My present library is a skeleton on what I used to have.
REFERENCE
(1) "CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" - Sue is right about this book being indispensable. I use it constantly, especially for determining chemical quantities needed for a particular reaction and the various acid tables. When writing my posts, it is about the only book I refer to. I've had 2 of these in my life and I bought them both at book sales for $1. They're quite common. I presently have an old '72 edition. A couple of years ago, someone "borrowed" my '50 edition. It doesn't matter which edition you have. They're all huge and, for our purposes, what we need was even in the earliest editions. If you can find one, get the smaller format. When they went to the large format, in the '60's, I think, they left a lot of stuff out. The biggest loss was the long section of lab recipes. There's another good chemistry handbook out there -Lange's.
(2) "Chemical Engineer's Handbook", Perry & Chilton, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill. About 2000 pp. Great book. I've used it a lot. Describes in detail, with many illustrations, about every type of chemical equipment and process used in industry. Expensive.
(3) "The Condensed Chemical Dictionary", Hawley, 9th edition, Van Nostrand, 950pp. This basically lists every chemical and it's properties, how it's made, it's uses, it's trade names, and it's hazards. I've about worn my copy out. I wish I had a new edition. There's a lot of newer chemicals that aren't in my copy. Expensive.
CHEMISTRY
(4) "Treatise on Inorganic Chemistry, Volume 2", H. Remy, Elsevier, 800pp. Volume 2 contains all of the metals we are interested in. Excellent comprehensive book. Readable for the chemist and non-chemist alike.
(5) "Inorganic Reaction Chemistry", 3 volumes, Burns, Townshend, and Carter, Halstead Press, About 800pp total. Very handy set. The first 2 volumes are called: "Reactions of the Elements and their Compounds". The third: "Systematic Chemical Separation". The 3rd is a lab-type scheme for qualitative separation.
PRECIOUS METALS
I don't have many PM books left. Two glaring omissions are Hoke's "Refining Precious Metals Wastes" and the latest edition of Rose's, "The Metallurgy of Gold". I once had both and will eventually replace them. I also want the second edition of Ammen's, "Recovery and Refining of Precious Metals", and numerous others.
(6) "Gold: Recovery, Properties, and Applications". E.M. Wise, Van Nostrand, 1964, 367pp. An old classic. The title says it all. It's mostly on the industrial uses of gold. Very little on electronics. Very good and still viable on other uses.
(7) "Silver: Economics, Metallurgy, and Use". Butts and Coxe, Krieger Publishing, 1975, 488pp. Another old classic. Sponsored by Handy and Harman on their 100th anniversary. Similar in scope to the Wise Gold book above. I use it much more than the Gold book.
( 8 ) "Testing Precious Metals", C.M. Hoke. I only have a photocopy but, I will soon buy a hard copy. I don't know the edition I have without searching through boxes. I will buy the 3rd edition, 1946, since it has about 50% more pages. The 1st edition is more expensive, probably because it is more rare.. I haven't studied this book much but, I eventually will. She goes into great detail of simple colorimetric methods of identifying and semi-quantitatively analysis of all of the precious metals. She mostly uses a touchstone, a spot plate, and acids and other chemicals.
(9) "Recovery and Refining Precious Metals", Ammen, Van Nostrand, 1st edition, 328pp. I've used this book a lot but, mainly for reference. Ammen seems to approach things from a mining background. For example, he has a lot on the use of a blowpipe. The scrap recovery processes seem to be incomplete. The book covers a plethora of subjects without enough detail in many areas. I still recommend this book and have learned a lot from it. Maybe the 2nd edition is better.
IPMI PM BOOKS
The IPMI, International Precious Metals Institute, was founded in the '70's, I think. They publish a lot of excellent books, written by and to the elite brotherhood of people in the business. Every year they hold a conference, along with 2 or 3 days of seminars. The seminar papers are published in book form and are sold on the ipmi.org website. Anyone can buy these although they are cheaper to members. When they sell out, they don't reprint them. They also hold special seminars, from time to time, and publish the papers. They sell a few classic books that have been reprinted, such as Hoke and Rose. I only have 3 IPMI books. I wish I had them all.
(10) "Precious Metal 1981", 457pp. Papers from an annual conference. About 1/3 to 1/2 is pertinent to refining and assaying. Lots of good stuff.
(11) "Symposium on Recovery, Reclamation, and Refining of Precious Metals", 1981. They've held very few refining seminars. I attended this one in San Diego, when I was a member. My copy of the papers is a binder that they passed out at the door. Full of goodies. The paper I use the most gives, in detail, every known method of converting silver chloride to silver metal.
(12) "Precious Metal Recovery/Refining Seminar", 1997. Held in Las Vegas. Lots of good stuff. The papers on PM bearing catalysts are especially interesting.
FIRE ASSAY
(13) "A Textbook of Fire Assaying", Bugbee, 3rd edition, 1941, 315pp. This was reprinted in 1991 and is sold by IPMI. This is one of the "big 3", when it comes to classic fire assay books and, it may be the best one. I have two of the three. The one missing is by Fulton and Sharwood. The 3rd one follows.
(14) "Fire Assaying", Shepard and Dietrich", McGraw-Hill, 1940, 277pp. I've learned to appreciate this book over the years. It is better than Bugbee in certain areas.
(15) "Analysis of Noble Metals", Beamish and Van Loon, Academic Press, 1977, 327pp. This is a more modern book that covers not only fire assay but all PM analysis methods. It is a basically a summary of Beamish's huge masterpiece that he had written a few years before. The title escapes me.
PLATING
The first 8 or 10 years of my life were in gold plating. This led me to develop several electrolytic refining methods. Plating and refining go hand in hand. I have 6 books on plating and will only mention the 3 classics.
(16) "Electroplating Engineering Handbook", Graham, Van Nostrand, 3rd edition, 1971, 845pp. This is one of the books I use most. It covers everything involved with setting up a plating facility, much of which applies to refining. Almost anyone can understand it. It's still printed in a much later edition. It's expensive - $200+
(17) "Modern Electroplating", 3rd edition, Lowenheim, Wiley Interscience, 1974, 801pp. The classic on understanding the chemistry of plating solutions. Written fairly easy to understand. The chapter on Stripping Metallic Coatings is applicable to refiners.
( 18 ) "Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory". Annual. In it's 105th edition. I have the 1968 (worn out) and the 2004 edition. The annual issues don't change much from year to year. About all that changes are the ads. It's free. I posted on this book before. Here is a copy of that post.
To all, I would like to suggest a book. It is called the, "Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory" and is about 900 pages. You can't buy it. It's a trade book. You only get it with a subscription to Metal Finishing Magazine, which is free to plating people. It is upgraded each year and is sent, in the spring, as the mags 12th issue. If you've just barely missed the date, you'll have to wait a year to get it. To get a subscription, on the online form, you'll have to type in the right things to convince them that you're in the plating business. I doubt if they check on you.
http://www.metalfinishing.com/magazine/index.html
Of the books I own, I have probably used this book the most, even more than Hoke. Plating and refining are very closely knit, especially electrolytic refining. I spent about 10 years in the gold plating business and I still have a 1968 issue, my first one. Here are some handy chapters with refining applications, all in good detail: Ultrasonics; Barrel Plating; Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium Plating (separate chapters); Stripping Metallic Coatings; Chemical Analysis; Thickness Testing; Identification of Deposits; DC Power Supplies; Rack Design; Pumps; Mixing; Industrial Ventilation; Wastewater Treatment.
And of course, I have a copy of the book I wrote, "The Complete Guide to Gold and Silver Scrap". It sounds like BS but, I forget stuff and refer to this book quite often.
REFERENCE
(1) "CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" - Sue is right about this book being indispensable. I use it constantly, especially for determining chemical quantities needed for a particular reaction and the various acid tables. When writing my posts, it is about the only book I refer to. I've had 2 of these in my life and I bought them both at book sales for $1. They're quite common. I presently have an old '72 edition. A couple of years ago, someone "borrowed" my '50 edition. It doesn't matter which edition you have. They're all huge and, for our purposes, what we need was even in the earliest editions. If you can find one, get the smaller format. When they went to the large format, in the '60's, I think, they left a lot of stuff out. The biggest loss was the long section of lab recipes. There's another good chemistry handbook out there -Lange's.
(2) "Chemical Engineer's Handbook", Perry & Chilton, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill. About 2000 pp. Great book. I've used it a lot. Describes in detail, with many illustrations, about every type of chemical equipment and process used in industry. Expensive.
(3) "The Condensed Chemical Dictionary", Hawley, 9th edition, Van Nostrand, 950pp. This basically lists every chemical and it's properties, how it's made, it's uses, it's trade names, and it's hazards. I've about worn my copy out. I wish I had a new edition. There's a lot of newer chemicals that aren't in my copy. Expensive.
CHEMISTRY
(4) "Treatise on Inorganic Chemistry, Volume 2", H. Remy, Elsevier, 800pp. Volume 2 contains all of the metals we are interested in. Excellent comprehensive book. Readable for the chemist and non-chemist alike.
(5) "Inorganic Reaction Chemistry", 3 volumes, Burns, Townshend, and Carter, Halstead Press, About 800pp total. Very handy set. The first 2 volumes are called: "Reactions of the Elements and their Compounds". The third: "Systematic Chemical Separation". The 3rd is a lab-type scheme for qualitative separation.
PRECIOUS METALS
I don't have many PM books left. Two glaring omissions are Hoke's "Refining Precious Metals Wastes" and the latest edition of Rose's, "The Metallurgy of Gold". I once had both and will eventually replace them. I also want the second edition of Ammen's, "Recovery and Refining of Precious Metals", and numerous others.
(6) "Gold: Recovery, Properties, and Applications". E.M. Wise, Van Nostrand, 1964, 367pp. An old classic. The title says it all. It's mostly on the industrial uses of gold. Very little on electronics. Very good and still viable on other uses.
(7) "Silver: Economics, Metallurgy, and Use". Butts and Coxe, Krieger Publishing, 1975, 488pp. Another old classic. Sponsored by Handy and Harman on their 100th anniversary. Similar in scope to the Wise Gold book above. I use it much more than the Gold book.
( 8 ) "Testing Precious Metals", C.M. Hoke. I only have a photocopy but, I will soon buy a hard copy. I don't know the edition I have without searching through boxes. I will buy the 3rd edition, 1946, since it has about 50% more pages. The 1st edition is more expensive, probably because it is more rare.. I haven't studied this book much but, I eventually will. She goes into great detail of simple colorimetric methods of identifying and semi-quantitatively analysis of all of the precious metals. She mostly uses a touchstone, a spot plate, and acids and other chemicals.
(9) "Recovery and Refining Precious Metals", Ammen, Van Nostrand, 1st edition, 328pp. I've used this book a lot but, mainly for reference. Ammen seems to approach things from a mining background. For example, he has a lot on the use of a blowpipe. The scrap recovery processes seem to be incomplete. The book covers a plethora of subjects without enough detail in many areas. I still recommend this book and have learned a lot from it. Maybe the 2nd edition is better.
IPMI PM BOOKS
The IPMI, International Precious Metals Institute, was founded in the '70's, I think. They publish a lot of excellent books, written by and to the elite brotherhood of people in the business. Every year they hold a conference, along with 2 or 3 days of seminars. The seminar papers are published in book form and are sold on the ipmi.org website. Anyone can buy these although they are cheaper to members. When they sell out, they don't reprint them. They also hold special seminars, from time to time, and publish the papers. They sell a few classic books that have been reprinted, such as Hoke and Rose. I only have 3 IPMI books. I wish I had them all.
(10) "Precious Metal 1981", 457pp. Papers from an annual conference. About 1/3 to 1/2 is pertinent to refining and assaying. Lots of good stuff.
(11) "Symposium on Recovery, Reclamation, and Refining of Precious Metals", 1981. They've held very few refining seminars. I attended this one in San Diego, when I was a member. My copy of the papers is a binder that they passed out at the door. Full of goodies. The paper I use the most gives, in detail, every known method of converting silver chloride to silver metal.
(12) "Precious Metal Recovery/Refining Seminar", 1997. Held in Las Vegas. Lots of good stuff. The papers on PM bearing catalysts are especially interesting.
FIRE ASSAY
(13) "A Textbook of Fire Assaying", Bugbee, 3rd edition, 1941, 315pp. This was reprinted in 1991 and is sold by IPMI. This is one of the "big 3", when it comes to classic fire assay books and, it may be the best one. I have two of the three. The one missing is by Fulton and Sharwood. The 3rd one follows.
(14) "Fire Assaying", Shepard and Dietrich", McGraw-Hill, 1940, 277pp. I've learned to appreciate this book over the years. It is better than Bugbee in certain areas.
(15) "Analysis of Noble Metals", Beamish and Van Loon, Academic Press, 1977, 327pp. This is a more modern book that covers not only fire assay but all PM analysis methods. It is a basically a summary of Beamish's huge masterpiece that he had written a few years before. The title escapes me.
PLATING
The first 8 or 10 years of my life were in gold plating. This led me to develop several electrolytic refining methods. Plating and refining go hand in hand. I have 6 books on plating and will only mention the 3 classics.
(16) "Electroplating Engineering Handbook", Graham, Van Nostrand, 3rd edition, 1971, 845pp. This is one of the books I use most. It covers everything involved with setting up a plating facility, much of which applies to refining. Almost anyone can understand it. It's still printed in a much later edition. It's expensive - $200+
(17) "Modern Electroplating", 3rd edition, Lowenheim, Wiley Interscience, 1974, 801pp. The classic on understanding the chemistry of plating solutions. Written fairly easy to understand. The chapter on Stripping Metallic Coatings is applicable to refiners.
( 18 ) "Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory". Annual. In it's 105th edition. I have the 1968 (worn out) and the 2004 edition. The annual issues don't change much from year to year. About all that changes are the ads. It's free. I posted on this book before. Here is a copy of that post.
To all, I would like to suggest a book. It is called the, "Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory" and is about 900 pages. You can't buy it. It's a trade book. You only get it with a subscription to Metal Finishing Magazine, which is free to plating people. It is upgraded each year and is sent, in the spring, as the mags 12th issue. If you've just barely missed the date, you'll have to wait a year to get it. To get a subscription, on the online form, you'll have to type in the right things to convince them that you're in the plating business. I doubt if they check on you.
http://www.metalfinishing.com/magazine/index.html
Of the books I own, I have probably used this book the most, even more than Hoke. Plating and refining are very closely knit, especially electrolytic refining. I spent about 10 years in the gold plating business and I still have a 1968 issue, my first one. Here are some handy chapters with refining applications, all in good detail: Ultrasonics; Barrel Plating; Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium Plating (separate chapters); Stripping Metallic Coatings; Chemical Analysis; Thickness Testing; Identification of Deposits; DC Power Supplies; Rack Design; Pumps; Mixing; Industrial Ventilation; Wastewater Treatment.
And of course, I have a copy of the book I wrote, "The Complete Guide to Gold and Silver Scrap". It sounds like BS but, I forget stuff and refer to this book quite often.
