# Three foam overs later



## troy-s (May 5, 2022)

Hey everyone, I wanted to share a picture of my newest bar. Here is the back story.

I tried to make some 18K gold for a chain. I had mixed copper and sterling with 24K gold I had previously refined and it cracked as I forged it as you would expect. I learned the lesson....

Anyway I refined it again and while adding SMB to a way too full beaker it foamed over. Still too much nitric in it. So anyway, this happened three times (total amateur hour I know) and I had to clean up a huge mess. My AR now had dirt, a broken watch glass, paper towels and other crap from the ground mixed with it. After cleaning it and finishing the refining I ended up with an amazing looking 41.6 gram bar. This was an interesting few hours for me.


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## nickvc (May 5, 2022)

With jewellery alloys especially ones that need to be malleable I would double refine your gold and use clean copper and fine silver, not sterling as who knows exactly what’s in there, for you alloy.


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## Geo (May 5, 2022)

troy-s said:


> Hey everyone, I wanted to share a picture of my newest bar. Here is the back story.
> 
> I tried to make some 18K gold for a chain. I had mixed copper and sterling with 24K gold I had previously refined and it cracked as I forged it as you would expect. I learned the lesson....
> 
> Anyway I refined it again and while adding SMB to a way too full beaker it foamed over. Still too much nitric in it. So anyway, this happened three times (total amateur hour I know) and I had to clean up a huge mess. My AR now had dirt, a broken watch glass, paper towels and other crap from the ground mixed with it. After cleaning it and finishing the refining I ended up with an amazing looking 41.6 gram bar. This was an interesting few hours for me.


Are you using a catch basin for your beakers? I use pyroceram casserole dishes (Corningware). They can be glowing red hot and not break or shatter. Your next boil over will not be a problem. Remove from heat and pour the solution back into the beaker.


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## troy-s (May 5, 2022)

nickvc said:


> With jewellery alloys especially ones that need to be malleable I would double refine your gold and use clean copper and fine silver, not sterling as who knows exactly what’s in there, for you alloy.


Yeah I learned my lesson the hard way. After this one cracked I made another ingot with 24K and fine Ag and worked it without issues. I made a 26gram 18K green gold chain. Not bad for my first piece of jewelry I think.


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## troy-s (May 5, 2022)

Geo said:


> Are you using a catch basin for your beakers? I use pyroceram casserole dishes (Corningware). They can be glowing red hot and not break or shatter. Your next boil over will not be a problem. Remove from heat and pour the solution back into the beaker.


Yeah my kid collects corningware so I have borrowed a few pieces. I caught most of the solution in those, they were dirty as hell from the last rain storm though. The watch glass bounced off and broken on the concrete. It was an absolute mess. If I had not had the corningware I would have lost $500 in gold or more I bet.


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## Geo (May 5, 2022)

Two metals that I know of will make gold brittle. Lead and iron. Is there any way either of these metals was in the mix?


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## troy-s (May 5, 2022)

Geo said:


> Two metals that I know of will make gold brittle. Lead and iron. Is there any way either of these metals was in the mix?


Honestly there was probably something in the sterling that I used. It was a cheap chain. I have a bag full of pure silver bars that I refined and should have just used those. I did the second time around with much better results. Sterling is for inquarting, not gold jewelry.


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## FrugalRefiner (May 5, 2022)

It was probably the solder used on the chain. While the bulk of the chain may have been sterling silver, all bets are off when it comes to the solder.

Dave


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## PeterM (May 6, 2022)

troy-s said:


> Yeah I learned my lesson the hard way. After this one cracked I made another ingot with 24K and fine Ag and worked it without issues. I made a 26gram 18K green gold chain. Not bad for my first piece of jewelry I think.


Chain looks nice, I made this one for my wrist, Byzantine link, .


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## troy-s (May 7, 2022)

PeterM said:


> Chain looks nice, I made this one for my wrist, Byzantine link, .


Wow Peter, that chain is gorgeous! I hope I'm able to make something at that level someday. You should be so incredibly proud to wear that thing.


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## PeterM (May 7, 2022)

PeterM said:


> Chain looks nice, I made this one for my wrist, Byzantine link, .


Troy-S, You did a fine job on your first chain. Everything is easy, there is nothing difficult in this world. Even though I have been a jeweler for years, everything is in books. Everything I've learned, I've learned from someone else, and they've learned it from someone else, who learned it from someone else. I have other even more in depth books on making chains, IM me your email and I'll get them to you.


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