Gold looks unusual

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Alabama938

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 13, 2021
Messages
84
So I have been doing little projects, 3 to 5 g yield and just saving it to melt, the tiny buttons gave me trouble. So I melted everything down together into a little blob, that had the weirdest look to it, like you could see different planes of crystallization broken up by something… that should be the first picture.

I then stupidly realized that I never did the step to remove lead, so I put it back through AR, pulled a bunch of hazy grayish yellow precipitate off in filtration, and now the gold looks amazing! Mirror finished, but this huge hole in the middle with the cracks around it make me feel like I’m missing something. I’ve seen how cold that is pure dips in the middle but I’ve never seen it like this on any demonstration.

Thoughts or comments are welcome, my ability to make this beautiful thing is due in large part to help that I got here. Thanks!!
 

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Yep, as butcher said that huge hole in the middle is referred to as a pipe. It is a sign of purity. The cracks around it are a further sign of purity. It happens as the gold cools. The surface freezes first, and as the gold inside freezes it shrinks and pulls to surface down to form the pipe.

That's a great looking button.

Dave
 
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