Hey everyone!

[ralkuzu]

Hi my names Carl! i'm 23 years of age and live in the UK
Im currently working as a landscaper as a full time job,
I guess my interests would be music production, djing, fishing, breeding tropical fish, photography and art!

Ive only just discovered this forum (maybe a week or so) and have been lurking a while, you all seem like nice people so i decided to join and hopefully become a gold refiner!

i guess my interest in gold refining started when i found a gold filled bracelet on ebay for 99p, i instantly bought this not believing what a bargain i had got!

alas this was short lived as i quickly discovered how little gold was in this brace.... but wait! i saw that it was 18k gold!! must be worth something!! so i quickly worked out the percentage of gold in the item, typed it into a gold buyer and was seeing very nice results!!! even a 15g necklace would yield something around 0.75 grams of pure gold!! which is still a substantial amount more than what i paid for the item!

again another victory short lived as i realized that not many (if any) would buy gold filled items and at a lot lower rate...
but i kept looking at the gold content, doing maths over and over again, then i realised, hey! what if i could separate the gold myself? ive always had a thing for metal refining for as long as i can remember, it just never was something that worked for me in my lifestyle.

so i came here for answers!(thanks to google) and by the looks of things, a great friendly community who share the same interests.

i've been reading alot about the acid approach, which seems more suited for me to start off with and plan to buy steve's dvd's to get me going and not forgetting all the safety, dealing with acids can't be healthy

i look forward to sharing the results of my new adventures with you guys!!!

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Carl,

Welcome to the forum. Here are a few links to keep you moving in the right direction.

The first rule is to be safe in everything you do. Before you jump into any of the processes you see discussed here, be sure you understand the potential hazards and do everything you can to minimize the risks. Read EVERYTHING in the Safety section of the forum, especially the Dealing with Waste topic. No amount of precious metal is worth jeopardizing your health or the health of those around you.

I strongly encourage all new members to follow the Guided Tour created by LazerSteve. It will provide an introduction to the forum and numerous valuable links including the General Reactions List. Be sure to follow the link to his web site as he has many outstanding videos, a collection of great reference documents, and he sells a lot of the supplies needed to get started including detailed instructional DVDs. Samuel-a also has a lot of videos, guides and tutorials at his web site Gold-N-Scrap.

Download C. M. Hoke's book. You'll find links to both screen readable and printer friendly versions in my signature line below. You'll see her book mentioned repeatedly here on the forum for good reason. It is probably the best book ever written for the beginner who wants to learn refining. It is written in layman's terms and will provide a solid foundation that will help you understand everything you read here on the forum. You'll also find a tremendous amount of information in the two Forum Handbooks compiled by aflacglobal, Forum Handbook Vol 1 and Forum Handbook Vol 2.

Once you understand the basics you can start to try some small scale experiments. If there's something you don't understand or you get stuck, there will be someone here to help you.

Best of luck,
Dave

 

[nickvc]

An excellent post Frugal and can I welcome another Brit to the forum.
This isn't easy and it not safe unless you follow the advice given so generously by Frugal, we deal with some very toxic and dangerous chemicals so please take the time to read before you start any processes , we like our new members to return safe and sound after their first attempt.

 

[butcher]

15grams of 18K gold jewelry.

18K is the percentage of gold in the jewelery, pure gold is 24K.
18k/24K = 0.75% pure gold.
(25% base metals which could include a percentage of silver)

15g (of 18K) X 0.75% Au = 11.25 grams of pure gold.

At today's spot price of $1,257/troy Oz.

With 31.103 grams per troy Oz.
$ 1,257/31.103 = $40.41 per gram of gold

11.25 grams X $40.41 per gram = $454.61

Now the hallmark can be slightly off, or if there are other things like stones the actual value could be slightly less.

And unless you test the jewelry you may or may not actually have that gold, testing is important to know for sure what you have.

welcome to the forum the best place to learn about gold.

 

[jimdoc]

He said it was gold filled, and bought on Ebay.

Jim

 

[butcher]

HA HA
My bad (I was tire and read through the post too quick), I missed the gold filled part, Well, if he learns to test he may find some 18K gold.
For gold fill I would say give the man .25 cents for it.

 

[ralkuzu]

Thanks for the kind welcome and the friendly advice everyone

been reading up a bit here and there and starting to settle in nicely, i guess im gonna get reading up on the ceramic CPU's and give that a go for starters, ive seen the danger of the fumes and have decided to set myself a workstation up outside and also wear a mask

haah butcher would have been nice if it was solid 18k gold

anyhow, what about you guys?
you been doing this long? your hobby? what you enjoy most about it?

Carl

 

[butcher]

Carl,
May I suggest starting out with memory fingers, it is easier material to deal with, and work your way up from there.
I have tried doing this for many years before I joined the forum, but did not know what I was doing really, until I learned it here on the forum, for me beside the little bit of metals which I love, I think the education is the best part of all of this, and the great people here on the forum, to learn from and with, just put icing on the cake.

 

[Digitaria]

Hiya - I'm quite new here also, from the U.K. also ...
I will say this hobby is getting quite expensive, :shock: just to even get started, safety being the main concern and expense. Gold refining is so much more involved than I ever imagined and I am very grateful to have use of this forum.

Hello also other new guy

Lisa