precious metals acid test questions

[DylanDownright84]

I got my hands on one of those precious metals acid tests. Bunch of little bottles with nitric and muriatic acid in them. Each one set for a specific karat of gold. It includes a silver testing bottle of liquid as well. I haven't had any trouble using the silver bottle for testing, but I'm getting confusing results with the gold testing liquids. I've watched a few videos and I feel like I'm going about it the correct way, but again, I'm a bit confused as to what I'm seeing and I'm not entirely confident in what to look for exactly. I tried searching this in the forum to no avail. Got about 5300 results and while I did spend some time trying to find answers frustration took over and here I am. I have a good amount of what I believe to be 14k gold scrap in the form of shavings, bits of sheet, and wire. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone!

 

[jimdoc]

Have you downloaded this;

The Pawnbrokers Guide to Testing Metals
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=1765

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Jim gave you a great link for testing. Another is Testing Precious Metals C. M. Hoke.

I've never seen karat scrap that looked like that. Maybe it's just the picture, but nothing looks very yellow like gold. Most of it looks more white to me. The wire seems to have a copper color. A couple of the pieces toward the bottom remind me of old, plated material. I hope I'm wrong.

Dave

 

[DylanDownright84]

That's what I thought at first too, Dave. Then I thought maybe it could be bronze and gold? It's testing accurate for 14k per the testing acid. This is why I'm confused. I did a base metal test on it as well and got nickel (blue) and tin (yellow) as a result, but the scratch test says it's 14k. I'm just chasing my tail it feels like.

 

[DylanDownright84]

I just downloaded the document, Jim. Thanks guys! I thought the acid test would be fool proof. Haha I guess I am wrong.

 

[DylanDownright84]

Brass not bronze. That article is great. Going through the steps right now with my scrap to see what I got.

 

[upcyclist]

I suspect your yellow bits are jeweler's brass, but it never hurts to check. Gold shouldn't corrode like that. The white metal takes a while to get a feel for what's silver and what's not, but the Schwerter's (the silver test solution) will set you straight.

Keep in mind that when you're streak testing on the touchstone, if the 14K acid eats the entire streak clean off you're looking at something less than 14K. If you don't have a set of test keys, get some! You'll be able to see how the acids act on known karat alloys.