# My first ounce... well almost!



## UncleBenBen (Dec 28, 2016)

So I took advantage of a couple of weeks of vacation time recently and did some processing. Finally got around to melting last night and got this...




Just shy of the Troy ounce I was shooting for, but that's OK. All from escrap. About half from chips, most of the rest from fingers and some ceramics. Then what I thought would be just enough pins to finish the ounce. Maybe I'll find the difference when I dig in to my stock pot and start treating my waste from this run. :mrgreen: 

I should have taken a picture last night before it got scratched up, but I'm going to remelt it and try a little harder to keep the pipe from collapsing as much, or maybe try to pour a bar. I want to stamp a little message into it. 

I tried to get my phone to show Nashville in the background while I was 12 stories up on a roof this morning but it wouldn't do it, so here's that!




Thanks for all the knowledge and for all of you at GRF!


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## Tndavid (Dec 28, 2016)

Nice button brother. Congratulations!! :G


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## UncleBenBen (Dec 28, 2016)

Hey thanks man!


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## MGH (Dec 28, 2016)

Don't drop it!!!

I wouldn't worry about remelting it if it were mine. I think it looks great, scratched or not. Every time you mess with it, that's just adding another chance for something to go wrong. Maybe if/when you get some more and you want to pour a two or three ounce bar, then sure, add it in.


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## UncleBenBen (Dec 28, 2016)

MGH said:


> Don't drop it!!!



LOL! Not a chance! I stayed well back from the edge! :lol: 

The remelt would just be for a smoother surface to stamp a message on. My original plan was to never sell, but I've got a really good doctor friend that has about talked me in to selling it to him. Mainly as a conversation piece for his office. I do think a lot of him, and he has been following my adventures in refining. So I guess I'll let him take it and take a que from most here and just more higher yielding material to process for more gold. :G


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## Topher_osAUrus (Dec 28, 2016)

Looks great Ben!


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## Tndavid (Dec 28, 2016)

UncleBenBen said:


> MGH said:
> 
> 
> > Don't drop it!!!
> ...


Go on and send it down the road bout 40 miles to me Unc and I'll re-refine and pour you a bar :wink:


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## aga (Dec 29, 2016)

Beautiful lump of gold !

Very nice work.


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## UncleBenBen (Dec 29, 2016)

Hey Topher and aga, thanks for the kind comments!



Tndavid said:


> Go on and send it down the road bout 40 miles to me Unc and I'll re-refine and pour you a bar



:lol: You really do have it bad, don't you! :lol: 
I thought about refining it again after a piece of my tongs flaked off during the melt. It may have just stained the top, the bottom looks a lot more like clean gold should. But the good doctor already offered to pay full spot as is, so if some dilute sulfuric will 'get the stain out' I'll likely let it go as it is.

If I can bring myself to actually let it go!  :roll:


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## Tndavid (Dec 29, 2016)

UncleBenBen said:


> Hey Topher and aga, thanks for the kind comments!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I got it real bad. Lol. I know right it's like letting go of your 1st born


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## UncleBenBen (Dec 29, 2016)

Tndavid said:


> I know right it's like letting go of your 1st born



More like that first love...Because I already know there will be another one to come along eventually!! 8) :lol:


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## aga (Dec 29, 2016)

I think i signed up to this forum the other day looking for a bit of inspiration.

Your photo certainly did the trick.

Today i rigged-up a table saw to rapidly rip the gold fingers off some PC ram sticks and circuit boards, then rigged up a salt/vinegar/bubbler 1L pot to lift the foils and chucked the fingers into it.

I appreciate there will only be a teensy weensy bit of gold there, so the plan for now is to collect whatever/whenever i can, and at least get the foils lifted off the PCBs as that will take up a lot less space than 30 tons of circuit boards !

One day, with any luck, there'll be enough worth refining ...


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## UncleBenBen (Dec 29, 2016)

aga said:


> I think i signed up to this forum the other day looking for a bit of inspiration.
> 
> Your photo certainly did the trick.



If you liked mine, you should take a look at the one Tndavid recently posted. That's one beautifully clean button!
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=24753

Careful with the dust from sawing the boards, some nasty stuff to breath. Yep, every little bit counts when working with escrap. And it will definitely add up!

This is from countless small test tube and tiny beaker tests I've ran. Some to test content, others just to learn the processes over and over till I was confident that I had it right. If I ended with enough gold powder to actually see I rinsed it into a small beaker. If not I rinsed it into my stockpot to recover later. This is the powder from a few months of rinsing into that little beaker. I'm surprised I actually got it to melt!




Just keep saving it up. You will be posting a button before you know it!


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## Tndavid (Dec 29, 2016)

UncleBenBen said:


> Tndavid said:
> 
> 
> > I know right it's like letting go of your 1st born
> ...


No doubt. :lol:


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## Tndavid (Dec 29, 2016)

Thanks for the compliment too buddy.


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## aga (Dec 29, 2016)

UncleBenBen said:


> If you liked mine, you should take a look at the one Tndavid recently posted.


Oh Dear, that's also beautiful. 

Please, no more ! I might get hooked ! 

The foil-lifting pot was going blue a few hours ago, so there should be a load of floating foils in the morning.

I can forsee an ongoing Hunt for things to rip 'n' strip.

Don't worry on my account about the very real processing hazards - i've already safely created and handled some seriously nasty liquids/gasses, know what to expect and am fully equipped to deal with it.

As a side-note, a stock pot made from just the foil-lifting solution will contain lots of Copper, easily cemented out with Iron. Zero dissolved gold possible in that mix.

Looks like a retirement plan coming together.

[dream mode=on]
Gold ! Copper ! Any alloy you like Sir. How many Kg do you want ?
[dream mode=off]


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## Tndavid (Dec 29, 2016)

aga said:


> UncleBenBen said:
> 
> 
> > If you liked mine, you should take a look at the one Tndavid recently posted.
> ...


Might? Bahahaha. That's what I said too. Now I go to meetings twice weekly. :shock:


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## aga (Dec 29, 2016)

Meetings ?

Do they bring the shiny Gold ?

Where is it and what time ? Where is the meeting ? WHERE IS IT ? WHERE ?!?!?


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## UncleBenBen (Dec 29, 2016)

:lol: :lol: 
If y'all would take three clean gold finger foils and carefully lay them out side by side on the sticky side of a piece of tape, then stick the tape to your arm. It works just like a nicotine patch!!  
:lol: :lol:


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## Tndavid (Dec 29, 2016)

Bahahaha :lol: :lol:


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## g_axelsson (Dec 29, 2016)

aga said:


> I think i signed up to this forum the other day looking for a bit of inspiration.
> 
> Your photo certainly did the trick.
> 
> ...


With your chemistry background it shouldn't be hard to do small batches too. It just takes a bit of knowledge and some test tubes and small beakers.
This is how to refine and melt the gold from one circuit board.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=23737
It is gold worth 40 cent but knowledge worth a lot more. :wink: 

Göran


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## aga (Dec 30, 2016)

Thanks very much Göran for the link to your superb post ! 

Astonishing that as little as 0.01g can actually be isolated.

Knowing some chemistry will be useful, but nowhere near as valuable as direct hands-on experience and advice from experienced refiners.


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