"Cliff's Notes" for Hoke's Book

[Avery]

Hi All,

I've been skimming Hoke's book (not really reading just perusing certain parts) and a thought came to me and I wanted to run it by the veteran's here to see if they think it's a good idea or bad idea.

Obviously when I start truly reading it, I'll be taking notes. I'd be happy to start the document, but of course some of the more experienced folks would have to moderate it. I guess it would be a wiki of sorts. Of course, being new to this I'm sure some thing that I think are important aren't really important and I'll read some things that are very important but I won't realize the importance of them. But anyway...

Would it be worth creating a sticky with a "Cliff's Notes on Hoke's Book" where users can add and edit the document? I can see both the advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages would be that newbies might just gravitate straight to that and not bother reading the book. However, it would be nice as a quick reference to find a certain bit of information rather than having to skim the entire book looking for just one piece of information.

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Avery

 

[snoman701]

Hoke is already sort of a "cliff's notes".

It's pretty well organized, and well explained. If you have specific questions, ask away.

 

[galenrog]

Snoman is right. In its current form, Hoke is still the best and shortest primer on refining precious metal wastes. Everything is concise and to the point.

What exactly do you want?

Time for more coffee.

 

[Avery]

I was just trying to think of a way for me to contribute to the forum while still learning about the process. I thought it might be helpful due to the fact that by nature it would be electronically searchable if you were looking for a specific chemical for example.

But, note taken, I’ll take the advice that I’ve been given and not post anything. I’ll just keep my notes for my own reference.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[butcher]

My Hoke's Book is full of my written notes on the borders of its pages, and on the back cover, I have an index for the notes...

Basically, as I have studied Her book I would underline what I found interesting, I would also then include my own notes on the page borders and also include a reference to the note and page number in the index of notes and the back of the books blank pages.

Hoke's book is a book that the more times you read it the more you learn and understand the principles she teaches, and if your book is like mine the more you read it the more your C.M.Hokes book begins to look like a marked up notebook, or bible full of notes.

 

[Avery]

I don't have the physical book, just a downloaded copy, but I have two apps on my iPad...Goodreader and Notability that let you import .pdf's along with other types of files and you can mark them up, write notes in the margins, etc. Essentially they're like a Kindle on steroids. If you have a lot of .pdfs, or word doc's, etc that you refer to often and you have an iPad, you might consider getting one of those apps. They're also handy of you have to sign documents you receive via email and return because you can simply import into one of those apps, then sign it, export it back out, and then email it.

 

[butcher]

Your speaking greek, to a computer dummy, I am not sure what an App I pod is, and wouldn't know how to work it if I did.

Like holding physical gold, for me, there is just something special about holding and using the physical Hoke's book.

 

[snoman701]

I was just trying to think of a way for me to contribute to the forum while still learning about the process. I thought it might be helpful due to the fact that by nature it would be electronically searchable if you were looking for a specific chemical for example.

But, note taken, I’ll take the advice that I’ve been given and not post anything. I’ll just keep my notes for my own reference.

Thanks for the input guys.

This was not intended to be the spirit of my post, if it was the takeaway, then I apologize.

My point was simply that it's already pretty concise.

But I honestly thought it was already searchable.

Where you can improve upon it is things such as simply, gold digestion in AR. Hoke does not advocate the titration of nitric to effect. Nor do I think she includes sulfamic acid as a method to reduce free nitric. There are a lot of modern twists that have made the processes easier.

Also, much of the health and safety is outdated.

 

[Avery]

No offense taken. Like I said, I’m just trying to figure out a way to contribute to the forum because I certainly can’t contribute anything when it comes to gold refining because I’ve just started learning.

I’m just trying to avoid being labeled as one of those newbies that just comes in and starts asking questions that may be taken as me wanting someone to hold my hand without me taking the time to do my research. I mean honestly right now I don’t know what would be a stupid question vs. what would be an insightful question. So I’m trying to build up a few mulligans in case I ask a dumb question every now and then.

 

[Avery]

Your speaking greek, to a computer dummy, I am not sure what an App I pod is, and wouldn't know how to work it if I did.

Now you know how I feel about the gold refining process. I’ll trade you some computer knowledge for some gold refining knowledge.

 

[butcher]

That's what is great about the forum we all learn something from each other, everyone has different interests and skills to share.

What is a cliff note?
Is it similar to the notes I have written on the cliff's edge of the pages of my Hokes book?
But then you seem to be discussing computers and not physical books.

Well You have Hoke's book so basically, you have the basics for learning to recover and refine, besides that patience was a skill that took me some time to learn, well one I am still trying to get better at.

My own impatience has probably been one of my biggest stumbling blocks to learning these skills.

Starting out with simple types of scrap or materials, in the beginning, spending the time needed to gain a basic understanding before beginning a process, gaining a good understanding of basic principles takes time to learn, beginning with the getting acquainted experiments in Hoke's book will help tremendously.

Basically follow your interest,.
You can do anything you put your mind to.

You just have to have the patience to stick with it long enough to train yourself in these skills, as you become familiar with the working principles...

 

[Avery]

Cliff’s notes are like a shortened version of a book that hits the high points. When I was in high school they were popular. Like in literature, if you were assigned a 600-700 page novel to read, you could buy the Cliff’s notes and it’d be a summary of the novel in 75-100 pages.

And patience is my big thing right now. I have what would be about a Troy oz of pure gold in scrap jewelry when it’s refined and it’s taking every bit of self control I have right now to not just re-watch a couple of YouTube videos and commence to melting and adding chemicals. However, I’m trying to heed everyone’s advice on here and read Hoke’s book and other reference materials posted in the forums before I start. I know that’s the smart thing to do, but the inpatient part of me wants to just dive right in. But then I think about the possibility of ruining the small amount of gold I do have or worse yet, poisoning myself or my dog.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

The gold will still be there when you're ready, and impatience will not have had an opportunity to steal any of it from you.

I'm biased about Hoke's book. In doing the edits I've done, I've read it cover to cover at least six times. I've learned new things every time. I think if someone were to read an abbreviated version, they'd miss out on so much.

Dave

 

[butcher]

Many of the points made in Hoke's book you do not see the first time you read the book, it is like many points are read from in-between the lines of print, as you gain an understanding of what she teaches it begins to make more sense to you, and you begin to understand the reasoning behind the chemistry.

The beauty of the book is how it gives you an understanding of the chemistry without actually teaching you or boring you with the complications of chemistry or its equations...

Like a good movie the more times you watch the movie the more you see things you did not the first time and you learn more from it with each viewing.

In my Hokes book, I have over half of the words on most of the pages underlined, there are very few pages I did not make a note or underline a sentence I thought important for me to understand.

Education is the treasure map you seek, to know of where to find the gold, and how to recover it, and how to refine it to a higher purity.