# Gold filled scrap



## Renaldas (Jul 12, 2010)

As I understand, if we have GF item, it must contain at least 1/20 10K of gold, or about 1/50 of its weight, yes? It is interesting for me, what is with, for example, watch bands. I have seen these bands of several metals, and, I think, not all the band was gold filled. Can this item be marked as GF in such a situation? So, counting gold weight we must consider the amount of unfilled metals, am I right?


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## lazersteve (Jul 12, 2010)

Renaldas said:


> As I understand, if we have GF item, it must contain at least 1/20 10K of gold, or about 1/50 of its weight, yes? It is interesting for me, what is with, for example, watch bands. I have seen these bands of several metals, and, I think, not all the band was gold filled. Can this item be marked as GF in such a situation? So, counting gold weight we must consider the amount of unfilled metals, am I right?



Correct.

Watch bands are about 25% GF content by gross weight depending on the band style. Men's and women's are very close to the same percentage. The bulk of the band (~75%) is Stainless Steel, only the caps are GF in most cases.

The GF caps are then calculated as the Hallmarked gold percentage (1/20 10Kt GF) for yield calculations. Remember worn items will contain less gold.

Steve


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## goldenchild (Jul 12, 2010)

Yes. Watchbands are by far what I have processed the most of and my favorite. Because of how thin the base metal on the caps are they are very easy to dissolve in nitric. I calculate watchbands to be 30% gold filled and 70% base metals and am dead on each time. I also use 1/20 10k if the karats arent specified as this is what you will get the most of 90% of the time. So for instance if someone on ebay is selling 454 grams of watchbands and the karats arent specified, I use this calculation.

(454 * .3) * (.05) * (.417)

This will equal the value in pure gold(approx.) and I go from there. 

I have never overpaid for watchbands...


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## lazersteve (Jul 12, 2010)

Goldenchild,

I love the yields, I hate the work required to pluck the bands.

The bands are typically filled with green/gray grime and grease so I wear a mask and gloves when plucking the tops. The gloves keep my fingers from getting injured and infected with someones old skin or who knows what. 

I've processed over a hundred pounds in the last three years and still have more to pluck at the moment. It's nice to have the scrap, it sucks to do the time plucking the tops. 

Could be worse, I could be looking for scrap to process. 

Steve


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## goldenchild (Jul 12, 2010)

No doubt Steve,

The yeilds are excellent but the time required to pluck the caps off the bands can be disheartening. I'm sure by now you are an expert and have a system to get them off fast. Its funny how you become familiar with the types and how to attack them. On a man's watchband I can usually pluck it clean in about 10 secs or less. Woman's on the other hand are a different story. They are a nightmare. White gold can be a pain too because you cant tell where the white gold ends and aluminum :x /stainless begins. I hoard those in a seperate batch 

And you are so right about the horrors that you find under some of the bands. They definately need a good incineration when they are all collected. If its really bad I let them soak in scolding hot water with dish soap overnight in a plastic container like the one in my acid vid. This gets the bulk of the filth off and then I incinerate the much cleaner caps. But its all worth it in the end. The 5 ingots that I have in the gallery under "more buttons please" are exclusively from caps. Yeah that much! I have probably already exceeded 100 lbs and have been at this for less than a year :shock:


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## qst42know (Jul 12, 2010)

Ladies watch bands go pretty fast with a pair of dull wire nippers. Pinch them about one third from the end and and they pop right off. These have been incinerated but you end up with these little bowtie caps.

I have more trouble finding them than getting them apart. :mrgreen:


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## Harold_V (Jul 12, 2010)

lazersteve said:


> I love the yields, I hate the work required to pluck the bands.
> 
> The bands are typically filled with green/gray grime and grease so I wear a mask and gloves when plucking the tops. The gloves keep my fingers from getting injured and infected with someones old skin or who knows what.
> 
> ...


I got around that issue by stripping them in cyanide, using a stainless steel cathode. Much like a Thum cell, the watch bands were placed in a plastic basket, with a titanium attachment placed on top of the bands, which were submerged in about two inches of solution. Spacing between the anode and cathode was roughly 1½" as I recall. I kept the fluid level just below the attachment. The process strips the gold, along with some of the base metals, both of which firmly attach to the stainless plate. 

When I had finished processing the lot in question, the values were stripped from the plate with a razor blade. They came off as thin pieces, rather brittle. The residue was then given the customary acid treatment and refining. 

In order to insure that all of the gold was stripped, I tended to allow the bands to remain in the stripping cell until the copper based alloy was well consumed. The basket was dumped and re-filled a few times to insure that all bands were being stripped. 

Nice part of this system is it runs silently, without much attention, allowing you to do other things. Very little time is dedicated to the stripping operation. 

Harold


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## jimdoc (Jul 12, 2010)

I have a question about watch bands,not gold filled ones,but one that comes on a platinum watch.What are the odds that the tops of the bands are platinum,or anything else of value? It would seem odd to have a cheap band come with a platinum watch.I have one that I just put on the side until later,and was curious.I know I should just dig it out and test it,but if anybody knows I would be wasting my time,it would be good to know.

Jim


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## Harold_V (Jul 12, 2010)

I never knowingly processed one made of platinum, Jim, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I believe were it up to me, I'd dig it out and run a test. If it's platinum, it will be slow to dissolve, even in heated AR----but if it's stainless, you'd get an immediate green reaction. If the caps are different from the band, I'd do the testing on a cap, alone, so you don't get any conflicting results. 

Might be interesting to hear the results should you elect to give it a go. 

Harold


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## qst42know (Jul 12, 2010)

I think there's only one way to know for sure. 

I have seen platinum watches on white gold filled bands.


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## jimdoc (Jul 12, 2010)

I will test it and let you know. I figured it should at least
be gold filled, but it isn't marked. The watch is 10%irid,
90%plat.Thanks.

Jim


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## qst42know (Jul 13, 2010)

Harold_V said:


> lazersteve said:
> 
> 
> > I love the yields, I hate the work required to pluck the bands.
> ...



Harold

I sure like your way better. 8) 

Chris


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