Just joined last week and sooo glad I did. What a great place to learn from! Hats off to all of you who take time to share so much knowledge. (Especially after seeing the repeated absurdity y'all put up with from those wanting to strike it rich from the three old phones in their sock drawer! Yikes!) I can assure you there will be none of that here.
I came across a copy of Hoke about 3 years ago in a used book store and couldn't put it down. That gold bug that bit me in high school during my first gold panning trip to north east Georgia started biting again. (Panned over 3 grams that weekend, my chemistry teacher showed me how to refine it a few months later.) I started picking up old electronics here and there but never found time to do anything with it. Now our son is older, he is 19 as of today, and I have more "free" time lately. So about 3 months ago I dug out Hoke and ramped up collecting. Found the forum around 2 months ago, I think by googling Hoke. And now here I am. Confident enough in what I've learned so far from reading and dozens of acquaintance experiments (probably more than I needed but they are just so fun) to start my first small run at recovery and refining soon.
I guess this will actually be my second run. I did recover and refine about an inch of quite thick gold plate trace from a small board on the bottom of some type of sequencing relay from an old phone system. After peeling from the board and dissolving the copper with some copper chloride solution from another acquaintance test, the foil was surprisingly thick. Almost like thin aluminum foil. Then dissolved in HCl/Cl and precipitated with SMB. Actually managed to melt into tiny little bb. Then promptly lost it as soon as I got it in the house to show my wife! I wish i would have just saved the powder to refine again with the oxalic that came in the mail yesterday. Oh well at least I got to see everything I had been studying go from theory to practice.
So that's where I am now. I'm going to finish depopulating a pile of small boards from old megabyte type SD cards and remove solder coats. Most are plated front and back, plus the fingers. Then hopefully start recovering this weekend. And outside away from people, pets, and houses. With all appropriate PPE and precautions. No such thing as too safe!!!!
Wish me luck, and thanks again to all that make this forum as great as it is!!
Ben
I came across a copy of Hoke about 3 years ago in a used book store and couldn't put it down. That gold bug that bit me in high school during my first gold panning trip to north east Georgia started biting again. (Panned over 3 grams that weekend, my chemistry teacher showed me how to refine it a few months later.) I started picking up old electronics here and there but never found time to do anything with it. Now our son is older, he is 19 as of today, and I have more "free" time lately. So about 3 months ago I dug out Hoke and ramped up collecting. Found the forum around 2 months ago, I think by googling Hoke. And now here I am. Confident enough in what I've learned so far from reading and dozens of acquaintance experiments (probably more than I needed but they are just so fun) to start my first small run at recovery and refining soon.
I guess this will actually be my second run. I did recover and refine about an inch of quite thick gold plate trace from a small board on the bottom of some type of sequencing relay from an old phone system. After peeling from the board and dissolving the copper with some copper chloride solution from another acquaintance test, the foil was surprisingly thick. Almost like thin aluminum foil. Then dissolved in HCl/Cl and precipitated with SMB. Actually managed to melt into tiny little bb. Then promptly lost it as soon as I got it in the house to show my wife! I wish i would have just saved the powder to refine again with the oxalic that came in the mail yesterday. Oh well at least I got to see everything I had been studying go from theory to practice.
So that's where I am now. I'm going to finish depopulating a pile of small boards from old megabyte type SD cards and remove solder coats. Most are plated front and back, plus the fingers. Then hopefully start recovering this weekend. And outside away from people, pets, and houses. With all appropriate PPE and precautions. No such thing as too safe!!!!
Wish me luck, and thanks again to all that make this forum as great as it is!!
Ben
