# Newbie to Melting Silver



## mbc230 (May 9, 2019)

Hello....I just came across this forum and read, but did not find any answers to my questions. I am a newbie and just trying to teach myself. Well here we go.

I received some silver forks and some silver jewelry (.925) from my Grandma when she passed away. It was only about 6 forks and a few pieces of jewelry not a whole lot, but this inspired me to smelt it all down. Well this has been a long journey for me. I have purchased a small crucible off of Ebay along with all the necessary things (tongs, gloves, borax, torch with propane tank, etc.) to start melting. I spent a whole day trying to melt all this down. I started with jewelry and let me tell you all these youtube videos make it look easy and it is so not. I could only get the jewelry to melt a little bit then it would just stop and I would leave the torch on it and it would not go into liquid form, so I thought to myself maybe I am not getting it hot enough. So I switched to MAPP gas and well the same thing happened. So I gave up for a weeks and met up with a friend who had an acetylene torch thinking I was not getting it hot enough. So we tried it out and smelted it more down to a liquid form, but he ran out of gas so we had to quit. Well so he ended up getting a new tank and well we just did not find the time to meet up. So this brings us to present day. I ended a month or so back buying a small crucible off of Ebay and over this week I tried melting again. The crucible has a spot for two torches so I ended up buying another torch with a MAPP gas tank and using both torches at the same time to melt down the jewelry and viola I ended up melting all the Sterling Jewelry into a silver bar. I was so excited and happy that I finally got it to melt. So then I decided to move on to melt the silver forks and well that did not go so well. I bent the fork so I can fit into the crucible and then tried to melt it. All the fork would do was just get scorching hot and not melt at all. I am thinking what else can I do. I am using two MAPP gas torches and thinking am I not getting hot enough again, but then I thought how is that possible. Is there any other gas I should use? I am wondering why this is not working. I even stuck a fork in the crucible just to see if I can bend it while it is hot on the concrete and I get nothing just hot silver. So now I am at a loss. 

From reading this what do you guys think I am doing wrong? Keep in mind I did prepare the new crucible with borax and did everything that I can think of. The sterling jewelry melted with no problem. Why is the pure silver forks not melting at all? I even broke off one of the fork tips and tried melting that with no such luck. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all and great form!


----------



## butcher (May 9, 2019)

You are melting silver, not smelting.

Are you sure it is a silver alloy your trying to melt?


----------



## mbc230 (May 9, 2019)

Yes I am very sure and it is all tarnished. It does not say silver on it, but to my knowledge silver tarnishes. Please correct me if I am wrong. Why is it not smelting or melting? Everything I read indicates that. Thank you for help.


----------



## FrugalRefiner (May 9, 2019)

If it doesn't say silver on it, it probably isn't silver. Flatware manufacturers have always been proud of their wares when they were sterling silver, so they always stamp them. Lots of metals tarnish. Stainless steel tarnishes under some conditions, but you won't melt it with your torch.

Dave


----------



## mbc230 (May 9, 2019)

I had a feeling that is what is going on. I read the differences between smelting and melting. So butcher is right LOL! I am melting the metals down. I will run a test on those forks to see. I will try and test it and post the results. Great forum guys and thank you for all your advise.


----------



## galenrog (May 9, 2019)

If silver plated, a few beads may form on the surface, but many of the underlying metals will not melt at the temperatures you are using. If the tableware is not marked as silver, it is not silver.

Time for more coffee.


----------



## Lino1406 (May 9, 2019)

Based on MAPP gas > 2000C burning temperature, you may be dealing with a nobler metal I'd say platinum, iridium or rhodium


----------



## anachronism (May 10, 2019)

Lino1406 said:


> Based on MAPP gas > 2000C burning temperature, you may be dealing with a nobler metal I'd say platinum, iridium or rhodium



If he was able to bend the fork to get it in the crucible and it won't melt wouldn't you be looking at it being more likely to be plated steel?


----------



## Lino1406 (May 10, 2019)

I give respect to old aunties


----------



## anachronism (May 10, 2019)

Lino1406 said:


> I give respect to old aunties



Hehe :lol:


----------



## kurtak (May 10, 2019)

FrugalRefiner said:


> If it doesn't say silver on it, it probably isn't silver.
> 
> Dave



Dave - I don't think I have ever seen the word silver stamped/marked on a piece of sterling flatware (or sterling jewelry for that mater)

large items like bowls & plates will sometimes be marked with sterling "silver" or 925 "silver" 

real silverware is ether marked with the word "sterling" or the number 925

so both the word sterling & the number 925 is a reference to the same thing - 92.5 % silver

The only time I have seen the word silver marked on a piece of flatware &/or jewelry is German silver - or Brazil silver - or nickel silver 

in all of those cases the word silver is NOT a reference to actual silver --- it is a reference to the "color" of the piece ( the piece "appears" silver in color) but there is NO silver in these items

German silver - or Brazil silver - or nickel silver is an alloy of copper & nickel (NO silver) the nickel in the alloy bleaches the copper from a red color to the appearence of silver in color

these alloys will not melt with a MAPP gas torch

Kurt

The word silver is also used on silver "plated" items & the base metal is often made of German silver - or Brazil silver - or nickel silver


----------



## Simon007 (May 10, 2019)

Here in the UK, I have seen the letters EPNS stamped on cutlery, which stands for ElectroPlated Nickel Steel, which would not melt with a mapp torch, but mostly plated cutlery doesn't tend to have anything stamped, maybe the expensive ones do, 

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk


----------



## FrugalRefiner (May 10, 2019)

Kurt, I agree that flatware is rarely, if ever, just stamped with the word "silver". As you say, it's usually marked as sterling, 925, coin, or something similar. My point was that if it's not marked, it's probably not silver.

Dave


----------



## kurtak (May 11, 2019)

No problem Dave - thanks for clarifying 

It could also be a "heat sinking" problem - but I see he has not been back since the day he joined & posted so until he replies again I wont waste time to explain that

Kurt


----------

