Getting pure gold (shining)

[catfish]

GPS:

Yes that is a corning ware bowl. I buy them for practically nothing at garage sales. My wife will not let me use hers. They are great for washing gold powder, and other things, etc. They will handle a lot of heat; the only problem is that you have to watch the level of fluid in the bowl when you are boiling something, for you can loose valuable gold due heavy bubbling effect with a shallow liquid level.(Been there, done that, and got the T-shirt to prove it)

Cris, I guess I am somewhat confused on your recommendation of not having the gold tested by fire assay method. What method would you recommend? I want to achieve a very high quality of pureness of my gold.

I get test results back on all my gold buttons that I sell, but they are tested by fire assay method. They test fairly well but I would like to improve the end results, but need an accurate method to let me know when I get there.

Any suggestions, you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Catfish

 

[jimdoc]

Catfish,
I think he is trying to say this you are posting in the wrong section.
You don't need any help, you got your diploma dude!!!!!!!!
I can't wait to see those results myself.
Also lets see the ingot when you are done, and that should show
what GSP is talking about with the crystals and the pipe, what he is
saying is that is a sure sign of very high purity, and a fire assay
will be a waste of money, because you will be able to tell from the
appearance of the final ingot or button. He is saying that an experienced buyer will be able to tell from seeing your results how pure it is.
Unless of course you are curious about the results for your own records,
and proof of your diploma.

 

[jimdoc]

When you get to a certain point in your refining abilities
assays are like badges. You can be confident in saying this
when selling your gold;
Assay, Assay, I Don't Need No Stinkin Assay!!!!!!!
And this song should be goin' through your head;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNh9f2Wwm0&mode=related&search=

Or if you are a rock'n'roll refiner this one;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfHxqwYUMk

For you federale refiners;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROIIQkLWdVw

 

[catfish]

GSP:

Please disregard my last post.

I am out of here.

Talk to you later

Catfish

 

[PhillipJ]

Thanks Harold.

Here is what I got using your cleaning method. I ended up redoing my 1st nugget.

 

[Noxx]

Nice nuggets

 

[Harold_V]

I believe I have the capabilities to read whatever--Hoke, Smith, Brady, Rose, Amman, Humble, and make the right choice for my situation and needs, and trust that choice and decision. I don't need to have anyone thinking for me or deciding "what" I need to learn or "How" I need to learn it. I haven't seen once in reading Hoke, Smith, Rose, Amman or whoever that spends anytime at all needing to be right -- About Anything. They just confidently present their methods and let the reader decide.

Certainly would be cool if it was the same here.

That's my take.

And here's my take.

You, sir, do not know enough about refining to know when you're reading good or bad information. If you were, you wouldn't be here looking, particularly when you claim to have a library that is more than adequate to teach you how to refine. One of the books you claim to have read provides virtually everything you need to know to refine precious metals that you're likely to encounter. If you'd have read it as you claim, you'd already have a firm understanding of what I have been talking about. You obviously don't.

Personally I don't care which one of you is "Right" --because more likely than not both of you are. I don't need to know who is "better" "more Better" "right about absolutely everything" or who is the top dog around these parts. And I'll tell you why-----------I came here to learn not to see who's best -- I didn't come here to pick sides for some kind of vote -- I don't spend what precious time I do have waiting to come in to this forum to see who WON.

Well, you damned well should care, because one of these methods will give you more grief that you may desire. If you don't care which one of us is "right", why don't you go elsewhere? You certainly lend nothing to the forum-----and you're muddying the water for those of us that are trying to be helpful.

What you don't understand, and likely never will with your attitude, is that someone here is offering you information that can spell the difference between success and failure-----with the added benefit of discussing risks that can be avoided. Best of all, it's coming to you free of charge, at least from me.

I'm a busy man -- Regular job, side work, another small business venture and at the same time studying and reading and testing to learn the Art of Refining. Some of my ventures/comittments will be completed/ended here in a couple of weeks which will allow me the time to really get in to the meat of this trade and start practicing/processing/refining. I've been preparing for this for some time. With loads of literature, chemical glassware, building my own furnace, and more

Well, "busy man", you won't have to worry about me providing you any conflicting opinions. I certainly have no intentions of spreading pearls before swine. Now you can take advantage of the offer by the other party to buy the same information that, up to this point, had been coming to you free of charge.

If you two need to have a pissing match -- take it out back. You are disturbing the students. Or as I once heard from a friend
Come down off of your cross and build a bridge -- so you can get over it. in other words---- do your business in private email to each other. That option IS open you know.

As is your option to ignore what has been posted.

Understand this: I am not insecure with my position as a refiner-----and have no doubts about the credibility of the information I provide. When a contest such as this goes behind the scenes, nothing good comes from it for the readers. I am not the least bit concerned with proving my position, not to you, not to GSP-------there is no pissing match. I know of what I speak.

This isn't all about you and your preferences, not as far as I'm concerned. This is about me spending my valuable time trying to help people that want help, all without strings attached. If you don't like the way I present my information, tough! Just pay attention to the mistletoe I have attached above my butt.

Harold

 

[champ110]

phillip, how much does that gold weigh?

 

[PhillipJ]

Six and 12 grams Champ

 

[AuMINIMayhem]

damn.. right at a half ounce troy.. good job! (They're beautiful!)

 

[Palladium]

Replay

 

[Paige]

And again.

 

[teabone]

Padding posts ??? Is that legal ????

 

[Palladium]

Not padding post.
Just pulling good and outdate topics back to the top of the thread.
This one is a classic by harold :wink:
This is the thread that explains your washing procedures. 8)

 

[Palladium]

8)

 

[Ignatz61]

Harold,
I can't claim six 9's purity but thanks to advice/admonisment from Harold I slowed down and followed tried and true procedures for dissolving and washing my gold. The two buttons in the photo are before and after following Harolds advice. I haven't had it assayed yet but the last one I sent in was .9214 I know this one is better than that. And the next will be better still. Thanks Harold.

 

[Harold_V]

And the next will be better still. Thanks Harold.

You're very welcome, but if you'd like another tip, washing will improve your gold immeasurably, but if you really want to clean it up, consider refining a second time.

While I have no scientific evidence of what I'm going to say, everything I experienced indicates it's probably true.

When you precipitate gold from a dirty solution, impurities are dragged down along with the gold. Persistent washing appears to remove the majority, but not all of the contamination. A second processing liberates the trapped contaminants. Only when I started refining my gold a second time did I see an improvement.

If you choose to give that idea a go----do what you've been doing right along, stopping short of melting. After you've washed the gold well and rinsed it so it's free of acid or ammonium hydroxide, re-dissolve the gold for a second filtration and precipitation. I used to force dry mine to insure it was free of chemicals. I'd heat it in the beaker until it had quit emitting fumes.

When you re-dissolve, use the formula of a (fluid) ounce of nitric for a troy ounce of gold, and no less than 4 fluid ounces of HCl per ounce. A few drops of H2SO4 will insure you don't carry lead through the process.

This may sound like a lot of extra work with little benefit, but you'll easily be able to see what you leave behind after you've precipitated the gold, especially if you use SO2 gas. I routinely double refined my gold, and almost always ended up with traces of blue in the residual solution after precipitation.

The second precipitation yields gold of excellent quality, due in part to very little in the way of contamination being dragged down. Regardless, use the same extensive washing procedure as you did previously. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the improvement. If that be the case, please post your results, so others will benefit by your experience.

Nice improvement, by the way. Thanks for trusting my advice.

Regards,

Harold

 

[Platdigger]

It sure is good having you on this forum Harold!
Randy

 

[Harold_V]

Thanks, Randy. Just trying to pass along to readers the things that came to me only by the school of hard knocks.

Harold

 

[wop1969]

Add 3 times it's volume of tap water. This dilution will precipitate about 99% of the silver as silver chloride

Will this trick work on AP or AuCl "AKA" HCL/Clorox

To about 4 gallons of dilute aqua regia, add about 60 mL of battery acid and stir. This precipitates the lead.

and will this work on AP or AuCl "AKA" HCL/Clorox as well