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Hi all. New to refining. Found this group on a search for CM Hoke's book. I'm in the process of building a silver cell, and was interested in the section about silver cells. Found out by watching Sreetips.
Welcome to us.
There are a lot of information on Silver cells.
Search the forum.

But in order to make electrolyte and such, chemistry is involved so we like you to study the safety and waste sections as well.

We ask our new members to do 3 things.
1. Read C.M. Hokes book on refining jewelers scrap, it gives an easy introduction to the most important chemistry regarding refining.
It is free here on the forum: Screen Readable Copy of Hoke's Book
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: Safety
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: Dealing with Waste

Suggested reading: The Library

Forum rules : https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/board-policy-this-should-be-read-by-everyone.4646/
 
Hi all. New to refining. Found this group on a search for CM Hoke's book. I'm in the process of building a silver cell, and was interested in the section about silver cells. Found out by watching Sreetips.
I have watched streettips as well. He does a wonderfull job explaining what is happening. Like being back in high-school chemistry again.
 
I have watched streettips as well. He does a wonderfull job explaining what is happening. Like being back in high-school chemistry again.
He definitely makes it easy to understand.

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Before you start anything that involves chemicals, or dangerous substances, please take #yggdrasil advice and take a tour of the mentioned sectiones of the forum.
If you have followed Sreetips, you have probably noticed, he has all the proper lab equipment, and all the necessary safety precautionshe has his copy of Hoke`s book all the time at his hand, , and studies it if he is uncertain of something, or just give you guidence what to find and where in the book, allthough he has years of experience.

Take the more experienced refiners advice, as i have and many other newbies.

Study first - your gold wont go anywhere, but your life will if you fail.
Purchase quality equipment and set up a proper place to work - if you don`t you`ll poison yourself, your family and your neighbors.
Master the art of pricing when or if you purchase your material - if you don`t, you`ll end up loosing more money than you would by investing in ready made gold bars.
E-Bay is an auction and shopping website - not a heaven for refiners who buy "melted pin bars" for gold recovery, look out for scams and overpriced items
Youtube videos are informative and not a guide - some videos are for monetization and not for information, don`t follow them blindly.
If you don`t know something..Ask.. don`t experiment on your own because you will do more harm then good - this forum has amazing threads and people, with extraordinary experiences in almost every field that can cover every question that you can have.
Start small and gain experience from easy recovery and refining - when you master one technique you can learn another.

Be safe,

Pete
 
Hi, welcome to the forum.

Before you start anything that involves chemicals, or dangerous substances, please take #yggdrasil advice and take a tour of the mentioned sectiones of the forum.
If you have followed Sreetips, you have probably noticed, he has all the proper lab equipment, and all the necessary safety precautionshe has his copy of Hoke`s book all the time at his hand, , and studies it if he is uncertain of something, or just give you guidence what to find and where in the book, allthough he has years of experience.

Take the more experienced refiners advice, as i have and many other newbies.

Study first - your gold wont go anywhere, but your life will if you fail.
Purchase quality equipment and set up a proper place to work - if you don`t you`ll poison yourself, your family and your neighbors.
Master the art of pricing when or if you purchase your material - if you don`t, you`ll end up loosing more money than you would by investing in ready made gold bars.
E-Bay is an auction and shopping website - not a heaven for refiners who buy "melted pin bars" for gold recovery, look out for scams and overpriced items
Youtube videos are informative and not a guide - some videos are for monetization and not for information, don`t follow them blindly.
If you don`t know something..Ask.. don`t experiment on your own because you will do more harm then good - this forum has amazing threads and people, with extraordinary experiences in almost every field that can cover every question that you can have.
Start small and gain experience from easy recovery and refining - when you master one technique you can learn another.

Be safe,

Pete
I have studied prior to starting this project. Right now I'm using a dry method to make my nitric acid for my silver cell. No plans for gold refining....yet.
Thanks for the advice.
 
Good Morning,

I thought I would say welcome. It may seem like they are really pushing the book , but the chapter on silver will help out. Try the the silver experiments . I found it helps identifying silver chloride and treating lead. If you’re going to process knifes, bowls ,candlesticks etc. you may come across this .I just finished a small silver cell.
Things learned:
- Spaghetti sauce jars are hard to pour out of.
- have plenty of silver shot ready it consumes shot fast
- wear gloves or you will have purple fingers
- While you are gathering lab materials and silver read and study
-Some dish soap have sodium chloride as a thickening agent watch out for that or you may have trace amount silver chloride in your nitric silver solution
I’m still on the silver chapter (around page 80 ) And other refining methods )page 180? ) ,

Anyway good luck
Jeff
 
Hi all. New to refining. Found this group on a search for CM Hoke's book. I'm in the process of building a silver cell, and was interested in the section about silver cells. Found out by watching Sreetips.

One thing to consider.... Do you have an outlet to sell your home refined silver if and when you need to sell? Some local buyers may not buy your silver now that all the hall marks have been removed, that would also include items with a known content, like silver coins. You may want to visit some local places and see how they feel about buying home refined PM's.

If you're here on the forum long enough you'll find that a XRF is generally a good tool, but I don't know if I would sell my PM's based off of it.
 
eaglekeeper, I have been wondering about that topic for some time now, how do we sell what we refine ?

When I first started, I took some silver I refined to a local place...they didn't seem to have any interest in it. I haven't tried to sell anything since then..... When I finally decide to sell, my plan is to take everything straight to the refiner personally....at least that's the plan so far. I think the only thing that may be a hassle is having an assay done on the PGM blacks.

Anything I get that has markings or has a known content I just leave as is....seems to be easier to sell in a hurry if needed. So, at this point I'm only refining stuff like e-waste...etc.

I can only say what I've experienced, you may have better luck selling in your area. I'm sure there are members here that may have better advice than I can give on this topic.
 
I found a small jewelry maker who buys silver then sends to be refined then he sends it to a small foundry to have his 3-D impressions cast.I personally still can’t stop staring the bars, the .999 silver shot and the silver crystals.
 
When I first started, I took some silver I refined to a local place...they didn't seem to have any interest in it. I haven't tried to sell anything since then..... When I finally decide to sell, my plan is to take everything straight to the refiner personally....at least that's the plan so far. I think the only thing that may be a hassle is having an assay done on the PGM blacks.

Anything I get that has markings or has a known content I just leave as is....seems to be easier to sell in a hurry if needed. So, at this point I'm only refining stuff like e-waste...etc.

I can only say what I've experienced, you may have better luck selling in your area. I'm sure there are members here that may have better advice than I can give on this topic.
Sounds like a niche that needs filling!
 
Sounds like a niche that needs filling!

Trust me...I thought about it. It's just that Panama City is known for Spring break/Bike week, the rest of the year it's kind of a small town mind set. Plus having to compete with the pawn shops and the Gold and Bullion Reserve in town. It would be hard to get enough constant scrap PM's to make a living from it.
 
It took me five months to get my silver pile then in a months time it became crystal and some beautiful shot ( couple of ugly bars also, I need to get some more MAPP gas cylinders to heat the mold while I pour) if I were to do a cost/ benefit analysis it would be negative .
After this new new through a different cell I’m going to try and sell five ounces to see if this guy was serious or not .
 
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