dcurzon
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2011
- Messages
- 35
So yesterday i had my first attempt. Started out with 130gm's of .925 earrings/chains etc, including one big blob of previously melted 925 weighing approx 25gm.
i put 175ml de-ionised water into beaker, and added 175ml 70% nitric.
i added to this my silver.
All went well, started getting my reaction immediately, then 30 seconds in, the red smoke. After about 1.5hrs, reaction was completed. But i had some clear CRYSTALS at the bottom of the beaker. Not sure what they were.
Filtered the crystals/crap (couple of stones from earrings etc)out, and added my copper pipe. Left it overnight and returned in the morning. This had seemed to complete, so filtered it (keeping the silver cement, waiting for it to dry now).
I decided to pop some copper into the fluid that was filtered off, and sure enough, seems to be getting more silver out of it, so i have left that running whilst i went to work.
so far happy with how it has all gone
some questions:
1. does everything that i've done seem ok? Didnt have internet access at the time.
2. de-ionised water. couldnt get distilled, but i believe this is much the same stuff?
3. clear crystals. no idea what they were. any clues?
4. is it usual to do the copper cementation to seemingly finish, and then to be able to extract more afterwards?
5. my 25gm lump didnt break down in the nitric acid. It's still a lump, allbeit only 20gm now. Not enough acid used? what should the correct silver gm/ml formula be?
6. is there a way to work out how much silver you should have AFTER refining? my maths looks like this:
130(gm) - 20(gm) = amount of silver dissolved (my starting amount less the lump that didnt dissolve)
110(gm) x .925 = 101.75(gm) less (guessing)2% refining loss = 99.7(gms)
many thanks, sorry for all the q's
i put 175ml de-ionised water into beaker, and added 175ml 70% nitric.
i added to this my silver.
All went well, started getting my reaction immediately, then 30 seconds in, the red smoke. After about 1.5hrs, reaction was completed. But i had some clear CRYSTALS at the bottom of the beaker. Not sure what they were.
Filtered the crystals/crap (couple of stones from earrings etc)out, and added my copper pipe. Left it overnight and returned in the morning. This had seemed to complete, so filtered it (keeping the silver cement, waiting for it to dry now).
I decided to pop some copper into the fluid that was filtered off, and sure enough, seems to be getting more silver out of it, so i have left that running whilst i went to work.
so far happy with how it has all gone
some questions:
1. does everything that i've done seem ok? Didnt have internet access at the time.
2. de-ionised water. couldnt get distilled, but i believe this is much the same stuff?
3. clear crystals. no idea what they were. any clues?
4. is it usual to do the copper cementation to seemingly finish, and then to be able to extract more afterwards?
5. my 25gm lump didnt break down in the nitric acid. It's still a lump, allbeit only 20gm now. Not enough acid used? what should the correct silver gm/ml formula be?
6. is there a way to work out how much silver you should have AFTER refining? my maths looks like this:
130(gm) - 20(gm) = amount of silver dissolved (my starting amount less the lump that didnt dissolve)
110(gm) x .925 = 101.75(gm) less (guessing)2% refining loss = 99.7(gms)
many thanks, sorry for all the q's