Ready to refine Gold filled jewelry

[tom341]

What is the best way to strip and refine Gold filled jewelry without using nitric acid? Lazersteve said some ware that the electronic cell would not work. I’m not sure why because Gold filled jewelry is plated gold on brass or silver or what ever base metal as I understand it. Correct me if I am wrong, but I would like a good process for running this kind of gold. …THX…GUYS...<*\\\><...TOM

 

[lazersteve]

Tom,

I've never actually tried to strip gold filled in the cell, because I was told it would not work due to the fact that the gold in gold filled is actually karat gold over the base metal. With plated scrap the gold is electrically deposited onto the base metal.

I guess it's time to test the idea. When I get home tonight I'll try my cell with some gold filled and post the results.

Steve

 

[tom341]

hehehe thanks steve.

I’m ready to try my cell. I ordered the Rooto drain cleaner from the links you gave me. Thank you so much for your help in finding it. I was quite surprised at how heavy a gallon of that brand of drain cleaner is. Thanks Steve so much, and I will try the cell to see if it will strip the Gold Filled Jewelry…THX...<*\\\><..TOM

 

[Noxx]

Steve, try with the Karat gold cell. I think it would work.

 

[tom341]

Hello Noxx,

What is the difference between the Gold stripping Cell, and the Karat Gold cell? Is the electrolyte the same? I know the anode in the Karat cell is graphite and the anode in the stripping cell is Lead. But I don’t know the particulars as to the electrolyte and how the Karat Cell is run and used. I would love to see a home made karat Cell work, As opposed to the stripping cell, as to better decide on the best way to approach Gold Filled and Karat Gold items…THX...<*\\\><..TOM

 

[Noxx]

Gold stripping cell is made for deplating gold that was electrically plated. The Karat cell is for jewelry of any forms of karat (but mostly used for lower karat) The electrolyte is not the same. Renverse plating is sulfuric acid and Karat cell is Ammonium Chloride (easy to make at home)
I'm currently building one, I'll post pictures next week.

 

[catfish]

Hi Tom:

I have done quite a bit of gold filled jewelry and I have tried some with the cell of sulfuric and also with aqua regia. I experienced a little problem with the cell. It was very slow to strip off the gold. Gold filled (sic) is actually a very heavy plate of the specified karat gold on another alloy. I even cranked up the voltage to 14 volts and still very slow and I also never really knew when I had all the gold stripped.

I now dissolve all my gold filled in aqua regia. The absolute most gold you can have in gold filled is about 5% gold. This amount of gold works great in AR.

Example:

1/10th 12 karat of 10 grams of gold filled = .1 x 10 x .5=.5 grams/10 grams .5/10=.05%

I have just finished about 400 grams of gold filled material in three separate batches and it worked great. One batch was 8 sets of old gold filled glasses. If you want to hurry it along, just heat it to a low boil for about thirty minutes and it should all be dissolved.

Some of the other folks probably have a lot more experience than I have on gold filled refining. It would be interesting to hear from them and see what they have to say is the best way.

Catfish edited to add the followqing:

PS Tom you may run into some gold filled that is plated on top of silver. That should be marked as such. gold filled on sterling or .925 silver. If you should run into this situation, you would be better off using nitric acid on this type for it is difficult to disolve in AR due to the silver chloride coating the gold. Wait for Harold's advice on this type of gold filled. I personally never have ran into any like this.

 

[tom341]

Hello Catfish (Tom S.),

I was hoping to here from you on this one as I value your previous advice at stepping back and developing a system for my various types of striping and refining and developing the knowledge so that I will encounter less and less problems along the way. What is your mix for A/R and amount of weight of Gold filled Material? At present I am mixing ½ pound of sodium nitrate (HI-yield nitrate of soda fertilizer 16-0-0) and dissolving the S/N in 16 ounces of water. Than I add 32 ounces of 31% HCl acid. And I run just under 1/2 pound of metals material (200 Grams). ..THX...<*\\\><..TOM

 

[aflacglobal]

That's one smart fish.
I think he has just the thing for you. He will be around shortly.

 

[tom341]

Hello Noxx,
I am glad to know that there is a difference between the Home made Gold stripping cell and the karat Gold cell as fare as the Electrolyte is concerned. I have the Ammonium Chloride and Graphite rod, but I don’t know the mix for the A/C or the Voltage and amps required for the Karat gold cell. So fare this Home Made Karat cell sounds familiar to me as the iShor method. Am I correct in my thinking or is it completely different? Any how I am looking forward to your posting on the Karat Cell…THX...<*\\\><...TOM

 

[catfish]

Hi Tom:

You sound like you already have every thing going your way. The mix ration on the aqua regia is right on, but I would back off a little on the amount of metal you put in the solution. I have found that about 140 grams is maximum that will consistently always totally dissolve. Some metals will dissolve better than others. You can get away with a larger amount sometimes, but then when you have some very stubborn metals that take a lot of nitric to dissolve, you can wind up with un dissolved metals in your solution.

I found that about 130 to 140 grams of gold filled or plated works pretty good, providing that the items to be dissolved are fairly small. In fact I would start off with about 100 grams of small gold filled items and work up from there. If they are large items, then you may want to cut them up with lineman’s pliers to small pieces. You always want to dissolve all the metal and have just a little nitric left. It would be utopia to wind up with zero nitric left, but in dealing with all the variables that is not possible every time. By having a small amount of nitric left in the solution, it is easier to tell when the solution is neutralized. Regardless when you dissolve gold plated or (sic) gold filled you will wind up with a lot of junk in the solution. Just be sure and filter it very good. I filter my solution in broad cloth (bed sheet material) first then neutralize it and then re-filter in vacuum filter again. This will get rid of over 90% of the junk. Then add the precipitant.

When you get your gold out, then use the process that Harold has outlined to us and you can wind up with some very pretty gold.

If you have any trouble with this process, PM me and I am sure we can work you through it.

Tom, I am like you, using nitric acid is totally out of the question. The cheapest I can order it is about $60.00 gallon plus truck shipping. That makes the price of business very expensive. As my good friend Aflac sez “Necessity is the motherhood of inventions”. I have learned to use other methods that may not be as good as in-quarting and using nitric acid to remove all metals except the gold, but they work for me.

Tom S.

 

[Harold_V]

I have learned to use other methods that may not be as good as in-quarting and using nitric acid to remove all metals except the gold, but they work for me.
Tom S.

Isn't that the point?

If we lived in a perfect world, it would be best to buy and use nitric, but that's not the case, and isn't likely to ever improve. If anything, I fully expect that more and more chemical reagents will become impossible to obtain in the future.

I have been nothing short of totally impressed with the work-arounds that you folks have developed to avoid the problems of buying the "real stuff".

If it works for you, and you're happy with the results, I say go for it.

Harold