theseeker4
New member
Hello all,
New member here. Found this forum via videos on Youtube. My main interest in metal refining stems from a childhood interest in numismatics, combined with an interest in geology and chemistry. I had a sizable coin collection as a young adult that I sold most of to help purchase our first house. We have just recently have gotten established enough to restart that hobby, and perhaps as a byproduct of that hobby I have developed an interest in stockpiling precious metals. Making money by obtaining and refining silver and gold would be a welcome outcome, but accumulating metal as a store of wealth is my main interest at this time. Refining, I understand, is in no way required for me to store wealth by purchasing precious metals, but that is where the more interesting part of the hobby comes in for me.
I just turned 40 but am still early on in my current career. I currently reside in Texas. I work in healthcare.
I do not have a background in metal refining specifically, but used to be a chemist by trade and education. While every field of chemistry has its own pitfalls and hazards, I have enough background with hazardous materials, acids, bases, and dangerous reactions to successfully navigate the unique hazards of metal refining. One of the reactions I was responsible for as a production chemist involved a 1000 watt sodium vapor lamp submerged in a reaction vessel filled with methanol as the solvent, with oxygen gas being bubbled though it, so lab safety and hazards are by no means foreign to me. I am also months away from attempting any type of reactions or experiments at this point anyway, since we will be moving across country this year for a new position and I will not be trying to set a lab up until we are in our new home. Plenty of time to read Hoke's book and to review all the safety issues detailed on this forum.
As I mentioned, I plan to actually get started with refining later this year, but have started on a small scale acquiring materials, and will work on acquiring equipment as well once moved. My main focus at this early stage of planning will likely be acquiring scrap jewelry and sterling silver items, though as I learn more about computer components and the like I may take advantage of the opportunity to extract from those sources as well if I find a reasonably priced source material. I may look at junk coins for precious metal refining as well, but have too much of a coin collector's heart to melt down higher grade coins that often have significant numismatic value above and beyond the melt value of the metal. The scale of what I would like to be doing is beyond my current means, but I am hoping to work up to a larger scale home refining operation as I gain experience.
I don't have any specific questions as yet and will likely just lurk and read up on the forum here for now. Might have specific questions later when I actually get started on working with material. Thank you in advance for all of the valuable information contained within this forum.
New member here. Found this forum via videos on Youtube. My main interest in metal refining stems from a childhood interest in numismatics, combined with an interest in geology and chemistry. I had a sizable coin collection as a young adult that I sold most of to help purchase our first house. We have just recently have gotten established enough to restart that hobby, and perhaps as a byproduct of that hobby I have developed an interest in stockpiling precious metals. Making money by obtaining and refining silver and gold would be a welcome outcome, but accumulating metal as a store of wealth is my main interest at this time. Refining, I understand, is in no way required for me to store wealth by purchasing precious metals, but that is where the more interesting part of the hobby comes in for me.
I just turned 40 but am still early on in my current career. I currently reside in Texas. I work in healthcare.
I do not have a background in metal refining specifically, but used to be a chemist by trade and education. While every field of chemistry has its own pitfalls and hazards, I have enough background with hazardous materials, acids, bases, and dangerous reactions to successfully navigate the unique hazards of metal refining. One of the reactions I was responsible for as a production chemist involved a 1000 watt sodium vapor lamp submerged in a reaction vessel filled with methanol as the solvent, with oxygen gas being bubbled though it, so lab safety and hazards are by no means foreign to me. I am also months away from attempting any type of reactions or experiments at this point anyway, since we will be moving across country this year for a new position and I will not be trying to set a lab up until we are in our new home. Plenty of time to read Hoke's book and to review all the safety issues detailed on this forum.
As I mentioned, I plan to actually get started with refining later this year, but have started on a small scale acquiring materials, and will work on acquiring equipment as well once moved. My main focus at this early stage of planning will likely be acquiring scrap jewelry and sterling silver items, though as I learn more about computer components and the like I may take advantage of the opportunity to extract from those sources as well if I find a reasonably priced source material. I may look at junk coins for precious metal refining as well, but have too much of a coin collector's heart to melt down higher grade coins that often have significant numismatic value above and beyond the melt value of the metal. The scale of what I would like to be doing is beyond my current means, but I am hoping to work up to a larger scale home refining operation as I gain experience.
I don't have any specific questions as yet and will likely just lurk and read up on the forum here for now. Might have specific questions later when I actually get started on working with material. Thank you in advance for all of the valuable information contained within this forum.
