Hello, Can I get some Advice?

[Crashcrain]

I am new to this site, I stumbled along it looking for ways to melt my fine Placer Gold on Google. It appears to be a pretty active site so I will be staying around for a while, but for the time being I have a few questions.

I am an 40yrs old and recently I went to Alaska for a pleasure trip. I decided to go and buy a pan at a hardware store and hit this small creek just outside of town and see how I did, I have never done that before. My wife mocked me up until the point I started showing her gold flakes in my pan, and then she wanted one. I didn't pan long and got about a gram of flake and fine gold. After I got back to the states I did a little research in my home state of Texas where there might be gold and low and behold, THERE AIN'T NONE. Well, at least not enough to even really work at it unless you are trespassing.

Frustrated, I went online and ordered some Paydirt from a company out of California and panned it to add to my small amount of gold. The gold was dengy compared to the Alaska gold but there was a bit in the 3lb bag. At this point I ordered a bag from 5 different companies and kept track of how much I found from each company so I could do a cost comparison and hopefully find that one was much better than the others. Sure as hell, one of the companies shipped me a two pound bag that not only had fine gold, but three nuggets 1/2 the size of a dime. So, the hook is set, I got the bug, the fever has run it's course.

Now I have about a ounce of fine gold and nuggets and instead of selling it I would like to make it something for my wife. I have melted scrap gold before on a smooth concrete floor with a propane torch and had good luck, but I have never tried melting flour gold. I saw the Charcoal method on this sight and though I would have never thought of that I must admit it is unique. I can't afford a crucible or oven right now so I have a few ideas on how to melt and mold it but no experience.

I was thinking about buy a ceramic charcoal briquette that you line your grills with and carving out a cavity to poor it in. I know those briquettes can get red hot without cracking and thought it would be a cheap and easily reusable melting mold for fine gold, does anybody have any experience with this?

Another thought was a Cast Iron gravy dish. I can take a router and drill and create a coin shaped depression in the Iron in the center of the pan and then pour the gold in and melt it, I don't think it will stick to the iron. Has anybody tried this technique?

Please give this noob some ideas,
CrashCrain

[Curious The George]

First and foremost - don't ever - ever again melt anything with a torch on a concrete floor. You are constructing a small bomb when you do that. The water that remains inside the particles of concrete can turn to steam and explode in your face - shrapnel everywhere not to mention 2000°+ molten metal droplets. IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO PUT A TORCH TO CONCRETE!

Now on to your other question. Buy a half dozen fire brick from a building supply place, you may find them at a Lowe's or Home Depot but if you can't find one there go to a conventional building supply place that sells bricks and blocks. Make sure you get fire bricks not regular bricks. And if there is a used building supply place in your area you just may find used ones for less cost, but they are not too expensive and they are reusable.

Get a masonry drill bit and wallow out a cavity in one of the bricks. Smooth out the cavity as best you can with something like a grinding stone in a Dremel tool or a rotary stone in your drill motor. You have just made a crucible. You might want a couple of extra bricks in case you break one in the making. You don't want any cracks or pits in the cavity for the gold to run down into and lock your ingot to the brick, but if it does happen you can break the brick to get your gold out and then make another one for the next session

Make sure the bricks are dry, if the source stores them outside then you store them inside for a week or so to dry them out. Damp fire bricks can blow up from the steam. Put your gold in the cavity. Use the other bricks to build a surround around the brick with the cavity. Practice this at the supply store and make sure you get enough bricks to make a way to protect the brick with the gold in it. You want to make an enclosure around the crucible to hold all the heat in that you can, just leave a hole big enough to get your torch where you can melt the gold and enough air to fuel the flame. You have just built a smelting oven. Now take your torch to the gold.

If you make the cavity smooth so the gold can't run into crevices then when it cools down you can just turn your brick over and dump out the ingot.

Since you are working with flour gold you may want to make the cavity a little deep so you don't blow the fine gold out with the flame of the torch.

Make the top of the cavity wider than the bottom so you don't trap your solidified gold in the hole.

[Crashcrain]

I never thought of the concrete exploding, I did this many times when I was a kid with silver coins and scrap gold. Occasionally I would get a small popping of some peices popping off but never anything more then that, thanks for the warning, looks like I may have been lucky. I will take your advice on the oven, and I know my dremmel will make any shape I like. Finding Fire brick these days is harder then it sounds, this can be a nightmare undertaking as is finding chemicals.

Thank you for the info,

CrashCrain

[Curious The George]

It's raining here today and I went out and quickly put together what I described. These are not fire brick, just normal building bricks.

Keep in mind the smaller the melting cavity the quicker you'll get the gold to melt.

First photo is three bricks arranged as the foundation of your smelter. The brick in the middle has some packing popcorn pieces where you would create the cavity in the fire brick. The two brick going back at an angle are just to support the brick that is the back wall of the smelting cavity.

Second photo has the back wall brick in place.

Third photo has the side walls added.

Fourth photo has the top brick in place.

That's it, it took 7 bricks to do this. Again the packing peanuts are in the location where you would make the cavity to hold your raw gold to melt.

[Crashcrain]

Now the problem remains finding fire brick. I called six brick companies down here in Dallas and since all home down here are now the cookie cutter pre manufactured homes nobody seems to carry it. It looks like I might have to find some bricks from the fireplace of an old home getting torn down.

Finding the Borax is becoming harder then I thought as well. I miss the old days were you could go to a pharmacy and get what you needed, or a local Chemical Supply store, now you have to drive across Dallas (A hour drive each way) to get anything.

[Curious The George]

Go to the grocery store and find a box of 20 Mule Team Borax. It should be in the cleaning supplies and laundry soap area. It's pure borax and can be used as flux for brazing, silver soldering and melting gold.

[freddy williams]

Drop your melted gold into a glass of rock salt the kind you melt ice with and when it hits the salt it creats a natural looking nuggett hope this helps some freddy

[Goodyguy]

Great info guy's

[russau]

Drop your melted gold into a glass of rock salt the kind you melt ice with and when it hits the salt it creats a natural looking nuggett hope this helps some freddy

FAKE NUGGETS anyone that has been around could spot these as fakes and are frowned on!

[dave wiseman]

Lot's of man made nuggets will have tiny pinholes in them from the air bubbles escaping....

[Hoser John]

Same as the makers---but the holes are larger and air ain't red-John

[homefires]

Borax Soap available in most Grocery stores works just fine.

The amount of gold your talking about , you could use a little http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drywall Gypsum Board to build your little box.

I just Drill a hole in a few layers of Gypsum Board, Cover the gold with Borax and melt it with Mapp Gas torch.

Your Wrong about No Gold in Texas.

Sniff around info about the Brazos and Llano rivers!

[Sandman]

I am learning something new all the time. Thanks guys.

[freddy williams]

I have the bug really bad just waiting to hit some paydirt one of these days I told the wife if that ever happened she would have to bring me supplies and call me off work I believe I can find a once a week easy but she says till I find that first once I have to work LOL no the wife is almost out of the picture and all I need is a couple more checks to get some things caught up my truck fixed I am going west for a few weeks maybe arizona an Idaho an maybe into neveda

[jackragusa]

Now if you wouldn't mind, would you tell us the name and place where you bought the hot dirt that held those big nuggets. I also have tried my hand at a few of those buy your gold bags and yes I got gold but about only half of what I could of gotten if I just went out and bought it. Our club is looking for an honest place to buy bags from to put them up for raffle at our monthly meetings...

[russau]

our club made up our own bags. you can controll the mixture of materials and its cheaper that way!

[delnorter]

Jack, below is a link to a straight up seller (and buyer) of gold, paydirt, nuggets both.
Right now he is has a special for a specific amount of gold in paydirt for below spot.

http://www.goldbay.com/browser/tag/misc/paydirt/MTc_

Mike

[Lanny in AB]

Great thread guys, thanks!

All the best,

Lanny

[OKIE]

I really enjoyed this info... I myself have been trying to figure out a way to melt my gold. But I do have 1 advantage, I bought 2, 1" carbon cubicle's on ebay about 5 years ago for this purpose but never had any GOLD to melt.. Thanks for the GOOD info.


OKIE

[Mint_2k]

Hey CashCrain,

I'm in a similar situation.... I'm in Texas too, and recently got the fever. I read that a place called Longs fish and Dig near Llano had some color, but It's not like what you witnessed up in AK. Ive decided to build my own high banker and take a few camping trips to load up on material.......

I'm thinking on taking a camping trip to NC to run the high banker for a bit....building the high banker off a Keene A52 & the GMS hopper box. What part of Texas are you in? I'm in NW Houston area.

Best o luck,
-Larry