# How can I start a silver melting shop?



## Anonymous (Sep 11, 2007)

How do I start? What do I need? Is it worth it? :?:


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## Harold_V (Sep 11, 2007)

You don't start a "silver melting shop", or any other kind of enterprise until you understand how it's accomplished. The mere mention of a "melting shop" indicates, at least to me, that you don't understand the refining process. If that be the case, I can't imagine a better recipe for failure. 

Tell us something about you--------and what you know. Giving an unknown person any kind of guidance would be less than a great idea. 

As the old saying goes, "Be chary of giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it".

Harold


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## Anonymous (Sep 11, 2007)

Ok, I want to learn to do it. I guess thats what I wanted to know.
I don't know much. Where do I start? Thanks.


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## Harold_V (Sep 11, 2007)

silverbars said:


> Ok, I want to learn to do it. I guess thats what I wanted to know.
> I don't know much. Where do I start? Thanks.



In order to process silver, it's almost mandatory that you also understand the processing of other precious metals. That will include gold, platinum and palladium. You may even find that one of the sources of silver is dental amalgam, and that involves running a retort to distill the mercury. 

Where do you start? 

Not a lot of information has been published on refining------it's a tight society, and US laws, for years, made it illegal for the novice to refine gold. The law was changed in '75, but precious little is available for the novice. 

Do yourself a favor and buy C.M. Hoke's book _Refining Precious Metal Wastes_. It is a book written for the layman---one that has little to no understanding of the chemcal world. It gives specific instructions on how to process gold and the platinum group. It discusses silver well enough to give you a basic idea, but Butts & Coxe authored a good book that will provide proper guidance for refining silver. There is much you must know and understand before you even try to get involved. 

Do not attempt to start a business and learn on customer's metals. You should have the process down before accepting values from others. 

Understand that heating metals does not purify them. You *can not*, with rare exception, melt any given alloy and separate the constituents. 

Harold


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## Anonymous (Sep 11, 2007)

Thanks a lot, Harold.


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