# What's the best way to recover sterling



## mespe (Jan 7, 2008)

Hi,

I got some scrap sterling that I would like to reduce the size of. What's the best way to shrink it down?


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## Harold_V (Jan 7, 2008)

mespe said:


> Hi,
> 
> I got some scrap sterling that I would like to reduce the size of. What's the best way to shrink it down?



Blink! Blink!

Reduce the size? How about running over it with your car?  

Would you please be more specific? Just how would you like to reduce the size? Are you asking about purifying the silver, or simply making things smaller for easier storage?

Harold


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## Noxx (Jan 7, 2008)

lol...

Just melt it...


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## mespe (Jan 8, 2008)

I tried but not very succesful yet,,, it was my first atempt,, I got a few globs of silver but nothing I would call worthy of $15/ounce


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## Lou (Jan 8, 2008)

You're up in Cleveland eh? If you'd drive about 40 minutes we might be able to work something out.


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## mespe (Jan 8, 2008)

Harold_V said:


> Reduce the size? How about running over it with your car?
> 
> Would you please be more specific? Just how would you like to reduce the size? Are you asking about purifying the silver, or simply making things smaller for easier storage?
> 
> Harold


I was gonna run it over with the car, but I had a flat tire so that's not gonna happen :roll: 

Yes make it smaller for compact storage. A bag full of sterling candle scrap isn't as nice looking as say a 5 ounce chunk of silver/sterling


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## Harold_V (Jan 8, 2008)

Ahhh! Now we're making progress!

As you, no doubt, have discovered, sterling items are often filled, some with rosin, others with plaster products of various descriptions. You can gain considerable ground by simply breaking the items apart and discarding the filler. Use what ever means are at your disposal----pliers, a hammer, what ever. Once dismantled, the pieces are usually very thin and will fold and compress nicely. A hammer and anvil can be used to advantage to compress the thin sections.

If, by chance, refining karat gold is in your future, don't be too hasty to process the silver beyond breaking it down. It's the best thing you can use for inquartation, so you get two shots for the price of one. In the process of refining karat gold, you'll use the silver. Considering you generally need slightly more silver than gold alloy, it gets processed fairly rapidly. In my humble operation, I often found myself needing more than I had at my disposal. 

Once dissolved with nitric, it is best recovered with copper pieces. Avoid using wire, which is difficult to remove as it gets reduced in size and starts to break up in small pieces. Above all, avoid recovering the silver as chloride----which is far more labor intensive, and yields no better results. 

The silver, so recovered and well washed, is then melted and poured as an anode, for further purification in a silver parting cell. 

Harold


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## mespe (Jan 8, 2008)

You mean I can't just stick a sterling candlestick in the fire and get a Morgan out? Drats, well there goes my easy road to riches!

So if I fold the sterling into small pieces, do I then melt with a torch, or extract silver with some God-awful chemicals?


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## Harold_V (Jan 8, 2008)

Man, you sure make things hard! :lol: 

Apparently you are not familiar with processing silver. 

Once you've dismantled the silver, it's a good idea to hit it with heat----even if you don't melt it. The idea is to eliminate oils and anything that can form compounds with nitric acid----which can be dangerous. That would have happened if you used the sterling for inquartation, so it would not be an added step.

I'm going to assume you're a complete idiot (no offense intended) here and talk about this as if you had no clue. 

Once you have the silver broken down, if you objective is to purify (sterling is 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper), you would then dissolve the silver in nitric acid and water (tap water works fine, but distilled works without forming traces of silver chloride). The solution that comes from this process would be a blue/green color. This solution would be introduced to copper, as I suggested earlier. That will allow the copper to replace the silver in solution, yielding what is commonly known as cement silver. This silver is then recovered, washed, and then melted to pour the anode. 

It sounds involved, but it's quite routine when you understand the process. It can be, and has been, done at home, using a small rectifier. Low amperage is acceptable, as long as the size of the anode is kept reasonably small. 

Making a setup for a few ounces would not be in your best interest. Unless you have a lot of silver to process, and expect to do so on an ongoing basis, it isn't worth the effort. 

To process the anodes, you must make an electrolyte from pure silver, which I advise strongly over one made with added copper. That will occur fast enough without the intentional addition. Electrolyte made without copper, at first, plates out the silver in a more solid and tightly adhering form, but as the copper level climbs, the deposit becomes easier to remove. You gain considerable life from your electrolyte by this method. As the copper content of the electrolyte passes a critical point, it starts to co-deposit with the silver, so you don't get high purity. 

There's a lot more to this that has been discussed. If you intend to pursue a silver cell, perhaps we can talk further. GSP will also chime in, I'm sure. He has far more experience than do I in silver. 

Harold


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## mespe (Jan 8, 2008)

Well I wasn't planning on a silver cell, I just wanted to consolidate the scrap silver into nice little sterling blobs.

Yes I currently am an idiot when it comes to precious metalurgy


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## Harold_V (Jan 9, 2008)

mespe said:


> Well I wasn't planning on a silver cell, I just wanted to consolidate the scrap silver into nice little sterling blobs.
> 
> Yes I currently am an idiot when it comes to precious metalurgy


Then you should follow Noxx's advice. Simply melt the stuff. Sterling is a lot nicer to melt than pure silver, thanks to the copper content. You can cast the silver in a mold, pre-warmed and coated with lamp black. 

Be advised, once you've melted the silver, you may not get as much for it as you might before melting. There's no way for the buyer to know whether you have sterling, coin, or other alloy. Personally, I wouldn't go to the trouble. Break it down and compress it. Store it that way. Go for pure, or leave it alone is the best advice I can offer. 

Harold


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 9, 2008)

I'm in total agreement with Harold. Keep it as is.


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## mespe (Jan 9, 2008)

So maybe an investment in a trash compactor is in order?


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 9, 2008)

What does this stuff look like? Got a photo?


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## mespe (Jan 9, 2008)

The scrap that I currently have is mostly candlesticks torn apart. A couple chalis/sugar bowl etc,,,


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 9, 2008)

I see your point. Might be nice to consolidate and make the pile smaller. Don't melt it or refine it or you'll lose it's identity. Right now, every buyer knows what it is and what it's worth and no assay is needed. If you compress it into a tight cube, the buyer won't know what's in the middle - resin, plaster, steel, lead, or ??? Were it me, I might hammer it together, loosely, and maybe fold it over once. In this case, you want to make it easy for the buyer to see everything and to be able to easily take it apart, if he wishes. I would probably just clean it and put it in a box, as is.

When selling anything, either eliminate, or, never create, any question marks. With any question marks, the buyer will take advantage of them and, most probably, you will end up with less money.


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## mespe (Jan 9, 2008)

I've come to that same conclusion Goldsilverpro. Besides, at the rate I was going just the Oxygen was gonna cost me about $10 an ounce to melt the sterling


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