Ha! I am not qualified to give any advice, yet. I can share some thoughts though.
1. I have made, and I am STILL making all of the mistakes that the other newbies are making. But it is my nature to be pretty much non-functional unless I understand my actions and why I do them.
2. I am way too lax on taking notes. I have a tendancy to log only my successes not failures.
3. I am often too impatient.
4. I have two gallons of solution that I need to recover. Often I think that I understand something so I am constantly trying to work with more than I need to in a learning environment. This always results in way too much time evaporating and then not succeeding.
5. I have spent way too much effort with nitric acid I believe. Acid peroxide is much more suited to my needs. I have begun to concentrate on this more.
If I were to ask a question at this point in time, I would ask for evaporation tips. I wonder if Hoke's idea of a syrup is a bit different than my own. I would like to see a photo of someone's point in evaporation that they add HCl.
This little adventure has been extremely fascinating and I have no intention of failing. Therefore, I must read and I must understand. I cannot expect anyone to do this for me.
