# 25 Troy Ounces 999 Fine Silver - 5 Bars



## kadriver (Oct 14, 2011)

These 5 troy ounce bars were made last night.

I shot video of the process. I will post it later today.

This sure is great fun. I am my wifes hero again!

I will list them on Ebay this evening after 4pm.

Each will have an opening bid of $0.99 with no reserve price.

Do a search for Ebay user name: bafelous

Thank you

kadriver


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## rusty (Oct 14, 2011)

kadriver you have most certainly set a new standard in home refining for our forum members to aspire too. Nice work, looking forward to viewing your video.

Best Regards
Gill


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## metatp (Oct 14, 2011)

Very nice. They are so good that I aspire to be just half as good for now. 

It must be hard part with them. I know would want to keep some for my own investment.

Tom


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## kadriver (Oct 15, 2011)

I would love to be able to keep some.

I did end up saving 140 grams of silver crystals.

I will use them for the next time I start my silver cell.

I use the extra silver crystals to trim the weight of the bars if I end up shy on the weight.

These bars will keep the roof over our head and food on the table.

I think that it is a privilage to be able to do this (refining) as a hobby and as employment. I just got off work at my shop (a rental property that I rent from myself). My neighbors must be wondering about me - "what in the world is he doing at all odd hours of the night"?

I compensate by trimming their bushes, sometimes mow their lawn, fix their yard equipment and light fixtures. So I try to be a good neighbor and they don't both me.

By the way, how did you pick the user name HTPatch, Tom.

Thanks for your comments.

kadriver


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## kadriver (Oct 15, 2011)

I just now got to the videos. I won't have the video of pouring the bars done until at least Sunday 16 Oct 2011.

Thanks - kadriver


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## Geo (Oct 15, 2011)

cant wait. ive been saving all my silver plate just for the occasion.when i talk about silver plate, im talking about the insides of large rotary switches in all the military test equipment ive been stripping down. i have many pounds of small plated pieces, not large heavy stuff but small thin contacts. im assuming the weight in silver will compare to the weight of base metals as the pieces are as thin as small plated pins.


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## metatp (Oct 15, 2011)

kadriver said:


> By the way, how did you pick the user name HTPatch, Tom.


It goes back to when I was in high school (30 years ago). Its just people called me for those years. Nothing special. I was thinking of changing it, but i am used to using it. Maybe I will change it.


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## TigWiz (Oct 15, 2011)

Kadriver, 

Congrats on your ebay auctions, you are indeed doing very well. I have been trying, for weeks, to win one of your actions, but the auctions have been crazy. I wish you continued luck and prosperity. You do produce a very nice bar.


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## element47 (Oct 15, 2011)

Boy oh boy, if you're getting $40 an ounce when market is $32, I would be sorely tempted to go buy generic silver rounds and melt them directly into your sweet looking bars. Ne refining, "no celling". Or would that be cheating? 

You're really doing magnificent work!


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## metatp (Oct 16, 2011)

kadriver deserves it for the great bars he produces. Maybe there will be collectors out there that don't mind paying more for the great artistic bars. :lol: 

He did his homework and learned to make great product.

Congrats kadriver.


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## jmdlcar (Oct 16, 2011)

When you stamp your silver what size is the numbers & letters?


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## kuma (Oct 17, 2011)

Hi all!
Kadriver , those are lovely looking bars , again!  
I have one question(s) , sorry! :mrgreen: 
On your bars you have stamped eight digit serial numbers. I know that some refineries stamp serial numbers on bars of 250 grams and above , and that these come with certificates.
I'm just wandering , purely out of interest , what system your using with these numbers and why , and do you produce certificates to go with these?
Once again , very nice work!
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris


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## Claudie (Oct 17, 2011)

Maybe it's the date they were made. :|


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## kuma (Oct 17, 2011)

Claudie said:


> Maybe it's the date they were made. :|



I was just about to slink back into my quiet-time corner , when I noticed that Mr. Driver had said in his first post that the bars were made the night before the picture was taken , well spotted though , I missed that one! :mrgreen: lol's
Is it a date ?
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris


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## Claudie (Oct 17, 2011)

I was just guessing, only kadriver can tell us for sure. :|


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## kadriver (Oct 18, 2011)

Hello:

The stamps are 1/8 inch metal stamps. Ibought them off Ebay.

The number is the date starting with the year, then the month, then the day.

So, the number 20111008 would be 8 Oct 2011.

It is a way to make each bar unique. 

I have video footage of the entire process of making those last five bars including stamping each bar. I will get it done and posted as soon as I can.

I just got home from work (3:30 am) I finished up about 20 ounces of cemented silver. Tomorrow I will cast into anode bars for my silver cell.

Thanks for all your comments.

kadriver


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## kuma (Oct 18, 2011)

kadriver said:


> Hello:
> 
> The number is the date starting with the year, then the month, then the day.
> 
> ...



Hello , how are things ?
That's really cool , I did wonder!
Claudie , you have some sharp eyes there!
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris


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## kadriver (Oct 20, 2011)

I got the video done.

It shows in detail how I poured these bars

The video is posted under "Silver" category on this forum

Here it is for those who are looking in this category:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umg3WSdPWHY[/youtube]

Thank for looking.

kadriver


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## micronationcreation (Oct 21, 2011)

Excellent video, most impressive part for me is the lettering(thought it was done by machine).


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## Geo (Oct 21, 2011)

it was. a silver bar making machine. :shock: :mrgreen: :lol:


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 21, 2011)

For a period of about a year, when I had my last refinery, I poured 1000s of 10 oz silver bars, 5 at a time, using a closed graphite book mold. They weren't as pretty as kadriver's, but they were OK. They were very smooth and showed a lot of crystal. All of the entrapped oxygen and any slag (usually none) went to the top of the sprue, which was cut off. I smoked the graphite molds with acetylene. That wasn't necessary, but it did make the bars look quite a bit better. 

The silver was melted in #6 or #8 silicon carbide (usually) crucibles in a dedicated gas crucible furnace. At first, I always melted 200 oz, but this ate an erosion ring in the crucible at the point of the surface of the silver. Then, I started varying the amount of silver I melted at one time and the crucibles lasted a lot longer.

The part I hated was stamping them. It was assembly line idiot work. I put about 50-100 at a time on a thick layer of newspaper on a steel table and started down the line. I had good lighting. I stamped the first letter on all of them and then stamped the 2nd letter, and so on. Stamping 100 bars took about 2 hours, or more, although I got pretty fast at it. Each bar had about 30 numbers, letters, and periods stamped on it. When using book molds and after cutting off the sprues with a power hacksaw, each bar weighed a little different, in a range of about 10.01 to 10.20 tr.oz. Any under 10 oz (rare), I remelted. The ones under 10 oz usually had a bubble. This was solved by perfecting the temp of the mold, the temp of the melt, and the speed of pouring. Before stamping, I weighed each bar and wrote the weight, rounded down a little, off to the side on each bar with a magic marker. After I finished, I removed the magic marker writing carefully with acetone, making sure I didn't mar the crystal. The whole thing was a pain in the a**. Profitable, though, since I sold the bars to locals for at least spot, and usually more. I did many 100 oz bars, one at a time, in the same way. I usually had a waiting list for my bars.

The source of the silver was mostly big sweated contact points and x-ray film. It all eventually was processed in a 30 gallon Thum silver cell. The cell usually ran 5 days a week and produced about 500 oz/day - 3 or 4 of us took turns pushing it every 4 hours. Since the silver going into the cell was at least 99%, I didn't have much cell maintenance. A few years later, I wised up to the now obvious fact that, since the silver on film was quite pure to start with and, if I didn't contaminate it during the process (which I didn't), I didn't have to run it through the cell. I may have been making 5 nines silver and didn't know it. Oh, well.

Before making those small bars, I used to cast about 400 oz bars of my pure silver, in a cast iron mold, and shipped them to California. Of course, I took about a 10% beating and paid for the shipping (about $1/pound, registered and insured, in a 70# new bucket full with security seals on it). Silver was about $6 at the time, so, when I made the small bars, I made at least $6 extra, per 10 oz bar.

I hope you guys don't mind my little stories.


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## Palladium (Oct 21, 2011)

I always love a GSP story. 8)


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## glondor (Oct 21, 2011)

I do as well. Chris is a very good writer.


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 21, 2011)

Thanks, guys. Always feels good to get petted.


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## Palladium (Oct 21, 2011)

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


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## kuma (Oct 22, 2011)

This has been said before , but we seriously need a *like* button , lol's :lol: 
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris
(Kuma likes this)


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## Smack (Oct 23, 2011)

Anyone ever heard of inserting a small metal tube into the molten metal to release gases so you will have a smoother shinier pour? I know I read about it somewhere.

Haha, Palladium...self petting is not allowed in public.


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## Geo (Oct 23, 2011)

molten metals like silver acts like a solvent for other metals and any contact will add impurities to your finished product. i cant think of any real need to do this unless your doing some casting in a deep mold.


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## Harold_V (Oct 23, 2011)

Smack said:


> Anyone ever heard of inserting a small metal tube into the molten metal to release gases so you will have a smoother shinier pour? I know I read about it somewhere.


Not on this board, I hope. 
It isn't wise to use ANY metallic instruments that may contact the values when dealing with molten metals. Can't think of many ways to contaminate your refined metals any faster. 

Harold


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## Smack (Dec 9, 2011)

I figured out what it was. Degassing of aluminum is what I was thinking of. Sorry about that, fired one off premature.


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## joem (Dec 9, 2011)

Smack said:


> Sorry about that, fired one off premature.


 :shock:


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## kuma (Dec 9, 2011)

joem said:


> Smack said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry about that, fired one off premature.
> ...



:roll: :lol: :lol:


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## Lou (Jan 25, 2012)

I am willing to bet that these are an order of magnitude better than 999 fine.

Look at what he starts with for his anodes, his cement silver is probably 992+. Start with 99+ Ag and if the electrolyte is clean, 99,99+ is easily achieved first pass.


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