Hello, folks.
West Coast here (what Gallagher refers to as "The 'Granola Belt' of California"
).
Haven't used much chemistry in life. One job required it - I was working with Amino Acid Analyzers that used Ninhydrin. Another job was pragmatic electronics, but involved monitoring of emissions from industrial combustion (NOx, S, SO2, H2O and particulate matter).
Speaking of which, I want to tell you: Inhaling fumes is no fun. I was working on an exhaust analyzer when some of the exhaust escaped past the seals and vented into my face. I could feel it in my lungs and my vision stopped. I reacted without thinking by turning away... and I was stopped by the guardrail. I had the bare presence of mind to grab it and try to sit down. Soon, things got back to normal, but I was shaken. Without the guardrail to stop me, I'd have taken a nine-story fall. I used to think it was some SO2 that I'd inhaled, but since then, I think it was probably more likely to have been some NOx. The moral of this story is that it's really important to observe safety procedures.
I've been a hobbiest jeweler for ages. There's something tactile-ly satisfying for me when I work with silver. Along the way, I've learned how to cut and polish stones (including gemstones, like star sapphire), with my favorites being those that play with light, like Moonstone, Tigereye, Labradorite and Opals. I tend to cut stones that are freeform, so I've had to pick up a bit of silversmithing and goldsmithing along the way (when a stone is freeform, you cannot buy a setting for it, you have to make a setting to fit the stone).
I've got oxy-propane and oxy-acetylene torches, along with the safety gear that welders use. My O/A torch is dinky, for delicate jewelry work. For some reason, I can't find my propane torches; I'm pretty sure I've got a toolbox full of them around here somewhere. The O/P and P torches are mainly for soldering copper pipe, when I need to make plumbing repairs. I've also used the P torches to make sterling jewelry - the flame gets hot enough to melt silver solders. Most of my goldsmithing has been done with Acetylene (not O/A) torches. I was recently able to pick up a vintage O/A cutting torch; I've sent it out to be refurbished. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some welding and brazing tips for that, and to put it to use as needed.
I've recently gotten the bug to refine some things (Silver, Copper and Gold, in that order). I'm building a silver cell that is based on Sreetrips' video, so I can use electrolysis to refine about twelve pounds of Silver that I've got around here. I'm hoping it can also be easily modified to refine Copper when I get to that part of things.
Once i have pure Silver and pure Copper, I intend to alloy it into Sterling Silver, for some jewelry projects. The proportions for Sterling are pretty straightforward - 92.5% Silver and 7.5% Copper. In the past, I've used 3 one-troy-ounce silver rounds (93+ grams) and 7 grams of some copper bar I had. I used that to cast a rosebud (I actually used a garden-grown rosebud as the model; it was dipped in liquid plastic, invested, burned out and cast in a centrifugal caster).
I've also spent a lot of time making chainmail jewelry from Sterling Silver (mostly chokers and bracelets). I have some ideas for small wall hangings that I want to make out of Gold chainmail. In order to do this, I'll need to alloy gold to produce several different colors (white, yellow, red, green, etc., like "Black Hills Gold").
Anyway, I'm glad to have found this forum. And as weak as my chemistry background is, I'm sure I'l have a lot of questions.
-- Thipdar
West Coast here (what Gallagher refers to as "The 'Granola Belt' of California"
).Haven't used much chemistry in life. One job required it - I was working with Amino Acid Analyzers that used Ninhydrin. Another job was pragmatic electronics, but involved monitoring of emissions from industrial combustion (NOx, S, SO2, H2O and particulate matter).
Speaking of which, I want to tell you: Inhaling fumes is no fun. I was working on an exhaust analyzer when some of the exhaust escaped past the seals and vented into my face. I could feel it in my lungs and my vision stopped. I reacted without thinking by turning away... and I was stopped by the guardrail. I had the bare presence of mind to grab it and try to sit down. Soon, things got back to normal, but I was shaken. Without the guardrail to stop me, I'd have taken a nine-story fall. I used to think it was some SO2 that I'd inhaled, but since then, I think it was probably more likely to have been some NOx. The moral of this story is that it's really important to observe safety procedures.
I've been a hobbiest jeweler for ages. There's something tactile-ly satisfying for me when I work with silver. Along the way, I've learned how to cut and polish stones (including gemstones, like star sapphire), with my favorites being those that play with light, like Moonstone, Tigereye, Labradorite and Opals. I tend to cut stones that are freeform, so I've had to pick up a bit of silversmithing and goldsmithing along the way (when a stone is freeform, you cannot buy a setting for it, you have to make a setting to fit the stone).
I've got oxy-propane and oxy-acetylene torches, along with the safety gear that welders use. My O/A torch is dinky, for delicate jewelry work. For some reason, I can't find my propane torches; I'm pretty sure I've got a toolbox full of them around here somewhere. The O/P and P torches are mainly for soldering copper pipe, when I need to make plumbing repairs. I've also used the P torches to make sterling jewelry - the flame gets hot enough to melt silver solders. Most of my goldsmithing has been done with Acetylene (not O/A) torches. I was recently able to pick up a vintage O/A cutting torch; I've sent it out to be refurbished. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some welding and brazing tips for that, and to put it to use as needed.
I've recently gotten the bug to refine some things (Silver, Copper and Gold, in that order). I'm building a silver cell that is based on Sreetrips' video, so I can use electrolysis to refine about twelve pounds of Silver that I've got around here. I'm hoping it can also be easily modified to refine Copper when I get to that part of things.
Once i have pure Silver and pure Copper, I intend to alloy it into Sterling Silver, for some jewelry projects. The proportions for Sterling are pretty straightforward - 92.5% Silver and 7.5% Copper. In the past, I've used 3 one-troy-ounce silver rounds (93+ grams) and 7 grams of some copper bar I had. I used that to cast a rosebud (I actually used a garden-grown rosebud as the model; it was dipped in liquid plastic, invested, burned out and cast in a centrifugal caster).
I've also spent a lot of time making chainmail jewelry from Sterling Silver (mostly chokers and bracelets). I have some ideas for small wall hangings that I want to make out of Gold chainmail. In order to do this, I'll need to alloy gold to produce several different colors (white, yellow, red, green, etc., like "Black Hills Gold").
Anyway, I'm glad to have found this forum. And as weak as my chemistry background is, I'm sure I'l have a lot of questions.
-- Thipdar
