# My first button



## Smokin_Cache (Aug 24, 2014)

I have been pouring everything as shot as it is easy to sell any amount I wish, but I really wanted a button to play with. So here is my first attempt at just letting it cool in the dish.

What do you think? Good, bad, or ugly?

It weighs 49 grams.


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## Claudie (Aug 24, 2014)

That is a nice play thing !


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## Long Shot (Aug 24, 2014)

That there is purty! Don't care who ya are. (To quote Larry the Cable Guy!)


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## Claudie (Aug 24, 2014)

What coin is that resting on?


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## Smokin_Cache (Aug 24, 2014)

Claudie said:


> What coin is that resting on?



2013 Mount Rushmore Quarter.

It is still a little bulky to be a play thing. I am going to rework it in a flatter dish. I think I have a new 5 or 10ozt dish out there still.


I love me some Larry the Cable Guy!!


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## butcher (Aug 25, 2014)

Very nice job on the gold, good picture too.


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## jason_recliner (Aug 25, 2014)

Looks stunning! Nicely done.


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## glorycloud (Aug 25, 2014)

Very nice!


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## butcher (Aug 25, 2014)

Did I say I like looking at that picture :lol:


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## Harold_V (Aug 26, 2014)

Smokin_Cache said:


> It is still a little bulky to be a play thing. I am going to rework it in a flatter dish. I think I have a new 5 or 10ozt dish out there still.


Don't waste your time. Gold won't spread much, so there's little to be gained by using a larger dish. 

Nice looking button. Surface finish is good, as is the color and pipe. These are all good indicators of reasonably high quality gold. 

Did you have to pickle to remove any oxides? 

Harold


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## Smokin_Cache (Aug 26, 2014)

Thank y'all!

It has not been pickled. The color was off slightly on the top so it rubbed over it with a cotton T-shirt. I figured it was from
Removing the torch and air exposure on the molten gold. I would expect I still have some room to go on purity because from the pictures I have seen I expected more pipe

Edit: spelling


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## Smokin_Cache (Aug 26, 2014)

You can see the discoloration I an referring to in the second picture. In the cracks on top.


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## Harold_V (Aug 27, 2014)

Smokin_Cache said:


> You can see the discoloration I an referring to in the second picture. In the cracks on top.


Yep! I see it now. 
Atmosphere seeing your molten gold doesn't matter if it's pure. There will be no discoloration, as gold doesn't oxidize. A second refining would most likely yield a better quality, assuming you wash well. 

You can be justly proud of your results, assuming a single refining. The surface is quite good, and that usually indicates high purity. Once you get a shiny surface, traces of oxides will indicate some contamination. Needless to say, it isn't eliminated by polishing or pickling.

Very well done!

Harold


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## Smokin_Cache (Aug 27, 2014)

Thank you for your comments. Greatly appreciated. 

Can't wait to see the next one sitting next to this for comparision.


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## Smokin_Cache (Aug 28, 2014)

I have been looking at more buttons and found a post that stated my posting pictures of my button after I "polished" it with my t-shirt is frowned upon. I apologize

I also went back and read my log book for the batches that may have made it into this button. I found a 19 gram batch that I did not record an ammonium hydroxide wash for. It could be possible that most of that 19 grams made it into the shot that I used to make this button.

I am going to run this button with another 0.5 oz to achieve a good finish that doesn't require the t-shirt. I want a 2oz play pretty that is as pure as I can get it.

I am going to attempt SO2 generation using SMB for the drop on this refinement.

Harold thank you for pushing for perfection and offering advice!!


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## Harold_V (Aug 29, 2014)

Smokin_Cache said:


> Harold thank you for pushing for perfection and offering advice!!


It's a matter of personal pride. I try to do most things as well as they can be done, assuming I am capable of doing so. 
With gold, it's conditional. Some of these guys have no interest in high purity, as their objective is to simply sell the values that are recovered, typically to a place where it will be further refined. In such a case, there may be little incentive for pursuing perfection. 

I worked VERY hard at getting my level of purity beyond the 9995 standard, as the vast majority of gold I produced was put back in service in the way of jewelry. I wanted my customers to know that my quality was at least as good as that which they could purchase from major refiners, and it was. That was an incentive for them to do business with me, as was my selling price. I sold gold for spot, a price which they were unable to get from other sources, and that was restricted to only my customers. That kept them coming back, as did the good service and quality I offered. 

Harold


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## jason_recliner (Aug 29, 2014)

Harold_V said:


> It's a matter of personal pride. I try to do most things as well as they can be done, assuming I am capable of doing so.


I take absolutely ages to get stuff done. But the greatest compliment comes, once finished, when people question whether you really did it yourself.
That goes just as much for brewing cider, building a deck or tiling the toilet floor - where the longer you will sit and notice something, the more perfect it has to be.


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## Smokin_Cache (Aug 29, 2014)

Harold_V said:


> Smokin_Cache said:
> 
> 
> > Harold thank you for pushing for perfection and offering advice!!
> ...



My buyer pays 65-75% on karat scrap and 98% on my recovered shot. I don't typically refine with a second pass in AR. Once is good enough for him. That's not good enough for this. Can't wait to have the time to work on this.

I just posted a pic of a shot bead I used to deal with extra nitric. I think I am going to start this button off whole in AR. Then wash it up and take some pictures before pouring as shot to finish it off. Pretty neat texture to that first shot bead.


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## Smokin_Cache (Nov 26, 2014)

Update: I sold the button, it tested at 99.99 with XRF

I am going to run an ounce of karat scrap this weekend and I am thinking of using oxalic acid for the second drop just to see if I can poke a 95 on the end of that. As I said before all of my runs are single refined, but with the holiday weekend I will have some time to play.


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