That silver chloride is not ready to melt. First, it's not washed well enough.
When silver chloride clumps, the outer particles will convert using sulfuric/iron method, but the particles on the inside of the surface will not. You absolutely have to crush all of those little chunks to expose the silver chloride to sulfuric acid. This is why tumbling with scrap steel is so beneficial. It acts like a ball mill.
I can also tell you from experience that ball bearings are not the best material to tumble it in, if you are tumbling in a bucket. Lou's posts specifically state that punch blanks are good...and I can see why. In a bucket, if angled and rotated, you end up with silver chloride caking in to the corners. The punchings would be able to get in to the corners and break up the cake.
When silver chloride clumps, the outer particles will convert using sulfuric/iron method, but the particles on the inside of the surface will not. You absolutely have to crush all of those little chunks to expose the silver chloride to sulfuric acid. This is why tumbling with scrap steel is so beneficial. It acts like a ball mill.
I can also tell you from experience that ball bearings are not the best material to tumble it in, if you are tumbling in a bucket. Lou's posts specifically state that punch blanks are good...and I can see why. In a bucket, if angled and rotated, you end up with silver chloride caking in to the corners. The punchings would be able to get in to the corners and break up the cake.