# My first gold button.



## AuPure (Nov 10, 2019)

Just thought I'd share how your forum has helped me. Big thanks to everyone here! I really mean that. Couldn't have done it without you.


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## anachronism (Nov 10, 2019)

Well done, that certainly looks nice.

Jon


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## butcher (Nov 10, 2019)

Absolutely beautiful, I can almost see a great big smile of accomplishment in the shine and glow of your gold.

I can see that gold put a smile on your face, your accomplishment in learning to purify your gold is putting a smile on my face.
Just looking at that button is making my day, and it looks like you have chosen a fitting forum name that also reflects your hard work and your dedication and attention to detail in refining your gold.


AuPure,
Your gold is Absolutely beautiful, you should be very proud of your hard work..,

P.S, Do not forget to keep improving your knowledge of working safely...
Great Job my friend.


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## FrugalRefiner (Nov 10, 2019)

Very nice! Looks like you might have a few small beads of borax on there, but it has a nice shine and a pipe. Well done!

Dave


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## AuPure (Nov 10, 2019)

Thank you guys so much for your replies. It makes me really happy to know that because of what I have learned here that I could achieve good results on my first try.

There are some borax beads on there and plier marks. It got stuck in my dish pretty good so I added a pinch more borax, heated it back to red and had to use some old needle nosed pliers to get it out. But the dish was completely unharmed.  

I wanted to be sure I got a good "pipe". And i did. And I wanted to not have to put borax on at all after seasoning the dish.....but it seems I learned that sometimes you have to sort of lube the gold back up to get that puppy to pop out of the dish. :lol: 

And just in case anyone was wondering that little button came from a pile of eeproms I had been collecting for over 7 years. I think I have a picture of some of them ready for processing.


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## Shark (Nov 10, 2019)

Beautiful! 

I love seeing others buttons, keep them coming.


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## AuPure (Nov 27, 2019)

My second button! It's not as pretty because the cold weather was fighting me on melting it. I'll melt my 2 buttons together on the next warm-ish day. Then I'll post a pic of the newly formed bigger button.


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## FrugalRefiner (Nov 27, 2019)

I wouldn't remelt that first button. You only ever have one first born.

Dave


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## Martijn (Nov 27, 2019)

Very nice. That truly is a little beautiful button to treasure.


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## johnny309 (Nov 30, 2019)

FrugalRefiner said:


> I wouldn't remelt that first button. You only ever have one first born.
> 
> Dave



You have my gratitude for that sentence. People do not realize how much they "struggle" and learn to make "the first". This is why that them should keep it . Sometimes they not realize that your first try is not worth the money you get in return( first try ...I did not see anyone above 1oz).


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## g_axelsson (Nov 30, 2019)

Don't want to brag but my first button was over a toz.... http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=19840 
I did re-refine it so it wasn't really finished, but I don't regret it. I still have that button, just for fun. 

... who am I trying to fool... I love to brag. :mrgreen: 

Göran


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## AuPure (Dec 2, 2019)

That is truly a beautiful thing, Goran! 

All of this is technically my first. I'm going to dissolve it all again soon when I finish up with the material I have going right now. I want it as pure as possible. And it's just fun to watch it all go up in solution then come back out. After all this is just a hobby for me. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


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## g_axelsson (Dec 4, 2019)

Your first button is beautiful too. Zooming in on that button you see small drops on it, it looks like it's sweating in the heat.  

Knowing what perfection looks like you realize that the second button wasn't perfect, and if you are doing this as a hobby then you take pride in getting it as pure as possible. If you were selling it the small amount of impurities have no practical significance, but if you are looking for perfection and honing your skills then the second button surely needs to be re-refined.

It sounds like you're hooked now. The next button will be easier to make. I'm looking forward to seeing it too in this thread.

Good work!

Göran


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## AuPure (Dec 4, 2019)

Thank you Goran! 

Yes I did notice that the second one needed another refining cycle. I think it's got some platinum group impurities. It has some almost silver to silver black streaks on it. I used my daughter microscope to see it better. It's weird. But when I remelted it on a warmer day a couple of days ago it did form a nice pipe. So it can't have much impurities in there, right?

But I am still finishing up the material I had set aside for this first endeavor. When it gets done I'll dissolve it all again, both buttons and any gold powders. Then drop it again and hopefully the impurities stay behind. I plan on cooling my solution to under 40°F this time before adding the SMB. Just to see if that helps. I've been doing the drops at about room temp.

Hopefully when I get done with this first run I'll have close to half an ounce. 

I would have waited and saved all the gold powders to melt at the end. But I wanted practice melting with smaller amounts first. Would hate to blow the gold out of the dish on my first try and have no gold to show for it. :lol: 

I'm going to try for a button as beautiful as the one you posted in your first button post!


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## AuPure (Dec 4, 2019)

Ps.

I did the first refine with AR and the second button refine with HCL/Bleach. Wonder if that was why the second one had some impurities??

But the good news is, so far I haven't had to use any sulfamic acid to rid any solution of nitric. I've been very careful. Only adding the nitric at 1ml increments or even less until all metal is dissolved. That is one lesson this forum has taught me that I took to heart.


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## kernels (Dec 5, 2019)

If you are not adding Sulfamic acid, are you adding some Sulfuric acid to precipitate any lead out of solution ?


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## AuPure (Dec 6, 2019)

kernels said:


> If you are not adding Sulfamic acid, are you adding some Sulfuric acid to precipitate any lead out of solution ?



I do add a couple of drops of sulfuric during the recovery process. Before I filter of course. I have not tried that during the refining process though. I figured that I got any lead out during the recovery. Although I have yet to see any lead crystals form. I eliminate solder long before I work to recover the gold. If there is even solder present. Most of the stuff I've processed has been quite clean "easy" material. Like ceramic chips that were never soldered, eproms that I split and removed the leads, plated pins, and very close cut fingers.


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