# Who to trust and where to sell my cemented silver



## mike5ive (Jun 2, 2022)

I'm in a small city / town called Templeton in California, there is no place around here to sell it at and the closest place to have it melted into bars is Fresno Ca. Then lastly 'm not planning on buying furnace of my own to melt the stuff.
I have a little over 3 1/2 pounds of the stuff, this was cemented out of solution with copper.
I would note for though (For any beginner that happens to run across this thread and reads it)
I have 60 acres, I dissolved a gang of silver contacts (as I have practically and unlimited supply of circuit breakers) out in the open about three acres away from my home out in an open field and while the fumes we obviously no trouble at that distance the problem still remains that you have to walk up close to your boiling distilled water and nitric acid to check on it now and then, I did so without a breathing mask and it took me two weeks to get rid of a cough that I developed when I was completely done. 
Bottom line, if you are planning to do this anywhere the very first thing you need to do is purchase a really good mask, don't be a dumb F like me, just saying.


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## nickvc (Jun 2, 2022)

A mask will not help only give you a false sense of security


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## Martijn (Jun 2, 2022)

Welcome to the forum. 
Noone will buy cemented silver imo. Or at 0.1 times spotprice maybe. If you're lucky. 
I think in your 'situation' it will be *much healthier* to just sell the stripped contacts to a refiner or a scrapper. 
Certainly with the unlimited supplies, you can stockpile until it's enough for them to buy. 
Contacts are recognizable and cemented silver can be mixed powder. Which can be anything and is impossible to get a reliable xrf from. You'll need to melt and homogenize for that. 
Why even bother risking your health, the environment around you(your vegetable garden, ground water table, etc.) and wasting valuable acids?

How are you dealing with the toxic waste from copper, cadmium, etc. 
Is there any Palladium in the contacts? Or beryllium? 

Martijn.


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## Gwar (Jun 2, 2022)

sreetips started selling cemented silver in bottles on Ebay recently, not sure of the success..


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## Martijn (Jun 2, 2022)

Gwar said:


> sreetips started selling cemented silver in bottles on Ebay recently, not sure of the success..



Is that cemented silver or silver crystals?


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## kurtak (Jun 2, 2022)

You could try David H. Fell Refining

They are in "City Of Commerce" --- (LA area) so not all that far away






David H. Fell & Company: Homepage


David H. Fell & Company provides precious metal products and refining services. We have been honored to serve the jewelry, pawn, electronics, dental, and mining industries by providing professional service.




dhfco.com





Kurt


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## Gwar (Jun 2, 2022)

He started selling bottles of cemented silver, I saw the video this week..


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## Gwar (Jun 2, 2022)

A quick question, if someone bought the cemented silver from mike5ive, the cost to buy would be questionable, for one, it would have to be made into shot, and then ran through a cell in order to weed out any impurities, what would the yield be after the process ?


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## Shark (Jun 2, 2022)

The silver yield would depend on the amount of contaminants removed by the cell, or other processes used. It is possible the powder could be as high as 99+ at the same time it could be very low. Again it depends on how it was processed and how well those processes were performed, as well as the starting materials. Might be easier to just ask how much?


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 2, 2022)

How much per oz or lb are you wanting or thinking is a fair price ?
If it's affordable and reasonable and checks out to be quality there's most likely someone on the forum that might be interested, me included.
Going to be a hard sell at spot or close without it being fully refined and even then most would need to run it through their own silver cell to be certain that it's pure.


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## Gwar (Jun 2, 2022)

My thoughts as well, if it were priced right, it may be worth pursuing..


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 2, 2022)

You might be better off finding someone that will finish the refining for you if you truly do not want to finish the last half of the refining and maybe do it on a percentage. The problem is that you could have a hard time believing that there's not as much (3.5 lbs) of pure silver when it is done. 
Like Shark said, there's several different types of metals in different types of contacts and depending on if they are from 1950 or this year, voltage they were designed to handle. I'm not saying that you are stuck with the cement but at the same time you're going to have to be aware that there's probably more than just silver in it.


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## Gwar (Jun 2, 2022)

I agree !


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 2, 2022)

Did they resemble these before you desolving them ?
Magnetic or Non-Magnetic ?
There's a huge difference between the circuit breakers in your house and heavy duty industrial high voltage breakers.


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 2, 2022)

The contacts pictured above are from 600v G.E. automatic transfer switches and size 4 starter switches that were dated 1953. They came from a fire department building and were purchased at a auction for cheap but that's the only history I have on them. The dated paperwork from 1953 was in the boxes still when I got them. 
If you have a steady stream of some similar let me know what you want for them. I can remove them from the bus bars if you don't have a way to do it.


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## mike5ive (Jun 2, 2022)

When I was completely done I put all the waste chemicals in 5 gallon buckets, I have almost five of these with no lids on them sitting in an open field with screens over the top and they are evaporating away quite nicely.
Yep when I started this adventure it never occurred to me that there was no market for it and now with something like $160.00 for the acid which I bought on ebay, then distilled water and not to mention (but i am) the time involved it doesn't seem to be very profitable at all.
The contacts that I used were a mixture of both industrial and residential circuit breakers but nonetheless I would boil them away until an assortment of said contacts would not dissolve anymore even in boiling pure nitric, well maybe they would have after a week or so but if I saw no difference after boiling all day I would just end the process right there.
A good friend of mine installs solar power both at peoples homes and in large businesses and when this is done 90% of the time a larger breaker box needs to be installed and they just pitch the old one along with all its circuit breakers into a dumpster, that's where I'm getting them.
As cheap as some of these melting furnaces are in some cases, well I'm quite surprised there is no place locally where I can go to have this stuff turned into a bar.
I have searched ebay and I can't find anyone else selling it there and if street tips is doing so I certainly can't find their offer... Hmmmm


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 2, 2022)

There's a market for them and your cemented silver. It might not bring spot prices but I can guarantee you somebody on this forum who has trouble sourcing these materials but want to learn how to refine would love to buy it andI also expect foryou to maybe even get some offers after this post. 
If you have a price in mind send me a message and maybe we can make a deal. I will need more details about the steps you went through to end up with this cemented silver and the age and brand of those breakers. There's a market for almost anything if you get the right sales angle and especially the right price. Gold, platinum, or palladium powder would be easier to sell but silver is a lot of work for 20 bucks a ounce, hopefully someday it will actually go up and stay up enough to do small batches that are profitable.
Personally I believe that you should learn how to finish what you started properly and end up with some silver you can sell for market value or close to it since you have a good supply for free. If not then just sell the contacts and keep track of what brand/model of breaker they came out of so whoever buys them will have a good idea of how much silver they will be able to get out of them.
These things sell great on eBay last time I checked as well.


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## nwinther (Jun 3, 2022)

Reminded me of when sreetips says you can buy this or that chemical in "your local hydroponics store", as if they're in any small town in the US.

I don't think we have a hydroponics-store in our entire country! (Denmark)


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## Gwar (Jun 3, 2022)

999 Fine Silver Powder sreerips | eBay


This is high purity silver powder. Weight of the silver powder alone: 1/2 Troy ounce. I made this powder as practice for an upcoming new video. Produced using silver chloride conversion.



www.ebay.com


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## Gwar (Jun 3, 2022)




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## kurtak (Jun 3, 2022)

Golddigger76 said:


> There's a *huge difference* between the circuit breakers in your house and heavy duty industrial high voltage breakers.


Per the bold print - Hmmm - not sure what you mean by huge difference

Contact points - *from circuit breakers* - run "about" (plus/minus) 40% silver - whether they are from house hold breakers or industrial breakers

The only real difference is the size of the contact pads - in that case - yes - there is a huge difference 

House hold = VERY small

industrial = MUCH larger

Kurt


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## kurtak (Jun 3, 2022)

Golddigger76 said:


> Did they resemble these before you desolving them ?


The contact points in your picture look more like they came out of magnetic disconnects rather then (industrial) circuit breakers

There is a "huge" difference in the points out of magnetic disconnects & the points out of circuit breakers (disconnects & breakers are two different things)

Points out of magnetic disconnects will run 90% (or more) silver

Can you provide a pic of the actual "device" you got those points from ? 

For what it is worth when I was full time refining contact points was one of my main sources for silver - I considered 10 kilos of just the contact pads a small batch

Because of the tungsten in "breakers" point they were processed separate from "disconnect" points

Kurt


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## kurtak (Jun 3, 2022)

Here is a pic of an industrial "circuit breaker" (I have seen them as big as one & half foot by two foot)









General Electric TEY330 3 Pole Circuit Breaker


TEY330, TEY 330, TEY-330, GE TEY330, General Electric TEY330, Circuit Breaker TEY330, Molded Case Circuit Breaker TEY330, General Electric TEY330 Bolt-On Circuit Breaker,783164181043




www.superbreakers.com





pic of house hold breaker *MUCH* smaller









Square D A1B120 1 Pole Circuit Breaker


A1B120-R, A1B-120, A1B 120, Schneider Electric A1B120, SQD A1B120, Circuit Breaker A1B120, A1B120 Square D, Square D A1B120 Circuit Breaker, 635909330554




www.superbreakers.com





pic of a magnetic disconnect









Square D Nonreversing Magnetic Motor Starter, No Enclosure NEMA Rating, 208V AC, 3 Poles 8536SAO12V08 | Zoro


Order Square D Nonreversing Magnetic Motor Starter, No Enclosure NEMA Rating, 208V AC, 3 Poles, 8536SAO12V08 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.




www.zoro.com





Kurt


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## kurtak (Jun 3, 2022)

mike5ive said:


> As cheap as some of these melting furnaces are in some cases, well I'm quite surprised there is no place locally where I can go to have this stuff turned into a bar.


you can not melt the points from "circuit breakers" in a furnace because of the (plus/minus) 60% tungsten (furnace wont get hot enough for the tungsten to melt)

Points from "disconnects" being 90 plus % silver can be melted in a furnace

So they need to be keep separate

Kurt


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 3, 2022)

That is exactly what I meant by huge difference. A lot of those little contacts have tungsten, the bigger contacts that I posted above are mostly silver. I found the pictures of what I got them out of. For me it is a huge difference, for you probably not since you have been refining for so many years. 
Is there any particular reason you passed on the 10 kilo of contacts that you were considering ?
A couple of pounds at a time is a lot for me but I'm still in the learning process and while at any given time I generally have 4 to 5 lbs of contacts I've never had anything close to 10 kilos available or the equipment to handle that kind of volume


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## Golddigger76 (Jun 3, 2022)

That is what the big contacts are from but the smaller ones came from the same load in similar boxes and they were size 4 magnet starter switches.


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## mike5ive (Jun 3, 2022)

Golddigger76 said:


> There's a market for them and your cemented silver. It might not bring spot prices but I can guarantee you somebody on this forum who has trouble sourcing these materials but want to learn how to refine would love to buy it andI also expect foryou to maybe even get some offers after this post.
> If you have a price in mind send me a message and maybe we can make a deal. I will need more details about the steps you went through to end up with this cemented silver and the age and brand of those breakers. There's a market for almost anything if you get the right sales angle and especially the right price. Gold, platinum, or palladium powder would be easier to sell but silver is a lot of work for 20 bucks a ounce, hopefully someday it will actually go up and stay up enough to do small batches that are profitable.
> Personally I believe that you should learn how to finish what you started properly and end up with some silver you can sell for market value or close to it since you have a good supply for free. If not then just sell the contacts and keep track of what brand/model of breaker they came out of so whoever buys them will have a good idea of how much silver they will be able to get out of them.
> These things sell great on eBay last time I checked as well.


It would be very hard to keep track of what breakers I got them from as there are so many different makers and types and when I get them practically every panel with be different ones in it so as like I'd have to keep 15 or 20 boxes to keep them separated in and ETC. The wife would have a fit if I had boxes of the things everywhere. I pretty much mix everything all together and then crush them all up and go from there but you might also want to note that I dont use a torch to remove them but rather i cut them off as close as I can so then obviously I'm dissolving a lot of copper with them but from what I've been led to believe only the silver drops out of solution although I do realize I'm wasting a lot of nitric having to dissolver that copper too. Seems the ones that have like a checkboard pattern on the back side, those ones are the ones that don't want to dissolve


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## Dr. A (Jun 26, 2022)

mike5ive said:


> I'm in a small city / town called Templeton in California, there is no place around here to sell it at and the closest place to have it melted into bars is Fresno Ca. Then lastly 'm not planning on buying furnace of my own to melt the stuff.
> I have a little over 3 1/2 pounds of the stuff, this was cemented out of solution with copper.
> I would note for though (For any beginner that happens to run across this thread and reads it)
> I have 60 acres, I dissolved a gang of silver contacts (as I have practically and unlimited supply of circuit breakers) out in the open about three acres away from my home out in an open field and while the fumes we obviously no trouble at that distance the problem still remains that you have to walk up close to your boiling distilled water and nitric acid to check on it now and then, I did so without a breathing mask and it took me two weeks to get rid of a cough that I developed when I was completely done.
> Bottom line, if you are planning to do this anywhere the very first thing you need to do is purchase a really good mask, don't be a dumb F like me, just saying.





mike5ive said:


> I'm in a small city / town called Templeton in California, there is no place around here to sell it at and the closest place to have it melted into bars is Fresno Ca. Then lastly 'm not planning on buying furnace of my own to melt the stuff.
> I have a little over 3 1/2 pounds of the stuff, this was cemented out of solution with copper.
> I would note for though (For any beginner that happens to run across this thread and reads it)
> I have 60 acres, I dissolved a gang of silver contacts (as I have practically and unlimited supply of circuit breakers) out in the open about three acres away from my home out in an open field and while the fumes we obviously no trouble at that distance the problem still remains that you have to walk up close to your boiling distilled water and nitric acid to check on it now and then, I did so without a breathing mask and it took me two weeks to get rid of a cough that I developed when I was completely done.
> Bottom line, if you are planning to do this anywhere the very first thing you need to do is purchase a really good mask, don't be a dumb F like me, just say


As a dentist, also interested in scrapping and refining—I know, weird—I sell my dental scrap to Garfield Refining (garfieldrefining.com)
I have been using them for 20 years now for my dental scrap. They take it all—porcelain crowns, gold, with teeth or cement stuck in them or whatever. In dental school I’d even melt the yellow gold into buttons and ship that. They melt it all and assay it and pay you the spot values of Au, Ag, Pt, Pd. They take off 5% of the value for processing, which is probably way cheaper than buying acids, furnaces, etc. They mail you a check or send bullion whichever you indicate. I’ve gotten all my silver and gold coins over the years from “free” scrap. 
They also buy sweeps from jewelers or dental labs, etc. I even use cotton rolls to catch the shavings as I drill off a gold crown and I send the cotton roll in laden with shavings. You should look them up, request a shipping label so it can be tracked, maybe send in a small batch, maybe an ounce or two to experiment, if you don’t like what they pay, send them back the check and they will mail back the melted button. They are reputable and easy to email/communicate with to answer questions. If the purity of the silver powder is unknown, they will make it known
I hope this helps.
-Jon


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## joekbit (Jul 16, 2022)

Good luck, I partner with a scrap yard., The company that buys our Au will not buy our Ag unless we have,,,hold on to your pants. 500 lbs. Get creative, make something with it. Start with something easy, like a mushroom. Then sell what you make.


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