# Russians & Swiss



## plamenppp (Sep 8, 2011)

This is an old way of buying gold but still famous at the flea-markets in Bulgaria. The really good thing about the watch frames is they are stamped with the thickness of the gold - Au5, Au10, Au12.5, Au20 (at least 90% of the USSR ones are). The Swiss are usually stamped with "plaque 10", which means 10 microns plating. They are all usually 22k. The best way to process them is nitric and after that AR.

20 micron male frame can give you 0.6 grams of 22k


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## Snowmeow (Sep 8, 2011)

It's so pitiful to dismantle working watches to get gold from them... =/
Now, non-working watches are pretty OK. :twisted:


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## micronationcreation (Sep 8, 2011)

Watches have to be my favourite kind of scrap, only thing that bothers me is the dirty ones...makes me queezy.


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## plamenppp (Sep 8, 2011)

Snowmeow said:


> It's so pitiful to dismantle working watches to get gold from them... =/
> Now, non-working watches are pretty OK. :twisted:





Therefore I haven't destroyed the working ones yet. A woeking mechanism of a watch costs about 2-3$


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## Harold_V (Sep 9, 2011)

micronationcreation said:


> Watches have to be my favourite kind of scrap, only thing that bothers me is the dirty ones...makes me queezy.


Can you say "incineration"?

The filthiest thing I ever encountered was a pair of wire frame (gold) eye glasses. The wearer (unknown by me) appears to have had horrible hygiene habits. They were covered in dirty body oils---so bad that they burned when incinerated. 

There's nothing quite like sterilization by fire.

Harold


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## micronationcreation (Sep 9, 2011)

> micronationcreation wrote:
> Watches have to be my favourite kind of scrap, only thing that bothers me is the dirty ones...makes me queezy.
> Can you say "incineration"?
> 
> ...



I'm guilty of avoiding incineration at all costs, but when handling jewellery, watches & glasses its probably wise as a safety precaution against disease etc.

Last week i was stripping a steel backed stretchy watch strap and it appeared to be caked in dry blood.


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## Snowmeow (Sep 9, 2011)

Alcohol immersion doesn't solves the problem? :|


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## Harold_V (Sep 10, 2011)

Snowmeow said:


> Alcohol immersion doesn't solves the problem? :|


Perhaps some of the problems, but incineration resolves _all _issues---and is very much a part of refining. 

Harold


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## plamenppp (Sep 10, 2011)

Harold_V said:


> Snowmeow said:
> 
> 
> > Alcohol immersion doesn't solves the problem? :|
> ...




Nitric acid solves all problems. AR after that leaves no trace of dobubt.


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## patnor1011 (Sep 13, 2011)

plamenppp said:


> Harold_V said:
> 
> 
> > Snowmeow said:
> ...



Not really. Organics may interfere with reactions.


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## plamenppp (Sep 14, 2011)

patnor1011 said:


> plamenppp said:
> 
> 
> > Harold_V said:
> ...




They do not interfere with it but boiling AR kills most of the germs. At the end there is organic mud in the filter and it remains there.


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## butcher (Sep 17, 2011)

Oils are troublesome, as well as some organic materials, inceneration is so easy why try anything else?


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## Sodbuster (Oct 25, 2011)

Without incineration the oils will likely give you that Ring Around The Beaker
:lol:  
Ray


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## Harold_V (Oct 26, 2011)

Sodbuster said:


> Without incineration the oils will likely give you that Ring Around The Beaker
> :lol:
> Ray


Indications are that's a lesson that many refuse to learn. 

Harold


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## kadriver (Oct 26, 2011)

Harold is dead right. Incineration burns everthing off the metal so it don't end up in your reaction vessel.

Its easy to do and you can use a small propane torch to heat every bit of metal to redness before refining.

One time I had a problem with cloudy silver nitrate I was preparing for my silver cell. I had boiled the cemented silver powder in hydrochloric acid and washed with distilled water.

I then dissolved the washed metal in nitric acid. It would be crystal clear. I filtered the silver nitrate and when I rinsed the filter with distilled water, the silver nitrate would cloud up.

I converted the silver nitrate back to silver metal using cemetation with copper and the karo syrup method - then redissolve in nirtic acid.

Each time it would turn cloudy when I added distilled water to rinse the filter.

Frustrated, I posted this problem on the forum. Harold's response solved my problem - incinerate the metal before you dissolve in nitric acid again.

I actually melted the metal and poured shot into cold tap water.

When I dissolved the silver this time, the cloudiness had dissapeared completely.

In refining, I now believe that incineration is your friend.

kadriver


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