Two years later and VERY Pleased!

[malfeces]

Two years after starting the hobby of gold recovery and refining I have to say that I am very pleased with my results. The general concept of read read read then read some more before you try and never ask for a quick option could not be more true. After two years I am finally comfortable with my methods and results for recovering gold from gold finger boards with A/p and and HCL/air bubbler system. I am also finally comfortable with recovery of gold from plated ceramics and porcelain like cups plates and glasses with the HCL/bleach method. And finally am getting comfortable with refining of gold using HCL and bleach to dissolve, then precipitating with...what i could get my hands on, Bonide Stump Remover! Several Failed attempts led to many successful runs and 89 grams later of pretty pure gold and I am very pleased. I thank you all for directing me to Hoke, and for the.....stern....direction at times. For the next two years....learning about recoving gold from ide and processor pins, and silver from contacts in switches and relays. Thanks again all for the posts all over the forum with great info! Lazersteve, and Geo the most!

 

[gmandoit]

Im glad to see your sucess in refining has brought so much joy to you i plan on having the same at one point of my refining carreer im deeply enlightened by your success Id love to be a bit more informed on your scrubber and see pictures of it as i have been working on one aswell thanks. :mrgreen:

 

[FrugalRefiner]

That's a different mindset than your last post here. You might want to follow up on the replies there: Flaming posted snobbery.

In any event, I'm glad to see you've come to understand what the veterans here preach and I welcome you back to the forum. I hope you'll share your new point of view with others.

Dave

 

[Palladium]

He wasn't banned and his attitude seems to have improved so as long as he's grateful, learning, and not distracting i would leave that old thread to die. We seem to have adapted this policy of condemnation. It's like a pack mentality trait. I've been observing this for quiet sometime now and can actually say that i'm ashamed that i feel like i have contributed to it just as much if not more than anybody. People tend to follow other peoples lead and i feel like i haven't set a good example. I do a lot of things people don't understand the reason for and by people not understanding what the underlying reasons for my actions are they take them at face value. I wrote Steve a pm yesterday discussing my actions with him and asking if this was why his participation had dropped off. It seems that even though the forum continues to function it does so at a decrease capacity because of all the strife and discontent among the members. All in all i think the forum needs a general overhaul of our attitudes and social structure in order for the forum to prosper, grow, and be healthy. The first step starts at home!

I could write more, but i will wait for the dust to settle from this one first.

 

[Pantherlikher]

Here!....Here!...

It's difficult and very time consuming going through all the crap to find something worth learning.
I see no reason for any of it. If there's any personalily problems, we all need to shut the trap....tie fingers up from typing... and let the Mods handle it quickly and as quietly as possible.

B.S.
...I'm here to learn. Not watch people get nasty.
There's enough bad drama on TV. That's why I don't watch it...

 

[FrugalRefiner]

You may have missed my point. When malfeces posted back in March it was critical of the way the forum operated. He now feels the concept of "read read read then read some more before you try and never ask for a quick option could not be more true."

That's why I welcomed him back and invited him to share his point of view with others.

I try to draw a balance between overexplaining myself and writing a book, and being too brief at the expense of clarity. I may have missed the balance point this time.

Dave

 

[denim]

Very nice post indeed malfeces! Nice to see someone advocating the learn first ask second method with a positive attitude. It really does work. The sky is the limit when it comes to learning about refining and it seems you now are well on your way. Congrats to you and a big thanks to all who helped you.

Dennis

 

[butcher]

malfeces,
It is great to hear you are doing well in your studies and are enjoying it and prospering from the new found knowledge, it is sometimes hard to explain to new members just how much is actually involved in learning to recover and refine metals, and get them to understand where to begin and how, they normally have it in their head this is just as simple as washing cloths, and do not understand why they would need to study or read books to learn, they wonder why we just do not tell them to throw the cloths in the tub with some soap and explain the process. From your post I can see you are beginning to see how much there is involved, and are well on your way to learning more, congratulations, the long journey begins with the first steps, and it sounds like you are well on your way in this long journey.

 

[malfeces]

Thanks Palladium, I REALLY like your response. And thank you Dennis as well. At no point in the March post did I put down the information provided by the forum. The threads contain, well, pure gold! This is an amazing resource. I do not, however, retract my question or statement in March. It just really turned me off to some of the people here when I read a response to another posters question where the respondent called them an idiot and said they should stay away from gold refining. I do not remember the post title at this point, that was seven months ago. Nor do I remember the responder, only that at the time, being new and thirsting for knowledge, I was reading posts that were of questions that a new person would ask until I started to learn the proper terminology. And seeing a response like that made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn't even involved! That coupled with some other responses that seemed harsh, it lead me to write that post.

At this point though, I would just like to move forward. What was said is just my opinion. After this post I will mention it no more. I was prepared to drop it until it was mentioned again. I have NO problem with preaching safety at all. And my post was not about the operation of the forum. Instead of needlessly going down that road again, I would instead love to share some of my results and designs. I have some great data to share and compare as well on specific boards, yields, etc.

If I may, I have a suggestion, what if upon viewing the home page of the site, there were a blurb and a link to Hoke, then a few links to the very important threads, then perhaps a 10 question quiz to gain membership and posting abilities?

Thanks again everyone for some great threads! If you have a favorite thread on recovery from IDE pins or recovering silver from contacts in switches and relays I would love to know! And thanks again to Lazersteve and Geo!!

 

[bswartzwelder]

I too, see the forum as having changed from the time I first joined. But, in my opinion, it's better, not worse.

It used to be that many people joined and asked a lot of questions which the forum members graciously supplied answers to. Now, as in the past, many newcomers still want quick answers because people haven't changed that much, and they are as impatient as ever. They want results NOW. The forum members have gotten tired of answering the same old posts over and over again ad nauseum. In fact, the forum members who have been here the longest tend to not want to answer the same age old questions over and over and have encouraged the newer members to help answering the questions. This helps the new members who will try to answer the old questions because it shows that they have done some studying, even if they only read others posts. It also shows their willingness to help take their share of the workload and make it easier (and save the time) of the seasoned members to where they can answer the more complex posts.

Having said that, just telling a person to mix up a batch of AP to get rid of base metals and leave gold behind isn't really the answer to the question: " I have 27 grams of cut fingers, how do I get the gold?" Most of us use a bubbler system to keep the AP fresh and most of us know the yield on 27 grams of cut fingers wouldn't yield enough gold to hardly be visible with the naked eye after processing with HCl/Chlorox or AR, let alone what would be left after further cleaning.

I know I did it the same way when I started because I thought I had lost some gold using the Shor process. Indeed, I had. But through admonitions from Harold_V and the patience of others, I have downloaded Hoke and even purchased a hardcopy. Without those admonitions to read, read, and read again, I wouldn't be where I am today. I still make my fair share of mistakes and I still have questions, but I have used the search functions more in the last year than I ever did before that.

I miss the fact that some of the seasoned professionals here just don't have the time or energy to post as many answers as they have in the past. Noxx, thank you for keeping the forum up and running. I used to think of Harold_V as a crotchety old geezer. I now know, and respect him as one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. His colorful ways of expressing himself are truly thought provoking, and there is never a question on where he stands. LaserSteve has been at the forefront where the electrolytic cell is concerned and provides a great website and a place to purchase many needed items at the most fair prices around. Patnor and NoIdea have been extremely helpful when it comes to incineration and pyrolysis. Their designs and pictures have helped show the way. Butcher, what can I say? You have always been there to help with almost any angle of recovery and refining and have donated literally hundreds of hours showing how and why things do what they do. Just to list all the names of the seasoned veterans would take up an entire page. GoldSilverPro, Irons, Lou, Oz, Palladium, Geo, g_axelsson and all the others I have missed, I assure you it was not intentional.

The new rules to read were much needed. The rules against using foul language shouldn't have been needed, but ended up needing to be codified. I feel that anyone willing to abide by these rules (and the others) will truly show themselves to be professional in what they do here and in life in general. The forum has made me a better person even if, as I age, I become somewhat crotchety.

 

[RGJohn]

Two years after starting the hobby of gold recovery and refining I have to say that I am very pleased with my results. The general concept of read read read then read some more before you try and never ask for a quick option could not be more true. After two years I am finally comfortable with my methods and results for recovering gold from gold finger boards with A/p and and HCL/air bubbler system. I am also finally comfortable with recovery of gold from plated ceramics and porcelain like cups plates and glasses with the HCL/bleach method. And finally am getting comfortable with refining of gold using HCL and bleach to dissolve, then precipitating with...what i could get my hands on, Bonide Stump Remover! Several Failed attempts led to many successful runs and 89 grams later of pretty pure gold and I am very pleased. I thank you all for directing me to Hoke, and for the.....stern....direction at times. For the next two years....learning about recoving gold from ide and processor pins, and silver from contacts in switches and relays. Thanks again all for the posts all over the forum with great info! Lazersteve, and Geo the most!

Thanks for your post.
We've been/are being granted an entirely free apprenticeship in an obscure art and science.
Thanks to Hoke and those here who continue her good work.
Thank You!