# Any Good Sources To Get Iron For My Waste Nitric/Peroxide?



## Anonymous (Jan 10, 2013)

Hello members,

What would be a good source for me to obtain iron so I can get my spent nitric/peroxide/distilled water waste disposed of properly?

I'm ready to start my new batch of refining keyboard mylars for the silver, but I now have 1600 ml of waste solution that I need to properly make sure it's totally spent and anything harmful removed, then disposed of.

Another thing, since I have some scrap .925 sterling jewelry, can I put a few small pieces in the solution to make sure it's really all used up?

Thanks

Kevin


----------



## etack (Jan 10, 2013)

Use any unpainted steal, iron. I use old tin roof from my barn. :lol: The un painted is if you want to do something with the Cu later.

Also if your solution was not all used up than your silver would not have cemented out.

Eric


----------



## hex1 (Jan 10, 2013)

you don't need pure iron, any scrap piece of metal that will stick to a magnet will do to get the copper out of the solution since soluble copper is toxic to the environment. If you really cant find any scrap metal laying about a crushed soup can should work.


----------



## Irons2 (Jan 10, 2013)

Old Bed Spring, Tin Cans(Iron), Nuts,bolts,Steel Pennies,Engine Blocks, Brooklyn Bridge... :mrgreen:


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 10, 2013)

Thanks for the replies.



etack said:


> Use any unpainted steal, iron. I use old tin roof from my barn. :lol: The un painted is if you want to do something with the Cu later.
> Also if your solution was not all used up than your silver would not have cemented out.


*Etack*, I have a friend that owns a wrought iron business and he has plenty of that type of scrap around. I'm sure he'll let me get about 10 - 20 lbs worth. It's also nice to understand that if I still have copper in the solution, yet, no more silver is dropping, all the silver has been dropped. 
*
This also raises a question*. So, if I dissolve silver in the nitric/peroxide and put copper in the solution, it'll keep on cementing and redissolving until it cements until the copper doesn't drop it any more? And that will be an indication that the solution has been used up?

*Hex1*, thanks. That's something I needed to know. As long as it sticks to a magnet, it's good enough, for the most part, of cementing the copper out of the solution.

*Irons2*. Got it now. I see. I have plenty of clean food cans that I save to take to the scrap yard to get money. But pennies would be copper right? Magnets don't stick to pennies though. But I get the idea.

Kevin


----------



## etack (Jan 10, 2013)

testerman said:


> It's also nice to understand that if I still have copper in the solution, yet, no more silver is dropping, all the silver has been dropped.



The best test for Ag in you nirtic solution is a drop of HCl or less just dip a tooth pick in HCl and then dip it into you CU nitrate and look for AgCl on it if it's not cloudy you most likely got it all.

My Cu nitrate solutions and silver rinse water I put into an ale pail https://www.google.com/search?q=alepail&oq=alepail&aqs=chrome.0.57&sugexp=chrome,mod=9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 with some HCL in it to let it settle then I drain it with the spicket and wait till it has a lot of sediment than I melt it. There is some AgCl but almost nothing that adds up to any real money.

Eric


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 10, 2013)

etack said:


> testerman said:
> 
> 
> > It's also nice to understand that if I still have copper in the solution, yet, no more silver is dropping, all the silver has been dropped.
> ...


I'm understanding it more now, but what about the nitric acid? In other words, how do I know, or not, if I can still use the solution to dissolve more silver, even though copper been used, but it dropped all the silver? Couldn't there be more unspent nitric in there?

From the amount of nitric/peroxide mixture I used, I have estimated that I could dissolve approximately 11 lbs of mylars. I only did just a tad under 1 lb worth, but I also added distilled water to the main solution from the rinse solution.

Kevin


----------



## etack (Jan 10, 2013)

If you have dropped silver from you nitric then no you will not be able to dissolve more silver with it. The dropping of silver with Cu ensures that the nitric is used up or it would be continuously dissolving your Ag. In a sense this is what happens until it is all used up.

Eric


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 10, 2013)

etack said:


> If you have dropped silver from you nitric then no you will not be able to dissolve more silver with it. The dropping of silver with Cu ensures that the nitric is used up or it would be continuously dissolving your Ag. In a sense this is what happens until it is all used up.
> 
> Eric


Got it. That put the icing on that cake. Now I know that all my nitric has been spent. I understand. When I do my next batch, I'm going to make my mixture as before (a little less) then I'm going to do all the mylars for that mixture amount until I complete them and see how far the nitric/peroxide really can go with the mylars.

Thanks

Kevin


----------



## FrugalRefiner (Jan 10, 2013)

testerman said:


> But pennies would be copper right? Magnets don't stick to pennies though. But I get the idea.
> 
> Kevin



Lincoln head pennies minted from 1909 through 1982ish were 95% copper with the exception of the zinc coated steel pennies produced during World War II. In 1983 the mint changed to a 97.5% zinc 2.5% copper process. You can find more details here: US Coin Information

Dave


----------



## gold4mike (Jan 10, 2013)

Testerman,

You said you were processing keyboard mylars - You can use the metal sheet that you've found in some of your keyboards to cement the copper out. 

That's what I've been saving about 20 pounds of them for. I figure they'll fit easily in a 5 gallon bucket and enough will stick out the top to get ahold of if you need to.


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 10, 2013)

gold4mike said:


> Testerman,
> 
> You said you were processing keyboard mylars - You can use the metal sheet that you've found in some of your keyboards to cement the copper out.
> 
> That's what I've been saving about 20 pounds of them for. I figure they'll fit easily in a 5 gallon bucket and enough will stick out the top to get ahold of if you need to.


That is a very good idea. 

Wow.... this forum never ceases to amaze me with all the bright minds here.

All this information has made me more informative as to what I'm doing.

Kevin


----------

