Best way to store silver crystals

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ModernAlchemy

ModernAlchemy

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2023
Messages
102
Location
Wisconsin
Good evening Gents!
I’m curious about what the best way to store silver crystals created by my silver cell for later casting and such.

Distilled water? Airtight container? Please advise. Thank you so much, I look forward to the answer.
 
Drying it and leaving it in airtight container should do it. It will prevent patina on the outside, but if you cast it it shouldn't matter too much.
 
ModernAlchemy said:
Good evening Gents!
I’m curious about what the best way to store silver crystals created by my silver cell for later casting and such.

Distilled water? Airtight container? Please advise. Thank you so much, I look forward to the answer.
Click to expand...
Under distilled water, or in an air tight container is my preference. Ag will not sulphidize under these conditions. I have a bullion bar not wrapped to protect from the atmosphere for about 20 years. Not much tarnish after that time. But it is also not left in a lab, where exposure to a sulphur environment would sulphidize it faster.
 
goldshark said:
Under distilled water, or in an air tight container is my preference. Ag will not sulphidize under these conditions. I have a bullion bar not wrapped to protect from the atmosphere for about 20 years. Not much tarnish after that time. But it is also not left in a lab, where exposure to a sulphur environment would sulphidize it faster.
Click to expand...
Thank you Goldshark Much appreciated!!
 
The most important thing when cleaning up crystals from a silver cell (also called needles) is to rinse them well and dry them.

However the needles are tough to dry because the rinse water tends to cling to the needles and if you just heat them to dry them, you are drying onto them whatever contamination was in the rinse water.

I have always suggested spin drying to large producers because a spin dryer spins the water off with centripetal force effectively drying the parts. A commercial spin dryer also heats the load so the needles come out totally dry.

Now I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes saying the dryer will cost more than the Silver I refine in a year in my little stainless bowl cell. That 4metals guy never recommends the cheap way out! However I have helped labs and refiners that do not have production Silver cells make small cells to refine Silver for their fire assay parting. And they do not have to invest in a heated spin dryer.

To the rescue is a small inexpensive spin dryer (not heated unfortunately) which will effectively spin off that stubborn water film that remains and drys on the needles. It looks like this.
IMG_3821.jpg
This is a spin dryer for salads and vegetables. The slits on these need some modification which is done by hot gluing fine polypro greenhouse bug screening into a bowl shape to fit in this spinner. Basically a mesh basket that just slips in and out.

The fine screen insert effectively keeps in all but the finest of fine pieces of Silver. And the pieces that do make it through are not lost, they are sitting on the bottom of the bowl.

After you have rinsed your silver needles, I prefer to pour a final hot distilled water rinse over the needles, put them in the spinner, and pump it a few times to spin off the water that remains. The fine mesh liner is handy because it comes right out of the spinner so I fill the screen with the silver, pour the hot final rinse over it, and put it in the spinner to be centrifugally dried.

I have dried a kilo of needles this way and proceeded to melt them in an assay furnace and pour shot for use in the assay process. If storing them as needles, I would dry them with a heat lamp and store them in a large mouth glass jar.
 
4metals said:
The most important thing when cleaning up crystals from a silver cell (also called needles) is to rinse them well and dry them.

However the needles are tough to dry because the rinse water tends to cling to the needles and if you just heat them to dry them, you are drying onto them whatever contamination was in the rinse water.

I have always suggested spin drying to large producers because a spin dryer spins the water off with centripetal force effectively drying the parts. A commercial spin dryer also heats the load so the needles come out totally dry.

Now I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes saying the dryer will cost more than the Silver I refine in a year in my little stainless bowl cell. That 4metals guy never recommends the cheap way out! However I have helped labs and refiners that do not have production Silver cells make small cells to refine Silver for their fire assay parting. And they do not have to invest in a heated spin dryer.

To the rescue is a small inexpensive spin dryer (not heated unfortunately) which will effectively spin off that stubborn water film that remains and drys on the needles. It looks like this.
View attachment 61304
This is a spin dryer for salads and vegetables. The slits on these need some modification which is done by hot gluing fine polypro greenhouse bug screening into a bowl shape to fit in this spinner. Basically a mesh basket that just slips in and out.

The fine screen insert effectively keeps in all but the finest of fine pieces of Silver. And the pieces that do make it through are not lost, they are sitting on the bottom of the bowl.

After you have rinsed your silver needles, I prefer to pour a final hot distilled water rinse over the needles, put them in the spinner, and pump it a few times to spin off the water that remains. The fine mesh liner is handy because it comes right out of the spinner so I fill the screen with the silver, pour the hot final rinse over it, and put it in the spinner to be centrifugally dried.

I have dried a kilo of needles this way and proceeded to melt them in an assay furnace and pour shot for use in the assay process. If storing them as needles, I would dry them with a heat lamp and store them in a large mouth glass jar.
Click to expand...
Wow, Thank you Sir for a most detailed and informative post. I will follow your lead on this. I love the salad spinner/mesh basket idea, I will incorporate. I am on Day 8 running my silver cell I’m going for 10 or 11 days. I should get a nice return. As far as the running the frequency with it, yes in the beginner the crystals were growing in circle with the 432hz tone, but as you said… it was driving me a bit mad, so I bailed on that aspect. LOL. The crystals are growing fine in the dark with silence. Kinda like mushrooms.
 
Those salad spinners work great. Some of the really cheap one’s can be a bit flimsy, but most are pretty decent and hold up fairly well.
 
4metals said:
The most important thing when cleaning up crystals from a silver cell (also called needles) is to rinse them well and dry them.

However the needles are tough to dry because the rinse water tends to cling to the needles and if you just heat them to dry them, you are drying onto them whatever contamination was in the rinse water.

I have always suggested spin drying to large producers because a spin dryer spins the water off with centripetal force effectively drying the parts. A commercial spin dryer also heats the load so the needles come out totally dry.

Now I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes saying the dryer will cost more than the Silver I refine in a year in my little stainless bowl cell. That 4metals guy never recommends the cheap way out! However I have helped labs and refiners that do not have production Silver cells make small cells to refine Silver for their fire assay parting. And they do not have to invest in a heated spin dryer.

To the rescue is a small inexpensive spin dryer (not heated unfortunately) which will effectively spin off that stubborn water film that remains and drys on the needles. It looks like this.
View attachment 61304
This is a spin dryer for salads and vegetables. The slits on these need some modification which is done by hot gluing fine polypro greenhouse bug screening into a bowl shape to fit in this spinner. Basically a mesh basket that just slips in and out.

The fine screen insert effectively keeps in all but the finest of fine pieces of Silver. And the pieces that do make it through are not lost, they are sitting on the bottom of the bowl.

After you have rinsed your silver needles, I prefer to pour a final hot distilled water rinse over the needles, put them in the spinner, and pump it a few times to spin off the water that remains. The fine mesh liner is handy because it comes right out of the spinner so I fill the screen with the silver, pour the hot final rinse over it, and put it in the spinner to be centrifugally dried.

I have dried a kilo of needles this way and proceeded to melt them in an assay furnace and pour shot for use in the assay process. If storing them as needles, I would dry them with a heat lamp and store them in a large mouth glass jar.
Click to expand...
 
Done
4metals said:
The most important thing when cleaning up crystals from a silver cell (also called needles) is to rinse them well and dry them.

However the needles are tough to dry because the rinse water tends to cling to the needles and if you just heat them to dry them, you are drying onto them whatever contamination was in the rinse water.

I have always suggested spin drying to large producers because a spin dryer spins the water off with centripetal force effectively drying the parts. A commercial spin dryer also heats the load so the needles come out totally dry.

Now I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes saying the dryer will cost more than the Silver I refine in a year in my little stainless bowl cell. That 4metals guy never recommends the cheap way out! However I have helped labs and refiners that do not have production Silver cells make small cells to refine Silver for their fire assay parting. And they do not have to invest in a heated spin dryer.

To the rescue is a small inexpensive spin dryer (not heated unfortunately) which will effectively spin off that stubborn water film that remains and drys on the needles. It looks like this.
View attachment 61304
This is a spin dryer for salads and vegetables. The slits on these need some modification which is done by hot gluing fine polypro greenhouse bug screening into a bowl shape to fit in this spinner. Basically a mesh basket that just slips in and out.

The fine screen insert effectively keeps in all but the finest of fine pieces of Silver. And the pieces that do make it through are not lost, they are sitting on the bottom of the bowl.

After you have rinsed your silver needles, I prefer to pour a final hot distilled water rinse over the needles, put them in the spinner, and pump it a few times to spin off the water that remains. The fine mesh liner is handy because it comes right out of the spinner so I fill the screen with the silver, pour the hot final rinse over it, and put it in the spinner to be centrifugally dried.

I have dried a kilo of needles this way and proceeded to melt them in an assay furnace and pour shot for use in the assay process. If storing them as needles, I would dry them with a heat lamp and store them in a large mouth glass jar.
Click to expand...
Completed !IMG_0837.jpeg
IMG_0838.jpeg
I used fiberglass for screens. I hope that’s ok. Please advise
 
When you spin your first batch you will know how much of the small pieces of crystal fall through. The first time I lined one I used fiberglass window screen, like you did.

Then I had aphid problems in my greenhouse and I covered all of the screen doors with a much tighter polypropylene mesh. The mesh size was much tighter than window screen. It is the mesh sold in greenhouse suppliers specifically for keeping small insects out. Of course it worked in the greenhouse, no aphids. But the plants died off as well because the screen was so tight it greatly restricted airflow and the greenhouse went to 120º and everything died off anyway. So I switched the screen material back to standard window screen and had this tight woven Poly screen. So I used it on a few spinners and it worked better.

But wait and see how much actually falls through the screen. It's not like you lose it, it's waiting for you in the bowl.
 
It kinda flimsy but definitely will do the job. I have so much screen left that I will use if for my greenhouse. I had an aphid issue this fall, laid eggs on my Haberno plant, totally crazy. This is my first greenhouse and it’s gonna be a challenge this spring. But I think screening it will do well I hope. I will see if I can get even tighter mesh screen.
 

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