# What is the easiest / cheapest way to melt gold



## Miner Jim (Apr 9, 2011)

I am trying to come up with something I can make to melt gold with. I have been reading up on flower pot furnaces using charcoal as a fuel. Do they get hot enough to melt gold? I have also seen some intriguing stuff on making an electric furnace with resistance coils. With gold being so high I am working on putting all of the equipment together to do everything from digging ore out of the mountain to melting the gold into ingots. This is the last point I am struggling with.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 9, 2011)

Visit backyardmetalcasting.com to get an idea on your furnace. And you can get crucibles from Steves web site or a number of other places. You can do a search here on the forum and find numerous places to look.


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## qst42know (Apr 9, 2011)

I have no doubt you could melt gold with hardwood charcoal and a bellows. However migdave has a website to sell natural nuggets at a significant premium. You may be better off bottling up what you find and have him take a look before you melt.


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## Miner Jim (Apr 9, 2011)

qst42know said:


> I have no doubt you could melt gold with hardwood charcoal and a bellows. However migdave has a website to sell natural nuggets at a significant premium. You may be better off bottling up what you find and have him take a look before you melt.



Thanks!

My mine is hard rock so the gold is very fine, unless I find some specimens, which would be more leafy.


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## Miner Jim (Apr 9, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Visit backyardmetalcasting.com to get an idea on your furnace. And you can get crucibles from Steves web site or a number of other places. You can do a search here on the forum and find numerous places to look.



Would graphite crucibles like the ones sold on eBay be good?


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## qst42know (Apr 9, 2011)

I would think the graphite would oxidize as the charcoal would need plenty of oxygen to achieve the required heat. Lazersteve sells clay crucibles on his website that should work better.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 9, 2011)

You need to look at how much material you are going to melt at a given time. Once you know that then you can go farther on your search. You can melt a few pounds in the largel crucible like Steve sells. The ones on Fleabay will work if you have a lot of material you are working with. But it depends what you plan on melting with. The small ones that Steve sells you can melt close to a pound with the right setup and paitence in what you are doing, and practice.


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## Miner Jim (Apr 9, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> You need to look at how much material you are going to melt at a given time. Once you know that then you can go farther on your search. You can melt a few pounds in the largel crucible like Steve sells. The ones on Fleabay will work if you have a lot of material you are working with. But it depends what you plan on melting with. The small ones that Steve sells you can melt close to a pound with the right setup and paitence in what you are doing, and practice.



I would just be melting fairly small quantities at a time. A pound of gold would be awesome though! Very good info about graphite not being the best kind of crucible in all situations.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 9, 2011)

Then I would suggest you get something like one of the small dishes that Steve sells and a MAPP gas tourch.


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## Miner Jim (Apr 10, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Then I would suggest you get something like one of the small dishes that Steve sells and a MAPP gas tourch.



That is a great idea! I had totally forgotten about MAPP gas. I have been able to barely melt gold with a propane torch and MAPP is a lot hotter. What material should the dish or crucible be made out of? Is it still practical to use flux with a torch melt?


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 10, 2011)

Miner Jim said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
> 
> 
> > Then I would suggest you get something like one of the small dishes that Steve sells and a MAPP gas tourch.
> ...



The ones Steve sells are made of bone ash. If your gold is clean a light coating of flux on your dish is fine and works well.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 10, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Miner Jim said:
> 
> 
> > Barren Realms 007 said:
> ...



Are you sure about that? I know of no melting dishes made of bone ash.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 10, 2011)

goldsilverpro said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
> 
> 
> > Miner Jim said:
> ...



I thought they were but I am probably wrong. What are his dishes made of?


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## qst42know (Apr 10, 2011)

What is the appeal of field melting what you find? 

What is it you hope to accomplish?

For tiny amounts you won't get any cheaper than this an alcohol blowpipe. I have read a candle flame can fuel a blowpipe as well.

http://www.autodidactics.com/blowpipesoldering/index.html


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## Miner Jim (Apr 10, 2011)

qst42know said:


> What is the appeal of field melting what you find?
> 
> What is it you hope to accomplish?
> 
> ...



So many interesting suggestions!

I am actually planning to melt down the gold that I accumulate over a period of time. The amounts would probably be 1/4 oz to 1 oz. I will begin by amalgamating the gold and then cooking off the mercury to make a sponge. Sponges aren't nearly as pretty as gold melted into a nice button or ingot.


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## Miner Jim (Apr 10, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Then I would suggest you get something like one of the small dishes that Steve sells and a MAPP gas tourch.



Do you have a link to Steve's site?


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## jimdoc (Apr 10, 2011)

Miner Jim said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
> 
> 
> > Then I would suggest you get something like one of the small dishes that Steve sells and a MAPP gas tourch.
> ...




http://www.goldrecovery.us/


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## lazersteve (Apr 10, 2011)

I sell three types of dishes:

1- 3" Fireclay as seen in the photo Barren posted from my site.

2- 2-9/16" White fused silica dish

3- 4" White fused silica dish

I also sell magnesite cupels and fireclay crucibles.

I would go with the white dishes for the most uses.

MAPP easily melts gold in quantities up to around 3 to 4 ounces with little or no difficulty.

Steve


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## Miner Jim (Apr 10, 2011)

lazersteve said:


> I sell three types of dishes:
> 
> 1- 3" Fireclay as seen in the photo Barren posted from my site.
> 
> ...



The MAPP torch is sounding like the best option at this point. Thanks!


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