in-doubt-cement-it-out.30236/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threa...le-read-this-before-you-post-about-ore.33333/


Forum rules is here.
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/gold-refining-forum-rules.31182/

 

[refining520]

Can some of the jewelry been hollow ware of kinds?
Then there might have been fillers i it.

Completely possible! Agian very new here haha.. so if there were fillers in it, would that possibly causing the silver chloride?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Thank you for replying! I don't think there is chlorine in the I use. It is from a well not city and I put it through a filter before use. Is there any other way chlorine could have gotten in here?

Are you by chance close to Salt or brackish waters?
It is enough with a tiny amount of Salt in the water and it will form Silver Chloride.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Completely possible! Agian very new here haha.. so if there were fillers in it, would that possibly causing the silver chloride?

Not Silver Chloride, but there might be substances that partially dissolve or Tin solder.

 

[Darkthirty]

Are you by chance close to Salt or brackish waters?
It is enough with a tiny amount of Salt in the water and it will form Silver Chloride.

Water softeners increase the salinity of well water

 

[refining520]

Welcome bye the way.

Can some of the jewelry been hollow ware of kinds?
Then there might have been fillers i it.
Edit to add:
This might be Tin, and Nitric and Tin do not play well together.

Her are some links to study.

We ask our new members to do 3 things.
1. Read C.M. Hokes book on refining jewelers scrap, it gives an easy introduction to the most important chemistry regarding refining.
It is free here on the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=19798
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/safety.47/
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/dealing-with-waste.10539/

Suggested reading:
https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/the-library.101/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/when-in-doubt-cement-it-out.30236/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threa...le-read-this-before-you-post-about-ore.33333/


Forum rules is here.
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/gold-refining-forum-rules.31182/

It was all marked sterling, so maybe a small amount of filler?

Thank you so much for these helpful links I will get to reading!

 

[refining520]

Not Silver Chloride, but there might be substances that partially dissolve or Tin solder.

So yes probably some salinity in my well water. I will buy distilled water going forward.

Okay so if it is silver chloride, how can I clean, cast this into a bar?

 

[refining520]

Water softeners increase the salinity of well water

Oh true! I do not have a softener just a straight well to bladder pump to faucet