Howdy from PA !!!

[bogg]

Howdy Folks new member here, what an awesome forum My head is spinning from all the reading about things I know nothing about even after reading the Hoke’s book. I’m an old school leathers men doing all my leather work from scratch and patients is something I have plenty of. I recently lost my uncle Joe and in cleaning out his storage shed I came across some interesting items…..I now have one 55 gallon drum filled to the very top with….NOS U.S Military Gold Plated Communication pins (1977) and another one half full all clean stripped pins. There are 3 -55 gallon drums with the hole connector hub still with 8 pin in each of them. I spent weeks reading about refining and set up a nice very safe place to work out in the back side of one of our barn with a big high volume fan. Anyhoot I did a ton of reading got all the chemicals , glassware and got started……wellllll I got brownish black goooo…. I weight out 5 oz at a time to get started to try to learn first but……..I think I’ll just keep on ready up on it for a bit and see what I can learn any advice will be appreciated :shock:

 

[JHS]

Hi Bogg,
I am no expert,I am learning every day.I would not be able to offer any refining advice.
I can say this,read the safety section,and go slow.From what I see here on the forum,most new people run into problems when they try to drop the gold.Then they have a problem with what to do with all the used chemicals.
The best advice I got was to read Holk,so I would suggest you read it again.
WELCOME and good luck
john

 

[JHS]

I ment Hoke not holk

 

[butcher]

bogg,

A couple of weeks of reading a little bit, and then jumping in on such a large barrel of values can be a costly mistake, I think you did what most of us do when we begin we try things before we really learn about it, thinking we know something from a little study, recovery and refining takes time to learn, it is not something you will learn in a few weeks or months, it can take years, you really did not give us details of what you have done so far, but I bet your biggest problem at this point is not enough understanding, of how the metals act, and jumping in too early, If I were you I would study more, and try to save that barrel of gold, until you get a little more education, so you do not regret later jumping in too early.

We need a few lessons before we jump out of the airplane.