stannus chloride formula and use

[Anonymous]

I have seen severas ways to make it up, and it seems hard for some reason to get a purple reaction out of each batch of it i make. kind of frustrating. Can it be used on solutions of differing contents and ph. Where do i find out where it works and where or what i have to do to make it work.

 

[lazersteve]

Welcome to the for Toad,

I make stannous with a small amount of pure powdered tin and HCl.

I add the tin (about 1-2 grams) to 20 mL of HCl and heat it up until the tin begins to dissolve. Once the tin starts to fizz I stop heating and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. The solution will clear up as the tin dissolves. A little extra tin doesn't hurt as it keeps the solution fresh.

I test mine with a known solution of dissolved gold before each use. If it looses it's sensitivity I add a touch more tin and reheat.

I sell 4 grams of pure powdered tin for $1 on my website

http://www.goldrecovery.us

Steve

 

[Smitty]

Hey toad, is your stannous chloride yellow in color or clear white?

Oh by the way thanx for the help on my own stannous chloride solution Steve. It was the iron that got me.

 

[tlcarrig]

I have found some of the new lead free plumber's solder in my junk bin. Onlyest thing is, it has 5% antimony. Will that amount cause any problems in using it as a substitute for pure tin. It is solid solder, No flux. Thanks,

 

[Anonymous]

There are new fangled envornmentally friendly fishing sinkers that are pure tin.

 

[jimdoc]

Terry,
The antimony will be a black sludge on the bottom of
your container. Just pour your stannous solution off
and make sure you leave the antimony sludge out of
your solution. Jim

 

[Anonymous]

My last test is I have an old ring i use for testing. will mix up a little AR and test the stuff. In the mean time I ordered a little test kit for gold and silver from shore. I just want to get off the ground. I am refining from oar as a hobbie here in AZ and having fun. But its time to see some gold.
I looked at the site to buy some pure silver but did not see how to place an order.
Opps, by the way. the marine environment dont like tin. It is a banned sustnce in boat paint. causes birth defects in marine mammels

 

[Harold_V]

My last test is I have an old ring i use for testing. will mix up a little AR and test the stuff.

That may well be your problem. If the AR is not well consumed, the reaction with stannous chloride won't be as it should be. You are also working with an unknown level of concentration, so the reactions you get are relatively meaningless. They certainly are NOT reliable. You may even find that a solution that is gold bearing won't display color, due to it being rapidly consumed by the excessive acid.

Wise people read Hoke's book, and learn what is taught about testing, so they don't stumble blindly about. If you do not have a copy, I strongly recommend you get one. In it you will learn to build a proper standard gold solution so you can evaluate the quality of stannous chloride testing solution, along with more things than can be mentioned here.

Harold

 

[The Refiner49er]

Hey Harold-

I think everyone here who doesn't have Hokes book should get one...

per chance is it available on the internet? I thought I would ask than to research.

Thanks!

John

 

[Harold_V]

Hey Harold-

I think everyone here who doesn't have Hokes book should get one...

per chance is it available on the internet? I thought I would ask than to research.

Thanks!

John

Here's a source with the best price:

Hoke's book

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As an alternative, thanks to GSP;
The Hoke book, "Refining Precious Metal Wastes," is still the definitive book for refining jewelry scrap, including the platinum group. When I first started in the business, it was my bible. It's been reprinted and is available here for $74. Scroll down - fifth from the bottom.
http://www.ipmi.org/publications/index_non.cfm


Harold

 

[bmgold]

I looked at the site to buy some pure silver but did not see how to place an order.

You probably know this but...Check with a local coin dealer and you should be able to get silver rounds that are .999 pure. If you ask, you may get a damaged one cheap. They are not "coins" so they have no real numismatic value just the value of the silver plus a little profit for the dealer. Also, you may get some scrap silver or gold from them. Don't expect to make a profit buying this way but you can probably buy some at spot price for practice. You can even find "still good" rings and other jewelry at spot price that was cashed in when the old owners either needed money or no longer wanted them (divorce?)

 

[geologist]

I have 2.3 gr of tin sinkers dissolving in 20 ml of HCl for about an hour which seems longer than I expected. The solution is clear but slightly cloudy and hydrogen is bubbling off the sinkers which have become dark gray. Any comments? Thanks

 

[butcher]

a little heat helps tin dissolve in HCl, but not so hot to drive off acid.

 

[geologist]

thanks Butcher, I did not want to heat it too much since there were some vapors coming off. Should I try more heat? Is it ok to add slightly more acid?

 

[Noxx]

Personally, I add tin then I let it dissolve overnight.
It works wonderfully afterwards

 

[butcher]

also if made to small pieces, flatten solder then cut to small pieces, creating more surface area for acid to attack helps.

 

[geologist]

Thanks guys. I could try flattening out one of the sinkers and see if that speeds it up. I also left it sitting out overnight.

 

[wop1969]

Will lead free solder work that is 99.6% tin and 0.4%Copper?

 

[tlcarrig]

Lead free solder from Ace Hardware will work. It's almost $10 per spool. I don't remember the %s but it is tin and antimony. The antimony will precip out as a black powder. You can either leave it in or filter it out.

 

[bmgold]

I just made my first good batch of stannous chloride.

I didn't weigh or measure anything. I used a small test tube and put a little HCl into it. Then I dropped in a curled up piece of lead-free solder. It started reacting at once and a little (very little) heat from a propane torch really got it going.

The next day the solder is still slowly reacting (making bubbles). There is a black coating on the remaining solder and lots of black powder at the bottom of the test tube.

After testing the new stannous chloride on some remains of previous experiments with no real luck I decided to make a known gold containing sample to test the solution out. I quickly dissolved a little bit of precipitated ?gold? From another small scale experiment and the solution worked at last.

I tried using a coffee filter to do the tests and found that it worked best if it is folded to give a more visible indication than using a single layer of it.
I didn't have any Q-tips to use but I expect they work good also.

What I finally used that I like the best is a small, white, plastic measuring spoon.

With the spoon I could test just how dilute the gold solution can be and still show a positive result. The tests can be dumped into a container for your retirement and there is no extra paper to burn off.

I hope this helps someone get their test solution made and in use. Make up a test solution and play around with it until you know what to look for and are sure it can detect gold in solution.

Feel free to correct anything I did or explained wrong.