# Which is better, Melting or chemical process????



## Ode to Scrap (Feb 27, 2012)

I am new to refining, I have been reading several articles about refining silver from Silver plated flatware. I still don't know, so I am post this question. Is melting or chemical process better and what are the steps and materials needed. I have about 300 lbs. of flatware. Thank You for your responce.


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## its-all-a-lie (Feb 27, 2012)

there is no way around using chemicals to refine. melting does not remove impurities.


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## jimdoc (Feb 27, 2012)

I would say that it is easier to get a plating off of the surface than when it is alloyed with another metal of much greater percentage. There have been a lot of discussions on this already if you use the search box on the forum. It may not be worth it if you aren't setup to do it safely.

Jim


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 28, 2012)

We get tons of questions about silver plated flatware or other silver plated material. Newbies usually pick it because there's tons of it out there and it is cheap. There's tons of it out there because refiners or others in the know don't want it. They don't want it because it's worth very little and there is really no good way to process it. I know several ways to process it but they are all losing propositions economically. I usually look at it as copper alloy contaminated with silver. If you want to play with it, you will find much info on the forum. Search and see!


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