your honest opinion please

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necromancer

necromancer

Well-known member
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
1,948
Location
Canada
Hi All,

honesty is the best policy, and i see no better bunch to get 100% honesty from.

what do you think about this ?

20.09.jpg
 
I wouldn't say .999 but what is you end result for?

I make it close. gold pays 99% pure or close. 8)

Eric
 
Lack of pipe and dull surface says it has impurities. Did you acid test it? An acid test should be able to get you in the ball park. Over all though I would say it needs re-refined, some gold to refine is better than no gold to refine.
 
Dave did you completely melt it to the point of it being a truly circular molten bead?

The shape and texture seem a little "off." Is the colour on the lower parts of the metal a reflection from the pad it's on?
 
awwww, thanks 8)

no clues from me yet, i will take another photo with no flash & in better light.

will need to be late tomorrow, always lots of pickups on the weekends
 
I am going to make a wild guess and say that it looks to me like it may have iron contamination. If you are going to sell it for weight, in my opinion, it's pure enough. If you want bullion grade gold, it will have to be refined again. If you had a small bead of this gold, you could do a simple test for iron. flatten the bead with a hammer and see how flat you can make the bead before the bead makes a crack. Iron makes gold brittle and the bead will crack open before it flattens out. It doesn't take a lot of iron, <1%. If you can flatten a bead of gold as flat as a foil without it cracking, it would be pure gold.
 
I suspect spaceships may be right try remelting it and see if it looks better, the metal needs to be fully molten to get a decent surface.
 
As a prideful refiner that only wants the best coming out of my shop, I wouldn't be satisfied with that button. I would definitely re-refine it, were it me.
 
goldsilverpro said:
As a prideful refiner that only wants the best coming out of my shop, I wouldn't be satisfied with that button. I would definitely re-refine it, were it me.
Click to expand...


thank you GSP
 
here is the new photo. i have added another button to view

made by all the same process

both-buttons.jpg

thank you for your comments
 
What are you using to melt with i.e. what torch. I agree that there is still some contamination, but it also looks as though you are not getting a good molten bead, as was previously suggested. If it were me, I would re-refine it using Harold's washing method. You WILL BE amazed at how much more beautiful your gold will look. :)
 
If you decide to refine it again, either shot it (which would be hard to do using mapp gas) or to roll or beat the button flat to give the acid more surface area to work with. It goes a lot faster the second time and the solution will look clean and golden until you drop the gold and you see the remaining color of the solution.
 
Could you just use a hammer for that? I guess you would want to clean the hammer face a lot to make sure you didn't transfer any material to the gold.
 
joubjonn said:
Could you just use a hammer for that? I guess you would want to clean the hammer face a lot to make sure you didn't transfer any material to the gold.
Click to expand...

Clean tools goes along with clean equipment and clean work habits. Everything you use when refining needs to be as clean as you can get it. Gold will absorb contamination from just about anything and certainly any other metal. In this case, be sure your tools are not rusty.

Yes, a hammer and a heavy piece of steel like an anvil or other thick heavy piece of steel will work. Shotting is always preferred but low tech also works well.
 
Geo said:
If you decide to refine it again, either shot it (which would be hard to do using mapp gas) or to roll or beat the button flat to give the acid more surface area to work with. It goes a lot faster the second time and the solution will look clean and golden until you drop the gold and you see the remaining color of the solution.
Click to expand...

Geo can I ask why you think it would be hard to shot using a map gas torch?
 
From experience it is hard to shot with mapp gas. Just don't get enough heat to keep the material liquid while also keeping the crucible hot enough. I have done it with small amounts but it isn't easy.
 
Besides the obvious evidence of the photo that shows the melt is not hot enough, simply melting gold in a dish and pouring it into water will not make shot. You need a shotting dish and a way to keep it hot. The gold needs to be in a fully liquid state and hot enough to remain a liquid while being poured. The beads are formed as the the liquid metal is in the air. Without enough heat to bring the melt to near white hot, it will form cornflake type material instead of beads. The torch needs to be held on the melt as its poured through the shotting dish.
 
Sure - it can melt under one torch but not have enough heat left to stay fluid while getting parted up into droplets. Preheating the melting dish w/ button in it on a gas range burner (or with a second torch) then hitting the metal with your MAPP burner might get the melt hot, thin and runny enough to break up into small droplets correctly.
 

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