Flattening my gold button.

For anyone who is interested, I did some experimenting with flattening my gold button. The first gold button I made is the one in my profile picture. Sadly, I had to sell that one to pay for all the supplies I got for my new hobby. My second one is very small. Only 6.7g. However, I plan to keep this one. So, after some trial and error, I figured out a way to flatten it, and then punched the size into the surface. It was also the first time I used a metal punch.
To do this, I used two steel bench blocks. I used a steel washer that had an interior diameter about the size I wanted, and the thickness about what I wanted. I used four nickels (at the corners of the steel bench block) to help keep the upper steel bench block level while I was hammering on it. It’s not perfect, but I like the way it turned out. I’m going to try a new technique that I will post to this later if I have any success.
Here are the before and after pictures of mine gold button.

I have a graphite ingot mold with a very small round space. I tried melting my gold in that, but it just formed a bubble (the button pictured in the top image), and wouldn’t spread out to fill the cavity. I’m going to try that again, but have a second graphite block in the oven. When the gold is melted, I plan to move the second graphite block and gently lay it on top of the melted gold. The hope is that it will flatten out and fill the round cavity, and make a flat gold round. I will practice this with silver first to get the exact volume of silver. I will do a conversion of the weight of the silver to the exact weight of gold I need for the same volume. I have searched for using this method, but have not found it anywhere. Wish me luck!

what's the point, though?

you can't possibly have that much gold buttons that you need to flatten them for easier storage...

And if you ever need to, it would probably sell better in original, button form, pipe and all...

niks neims said:

what's the point, though?

you can't possibly have that much gold buttons that you need to flatten them for easier storage...

And if you ever need to, it would probably sell better in original, button form, pipe and all...

Click to expand...

I’ve thought about that, and frankly, I don’t know why I want them to be flat. For some reason, I just like the idea of having my own gold “coins”, even if they don’t have anything stamped on them. Some people like blondes, some people like brunettes, some people like buttons, some people like rounds.
Perhaps that’s why I can’t find any articles on the subject. Most people simply dismiss the idea is being ridiculous. No worries. I march to my own beat.

renkenbw said:

niks neims said:

what's the point, though?

you can't possibly have that much gold buttons that you need to flatten them for easier storage...

And if you ever need to, it would probably sell better in original, button form, pipe and all...

Click to expand...

I’ve thought about that, and frankly, I don’t know why I want them to be flat. For some reason, I just like the idea of having my own gold “coins”, even if they don’t have anything stamped on them. Some people like blondes, some people like brunettes, some people like buttons, some people like rounds.
Perhaps that’s why I can’t find any articles on the subject. Most people simply dismiss the idea is being ridiculous. No worries. I march to my own beat.

Click to expand...

Fair enough ,
The thing is that Pros (not me) when buying hobbyists gold usually can judge the purity by appearance of virgin button the shine, pipe, etc. If it has been processed in any way (polished, hammered, stamped) - in best case scenario it'll mean harder sale and lowered price for you (they're gonna want to remelt/test it extensively, or just out-right low-ball you assuming lower purity), or just think it's a scam...
I mean I am newbie, but to my eye the button looks quite nice, probably 99+, but the pancake - the shine is gone, so is the pipe, might as well be a piece of brass


Also plan ahead, you don't want "coins", you want "bars", think big!

Also also I've seen (on YouTube, of all places...) That If you hammer a piece of gold too much, sides start to crack and split (work hardening?)...

For some reason buyers in the UK and Europe use new fangled technology to determine purity Nik. Most jewellers I've met wouldn't know what a pipe was if it bit them in the jacksee. They'd probably think it was a sign of imperfection.

Sorry guys, but I am new to this also. I like my flat rounds, but I must say… I don’t know what you mean by “pipe”. I sure hope it doesn’t bite me in the “jacksee”!
Does it have something to do with the wrinkly “cooling lines” on the top of the button?

Yes, that is what the pipe refers to.
As far as you wanting gold "coins" how about you get a mold for gold rounds and just pour them that way?

anachronism said:

For some reason buyers in the UK and Europe use new fangled technology to determine purity Nik. Most jewellers I've met wouldn't know what a pipe was if it bit them in the jacksee. They'd probably think it was a sign of imperfection.

Click to expand...

to be honest I never knew about the "pipe" before this forum either, but back then, I did not know anything about gold in the first place

What I do know now, is If I were ever to buy some "homemade" buttons, bars, coins or whatever, I'd immediately be much more suspicious without these "signs" of "pure gold" described extensively here on this forum... How can you really in practice test between 20-24 kt (80-100%) without destroying the test object or blindly trusting XRF?

Sure, there is always trust and risk involved, but if I needed to (and it was for sale), I'd consider buying that pretty button in the first picture up there, from a forum member (just based on the picture shown), I wouldn't even waste any of my time for that "coin" up there...

I think it's hard to do so Nik. Although I'm good with an XRF result because someone who buys from me will also use one the first step in ensuring you get the right product is to be be extremely choosy about who you buy it from.

Buying gold from someone you met on the internet does carry quite a lot of risk. Regardless of whether they are a home refiner or a professional.

My original buyer was a third generation jewelry maker and his family refined much of their own materials. My first was sell was as easy as him picking it and looking at, his response was that is high quality and he paid good for it. Better than any of the gold buying places in the tri-state area here. I have been dealing with another buyer for some time now, and my first sell was different. The first thing ask was "what is that 'hole' from?" They had no idea what a Pipe was, but the XRF they used pretty much proved my answer to them as well. Here it is about a year later and every sell since then has averaged four nines. They are happy, I am happy, and they volunteered me a couple of percentage points better pay rate after the first two transactions. It takes time to build an honest working relationship when dealing with things such as refining and selling PM's go. Once you find a buyer that your comfortable with and feel they can be trusted, you have to prove the same to them.

As for pipes and flattened rounds, I really like my pipes, they are always unique in that no two are ever a like. When it is time to sell, we both can go with the results from the XRF.

Thanks for all the input and information everyone! I did try pouring, but the gold hardens as I am trying to poor. If I go faster, I miss the tiny round mold. I’m not very good at pouring gold yet.
I did find a new way. I tested the method with silver first. I put my silver in the (very small) round ingot space, and placed a second graphite block on top of that, not covering the silver. Once the silver was melted, I carefully moved the top block over to cover the melted silver, then let things cool.

Here are my practice rounds. I didn’t have enough gold to make the small round with my latest attempt, so the golden doesn’t fill out the round shape. It did work really well, though. I look forward to making it a complete round with the right amount of gold.