Andy,
This is an endless subject, the dangers most of which are also not obvious, working without a basic knowledge or understanding increases the dangers as well as making things more confusing, not to mention the loss of values and your frustrations...
Here is where your research and study can make a complicated science almost simple, and fairly safe.
The hard part is getting started, where to begin, as we all can see from the questions like using baking soda or for that matter urea, to get rid of nitric, just shows you have not learned where to begin.
May I suggest beginning with the safety section, and Google searches in that area of the dangers and MSDS...
During these collect scrap, studying how to separate and prepare it for recovery.
Concentrating on a more simple scrap like memory fingers, karat gold, sterling silver, or solder free gold plated pins, starting with simpler scrap to get the basic understanding of the processes, how metals react.
Using Hokes book as your guide, studying the processes (used for your scrap type), gaining an education of what to expect and why what problems and solutions you will expect, understanding the steps and their purpose, working educated to gain the experience, while you study the experiment, this way gaining an understanding of the metals and their chemistry.
With study, you are working with some basic understanding, with working with simpler scrap the complicated metals (like tin do not become problems, and interfere with your learning the basics.
As with any skill or study a basic understanding is key.
As far as safety we should read the instructions on the parachute before we start jumping out of those airplanes, studying safety when using chemistry where invisible toxins, deadly gases, and possible explosive metal salts are involved is just common sense.
So the only complicated thing about this is not the science, but gaining an understanding of where to begin learning and starting our study of a subject that we can spend a lifetime or two and not learn but a portion of it.
Forget about getting gold, it is all around us, learn how to study what to study, and where to begin.
This is an endless subject, the dangers most of which are also not obvious, working without a basic knowledge or understanding increases the dangers as well as making things more confusing, not to mention the loss of values and your frustrations...
Here is where your research and study can make a complicated science almost simple, and fairly safe.
The hard part is getting started, where to begin, as we all can see from the questions like using baking soda or for that matter urea, to get rid of nitric, just shows you have not learned where to begin.
May I suggest beginning with the safety section, and Google searches in that area of the dangers and MSDS...
During these collect scrap, studying how to separate and prepare it for recovery.
Concentrating on a more simple scrap like memory fingers, karat gold, sterling silver, or solder free gold plated pins, starting with simpler scrap to get the basic understanding of the processes, how metals react.
Using Hokes book as your guide, studying the processes (used for your scrap type), gaining an education of what to expect and why what problems and solutions you will expect, understanding the steps and their purpose, working educated to gain the experience, while you study the experiment, this way gaining an understanding of the metals and their chemistry.
With study, you are working with some basic understanding, with working with simpler scrap the complicated metals (like tin do not become problems, and interfere with your learning the basics.
As with any skill or study a basic understanding is key.
As far as safety we should read the instructions on the parachute before we start jumping out of those airplanes, studying safety when using chemistry where invisible toxins, deadly gases, and possible explosive metal salts are involved is just common sense.
So the only complicated thing about this is not the science, but gaining an understanding of where to begin learning and starting our study of a subject that we can spend a lifetime or two and not learn but a portion of it.
Forget about getting gold, it is all around us, learn how to study what to study, and where to begin.
