spring steel w/ nickle and gold plating

[pulceman]

Im a NuB and have spring steel w nickle and gold plating (6oz) i put 4oz in solution and left it overnight, This morning when i checked it it wasnt what i expected. it doesnt look like anything ive done before, its red or rust color and still has black wire pieces floating on top.
did i do something wrong or maybe i forgot something? maybe i was supposed to do it a completely different way..
anyone have any help they could offer.
thanks

 

[nickvc]

To give you an accurate answer we all need more details...like what solution?

 

[pulceman]

my solution is potassium nitrate and HCI.

 

[samuel-a]

Sounds like chromium or coblt or both are in solution.
Do you have gold foils floating around?

 

[pulceman]

yes as a ,matter of fact it does have gold foils floating amongst other odd things ive never seen happen and i didnt quite know how to deal. what do you suggest?
i have access to ALOT this but if its not worth it ?????

 

[samuel-a]

suggestions...

You would probably want to filter the solution and recover what foils in there.

Since you created an AR, there's more then a chance some of the gold had dissolved and cemented on to base metals, so you should treat any black powder as gold as well. It will probably be mixed well with left over base metals.

All in all, you have made your self quite a mess.
For the future, you would be better served following the suggestions that have been repeated here on the forum. Dissolve the base metals first with HCl (crockpot method) or AP or suluric acid, only then dissolve the gold.
It will save you on the chemical costs to, since some leach solutions are reusable (AP for axample)

If you aks me, and it's only my opinion, you should have a very very small, weight to plated surface area ratio to make it worth while processing those springs in acids.
Maybe you should consider strip solutions or reverse plating

 

[pulceman]

HERE ARE SOME PICS OF WHAT IM WORKING WITH

 

[eeTHr]

I'll tell you what I would do, but don't assume that this is the absolute best way....

Since I have a pet peeve against filtering metalic PMs, because some always gets stuck in the filters, I would add nitrate, a little at a time, until everything was dissolved. Then drop out the PMs with solid copper suspended in the solution. When a stannous chloride test shows it's all down, decant the solution and rinse the sediment by adding a little water and decanting it a few times.

Then refine the sediment in the usual way.

 

[pulceman]

thanks for your suggestions this is what ive gotten so far...

 

[Harold_V]

I'll tell you what I would do, but don't assume that this is the absolute best way....

Since I have a pet peeve against filtering metalic PMs, because some always gets stuck in the filters, I would add nitrate, a little at a time, until everything was dissolved. Then drop out the PMs with solid copper suspended in the solution. When a stannous chloride test shows it's all down, decant the solution and rinse the sediment by adding a little water and decanting it a few times.

Then refine the sediment in the usual way.

He could go one step farther and avoid dissolving the values. Dissolve the base metal with dilute sulfuric acid, or even HCl. Allow the solids to settle well, then decant, rinse, and repeat until the rinse solution is clear of color. The only filtration that would be required would be just before precipitating the values. Dissolving values along with the base metals is low on the list of preferred methods unless there is a very good reason to do so.

Harold

 

[eeTHr]

My thinking was that he already had nitric in his HCL, and so there might be some Au in the solution, even with all the base metals tending to cement it out, some might redissolve.

:?:

 

[Harold_V]

My thinking was that he already had nitric in his HCL, and so there might be some Au in the solution, even with all the base metals tending to cement it out, some might redissolve.

:?:

Given enough base metal, any gold that may be dissolved will cement, so it's entirely possible that the end solution could be barren of values. Personally, I'd eliminate base metal first---it's most likely just high carbon steel.

I've never been a fan of dissolving everything in one fell swoop, and when I have, I've generally used the remaining base metal to cement values, so I can eliminate the majority of contaminants before dissolving the values for the final time. Only rarely did I ever use AR for that purpose.

I should note---in this case, assuming my assessment is correct, that the spring material is high carbon steel, there will be a noticeable residue of carbon remaining after dissolution.

Harold

 

[eeTHr]

pulceman;

Like Harold says---

I've never been a fan of dissolving everything in one fell swoop....

...I should note---in this case, assuming my assessment is correct, that the spring material is high carbon steel, there will be a noticeable residue of carbon remaining after dissolution.

Harold

I should have added that next time you should dissolve only the base metals first, and that the suggestions were only to correct this unpleasant situation of having everything in there, in a "witch's brew."

Also that there would probably be some carbon in there, which would not dissolve at all.

Thanks to Harold, as usual. 8)