Melting store bought gold into a homemade gold coin

[dannr]

Hi,
I realize this isn't exactly the typical question on here, but I could really use some help.

I'm going to a wedding in Turkey this summer, where the traditional wedding gift is a gold coin. To celebrate my friends getting married, I'd like to cast a gold coin with my gf's face and my face on the front, and a nice message on the back on it as a unique wedding gift.

My plan thus far:
I'm planning on buying a simple gold band from Walmart, like this 14k wedding band.
I've been told that I can carve a coin out of wax, and make a mold using plaster of paris, then cast the coin into the mold.
I have a Map gas canister (bought last year), and a propane torch head that I can use.

First problem:
Tonight I tried to melt part of a very fine 12k necklace I bought at the thrift shop. I tried to melt it on a large iron tent stake that I had laying around. The gold kinda solidified into a black blob after a long time, but never really melted to a liquid. I tried again covering it in household borax first, and it didn't get as black, but didn't really melt either. I was able to easily melt a new penny, but wasn't able to melt a nickle, dime, or quarter.

I don't have a lot to spend considering I just graduated school and also have the flights to Turkey to cover.
Do I need to buy a crucible? Where is a cheap place to do that?
Should I build a spruce into my coin to pour into so I can make it 2 sided?
The coin will probably be about the size of a penny, but thinner. Here is an example coin.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thank you,

- Dan

 

[grfphil]

I'm new here as well, a couple of months in. You may want to check if the 12k is gold filled rather than solid gold. I had a similar piece that just said 12k. It didn't say G.F. 1/10 or 1/20 for example. After some testing I found out it was gold filled with copper as the base metal. That's all I can suggest with my experience so far. Just thought I would share it with you since you have a 12k piece. 12k is typical gold filled in the US and Europe.

 

[etack]

if you have no experience in this buy a gold coin. if you try this it will not be what you want the first few tries and you will go out and buy one later. If you want it to look nice and have your face on it with the message, look into CNC engraving.a jeweler might do it on a gold blank for you.

Eric

 

[squarecoinman]

Hi,
I realize this isn't exactly the typical question on here, but I could really use some help.

I'm going to a wedding in Turkey this summer, where the traditional wedding gift is a gold coin. To celebrate my friends getting married, I'd like to cast a gold coin with my gf's face and my face on the front, and a nice message on the back on it as a unique wedding gift.

My plan thus far:
I'm planning on buying a simple gold band from Walmart, like this 14k wedding band.
I've been told that I can carve a coin out of wax, and make a mold using plaster of paris, then cast the coin into the mold.
I have a Map gas canister (bought last year), and a propane torch head that I can use.

First problem:
Tonight I tried to melt part of a very fine 12k necklace I bought at the thrift shop. I tried to melt it on a large iron tent stake that I had laying around. The gold kinda solidified into a black blob after a long time, but never really melted to a liquid. I tried again covering it in household borax first, and it didn't get as black, but didn't really melt either. I was able to easily melt a new penny, but wasn't able to melt a nickle, dime, or quarter.

I don't have a lot to spend considering I just graduated school and also have the flights to Turkey to cover.
Do I need to buy a crucible? Where is a cheap place to do that?
Should I build a spruce into my coin to pour into so I can make it 2 sided?
The coin will probably be about the size of a penny, but thinner. Here is an example coin.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thank you,

- Dan

Hi Dan , what a nice idea .

You have a series of small problems, but you maybe able to find a solution

1 It is not a coin it is a medal, you are going to make.
2 Get some wax and start trying to make it the size you want with your girlfriend on the one side and you on the other, you will find out that this is not so easy, the way normal coins are made is that the symbol on the coin is made rather big on plaster and then it is reduced with a special tool.
the next problem you will face is that you will find out that your wax medal is a lot thicker then the normal wedding coins, and thus you would need more gold.
3 To melt gold ( enough for a small coin ) you will need some very high head for a long period , i dont know what torch you have, but i am not sure if that would be enough
4 If you can make your medal, you will need to cast it in plaster of paris , and then you will need to burn out the wax, make sure before any attempt that the plaster is 100 % dry and that all wax is burned out , if not you will get hurt.
5 You will find out that by normal gravity casting a lot of the detail will not be on the coin.

My suggestion to you is the following.

1 buy a wedding coin ( in any turkeys gold shop you can buy them they have them in 3 sizes , cheap, expensive and very expensive, they come with a pin and a red ribbon and they often are put on the wedding dress ) In turkey they are an asset that the couple can sell when they need money or pay for the wedding cost ( your coin can not be sold as it will be a personal gift and thus not increasing the assets )
2 Make a silver medal with symbols on them that represent you , your girlfriend and maybe your friend that is getting married. I made some for my wedding. To give to my guests, with a Chinese Flag and a Danish Flag on it, some grapes a windmill etc etc. ( my wife is from China I am Dutch and we live in Denmark, the grapes are a fertility symbol in china ) You make this is wax, since it is silver you do not have to worry that much about the size and it will be a lot easier to make. You will also have space for writing something nice.
3 Give both as a present , the gold one they can sell if needed , and thus you keep with the turkeys tradition and they will forever have a nice gift from you, that they will never sell.
4 The casting of the silver medal, I would write to some local foundries , artists ( that cast bronze / silver ) and ask them for help, tell the story and show a picture of what you made explain that you have little money and will give them the silver. I am sure that you get a good price and some may even do it for free.
5 Alternative you can get a good torch and make a sand cast ( since it is a medal , you do not have to worry about the other side , still it would be much nicer if you would pay a little money to a foundry ) I know there are online forums for backyards foundries , maybe somebody can help you there.

good luck squarecoinman ( scm )

 

[glondor]

A metal tent stake is a massive heat sink, doubt you would ever get it hot enough, but if you did the gold would act as a solvent on the tent stake and mix with iron. You need a dish and some good insulation to get gold hot enough to melt with map gas in a reasonable time. You can use the search function to find all the info you need. Break your project down into steps and research and solve each step first.

 

[Dan Dement]

Guys,

I am a jeweler and good luck with you plan. It can be done but I wish it was as easy as you think it is. First, carving out the picture really is a difficult project that few can do. Casting it and having it come out is another issue. I have $500,000 worth of equipment and two talented CAD designers and I would send out the CAD work to one guy who is an expert at doing this type of work out of thousands of people I know for it to come out worthy of giving as a gift. It can be done but will run well over $500. plus the metal. At that, I would pass on the project as it a sure money loser.

So, Good Luck on getting it done.

Dan

 

[AndyWilliams]

Guys,

I am a jeweler and good luck with you plan. It can be done but I wish it was as easy as you think it is. First, carving out the picture really is a difficult project that few can do. Casting it and having it come out is another issue. I have $500,000 worth of equipment and two talented CAD designers and I would send out the CAD work to one guy who is an expert at doing this type of work out of thousands of people I know for it to come out worthy of giving as a gift. It can be done but will run well over $500. plus the metal. At that, I would pass on the project as it a sure money loser.

So, Good Luck on getting it done.

Dan

So, it can be done!! Lol!! :lol:

 

[nickvc]

The only way I think it may be possible is to cast a decent coin with little to no porosity and then get it lazer engraved with images of you and your girlfriend but even this will not be cheap I reckon the engraving may well cost €100 or more to get a decent job. I know I can get most images engraved by my titanium supplier as they use computer generated images which I suppose are scanned first, technology isn't my strong point