Little Button

[banjags]

Here is my first button. 6.6 grams not bad. Wanna keep it bad need the cash. It is on ebay right now current bid $150.

It is made from 5 lbs of mixed fingers processed in AP. Yield seems a little low... some may be still tied up in my AP bucket that is working on some gold plated peripheral cards right now.

The flash kinda washed the color out a bit but is a nice deep yellow with quite a large pipe which you can see.

 

[JustinNH]

8) Very nice

 

[lazersteve]

Banjags,

Looks nice, did you dissolve the foils from the AP with HCl-Cl and precipitate the gold powder before melting?

Steve

 

[banjags]

Yep. Removed the foils with AP, gave them a quick wash with HCL, dissolved with HCL and Bleach, washed the powder with HCL couple times dried and melted. It left a nice large purple stain in my melting dish.

It sure didnt take as look to heat up the dish and melt the powder.

 

[Kbow]

I did two buttons yesterday. (My first time)
One seemed to have too much borax in the bowl and some stuck to the button. How is the best way to get this off?

I know this has probably been covered somewhere else but in my search I have yet to find it.

The spot is on the bottom and appears to be a bluish purple.

The other button looks much better.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[lazersteve]

Keith,

Harold has posted that diluted sulfuric acid will remove the borax from your gold button.

Steve

 

[Kbow]

Thanks alot! Will do.

 

[Harold_V]

The button should be boiled with the dilute sulfuric. It doesn't happen real fast, but it will remove borax totally, leaving no traces behind. Be certain to rinse the button well afterwards, both to avoid traces of sulfuric, and to remove the dissolved borax. It's not a bad idea to boil the button(s) a second time in clean water if you have any doubts. Tap water is adequate for the purpose.

Harold

 

[Kbow]

Thanks Harold for the advice. I will do this to the letter. What is a good ratio to dilute to?

Keith

 

[SilverFox]

Yep. Removed the foils with AP, gave them a quick wash with HCL, dissolved with HCL and Bleach, washed the powder with HCL couple times dried and melted. It left a nice large purple stain in my melting dish.

It sure didnt take as look to heat up the dish and melt the powder.

I thought the purple stains indicated that "Tin" was still part of the equation?

What say the pro's?

 

[lazersteve]

Purple in the melting dish is a sign of pure gold. It's colloidal gold that absorbed into the flux (borax). The stannous test produces colloidal gold also, but this is different.

If you watch my melting video you can see the effect he is talking about.

Steve

 

[SilverFox]

You and your videos, Your like a crack dealer trying to lure us in..


Sadly its too late for me. You had me at hello..

 

[lazersteve]

Fox,

The melting video is a freebie on my website..

In a short while I'll be posting the Platinum teaser you speak of...:lol:

Steve

 

[Harold_V]

Thanks Harold for the advice. I will do this to the letter. What is a good ratio to dilute to?

I don't know that I was ever concerned about the ratio, but if I was to offer one, I'd suggest three volumes of water and one volume of sulfuric. I used tap water.

Considering you will remove a trace of value (from the flux), I made it a policy to discard the used solution in my stock pot. That way what ever may be present is not lost, and it costs nothing to recover.

If you have a small button, a small casserole (a chemical casserole, not one from the kitchen) is adequate---or even a 50 ml beaker. Anything small that will cover the button with a minimum of sulfuric will serve well enough. Cover with a watch glass while boiling to discourage loss of water. If the volume of flux is considerable, use more solution so it can all be absorbed.

If your button is heavily covered with flux, tapping the flux with a light weight piece of metal (the handle of a tweezers works well) to disintegrate the solid mass helps accelerate the cleaning process. It doesn't appear to damage the button. I used the flat face, not the edge.

Harold

 

[Kbow]

Hey it worked very well. This is a milestone for me and I could not thank you enough for your help. The gold looks good! I hope to post some good pics soon.

Thanks again Harold and Steve!

Keith