Just a thought

[bswartzwelder]

I recently made a mistake while trying to precipitate gold using the Oxalic acid process. After thinking about this, I have come up with a solution which I know will work for me. I will make a bunch of "recipes" much like a baker uses when baking a cake.

I will start each recipe off with a list of chemicals needed. Then I will list all other equipment which I might need such as beakers, stirrer, etc.

The next section of the recipe will tell me what proportions of each chemical I will need for a given amount of gold to be processed.

The next step will delineate the actual steps and how to proceed. It will also tell me what to expect at each step of the procedure.

If I had done this instead of relying on a quick scan of forum articles, I would most likely not made the mistakes I did when I tried to precipitate using oxalic acid. I would have known I needed ammonium hydroxide and not ammonium chloride. Not only would I have known I needed to get rid of excess nitric in my solution, but I would have known I needed to adjust the pH using the ammonium hydroxide. I would have known that I should have poured the gold bearing solution into the oxalic acid solution instead of the other way around. I would have known that both solutions should be near to boiling before mixing them. I would have known that things could fizz up (sometimes violently) and might require a much larger vessel than the combined volume of the vessels used.

I essence, I relied on my memory for a procedure I hadn't ever tried before. Although nothing bad happened and no one was injured, it served as a wake up call. I did have several procedures in my word processor on how to do this, but I didn't even re read them. If I had, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this. Once I become familiar enough with a procedure, the notes may not be necessary. But until then, I will write a procedure for every thing I attempt to do and then I will refer to it before I hurt myself (or others) or lose values. Notice, I put losing values last because it is the least important part.

Till then, thanks to all the members here who have taken the time to help me and countless others out.

 

[richoc]

Your reinventing proper procedures.
Follow the instructions and make notes at every step as needed.
I do not mean to sound like I am better than you.
But these procedures are taught around here starting in 5th grade.
Proper lab testing procedures, take notes on all steps of the tests.

 

[bswartzwelder]

When I was ready to try the oxalic acid process, I read a couple of posts on the forum dealing with it. I had read much more detailed procedures some time ago, but many of the fine details had slipped out of sight and were not mentioned in the posts I did read. I know this was my fault for not delving deeper into reading before jumping into actually doing the process.

What I am trying to do is write a comprehensive procedure for each different process I will attempt in the future. I want to include all materials needed and delineate the steps. I know if I had looked more deeply into the process before I jumped in, I may not have made any of the mistakes which I did. A couple of years ago several members put out a booklet on gold recovery and refining. It was a detailed step by step procedure which worked like a charm.

I no longer have the graphic capabilities I once had, but I just thought I would mimic what others had done for the procedures listed in that booklet. Of course once I perform any procedure several times, then it seems to come back to me and I can do it without any backup.