Göran,
Thank with the pH thing I do not know why but I often make that same mistake of saying things wrong or backwards (I do know the difference) too bad we do not have a mistake check, like we have a spell check, so I could edit all of my mistakes before I post..
ameturerefiner,
I did not mean to offend you, but I did try to get your attention, I am trying to help you the best way I know how, How many ways can we try to tell you the same thing?
I thought I had a thick skull, well I do, and I am also stubborn (like an ole mule).
I have also made the same dumb mistakes, trying things I knew nothing about, loosing gold, gold I wish I had, and that I needed badly to pay bills, thinking myself clever, But I also listened to those here on the forum that understood how to recover and refine, I paid close attention to what they said, and studied, and soon began to see how foolish I was loosing gold, I slowly began to learn more and loose less gold, I am still learning, I still do not know it all that well, and so if someone tells me I am doing it wrong I will listen and try to see what they are telling me, if they point me to something to study I will. And the more I learn the more I find I do not know and need to learn.
We are just trying to get you to see, what we have all learned here, not upset you.
This is not simple like you think it is.
Although it is not that hard either, but it does take a lot of learning to be able to do it, it is not something you will learn through experimenting without study.
I could have spent a Day with a professional refiner watching what he done, but when I got home I would not have been able to do it without having the understanding he had, He could of sit down and written out explicate details of the process, and when I got home I still would not have been able to do it without study and the understanding he had, he could have told me everything I done wrong, and I still would not have been able to do it without seeing myself what was wrong, every time I recover or refine there can be differences, differences in the scrap, metals, and reactions, every process can introduce its own set of problems or challenges, it is only until we understand them can we deal with them, it is not only study we need, it is not only practice we need , it is not only skills, it is not only understanding, it is all of this and more that make a good refiner, these we must begin someplace to learn, one of the first places is studying good reliable information, like you will find in Hoke’s book, and on the forum by those who have learned before us.
There are many hidden dangers.
You can struggle through trial and error, or you can make it simple.
Edison was inventing something (the light bulb), that did not exist before him, or at least one that would work well, do you really think He was so stupid that He would have spent his life experimenting making thousands of mistakes to learn something that was already invented or procedures known for thousands of years before him, would he have made 2,000 mistakes before he reached over and turned on the light, that was already in his room invented long before he was born, so that he could read Hokes book?, or would he had just Picked up Hoke's book and studied it, learning what others before him have done, and learning how to do it right, so his time was better spent not wasting his life on useless experiments that just proved one thing, that it was futile to experiment on trying to figure out a known process, one known to work and work well, I Know Edison researched everything he could find, before he tried something, He did not just experiment blindly, he was not trying to learn something from his experiments he could have easily have learned from a simple book or reading the forum, If Edison did not study (and study hard), all of the material he could find, before experimenting, if he was in so much rush to make money and did not take time to study, we would have never had a light bulb, at least from him.
How do we get you to understand? You are experimenting in the dark, and all you have to do is read Hokes and the forum and turn on that light, so you can see what you are doing.
We have given you a method to learn, and understand the dangers, and to keep you and others around you safe, we Have all given you the best advice we can, the same advice we followed to learn by. It is up to you if you wish to learn or not, I think you do want to learn, I also think if you could just begin on the right path you would do very well, but from the questions You have asked, and things you have said I think at this point you are on the wrong path, yes you may be able to dig to China but why not just take the boat, (the ride is free)?
Do you really think I would spend my time trying to get you to understand if I did not care to help you learn? Do you think these other members would spend there time to try and help, if they did not truly wish to help you?
If I were not going to listen to someone’s advice on a problem I had, I would not ask his or her advice. If they could do something I could not do, or did not understand, and they told me to try this or that first, and stop what I was doing, I would try this or that and stop what I was doing, if they could do it, and I could not, or was having trouble, and they told me I was doing it all wrong, I would listen and listen to their instructions on how to learn to do it right.
If they said begin by studying Hoke’s book, I did begin reading Hoke’s, in fact I have been rereading it over the years now.
