Acid test kit, scales, calipers questions

[carol80]

Hi All,

I have been metal detecting for a few months. I have a Garrett 350 and plan to upgrade to (probably) a White's MXT Pro or a Minelab Etrac—so I'm pretty serious about it. My interest is primarily in gold and silver coinage and gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, and gold nuggets.

I also want to purchase this week the following items and I would like to get some input about what you guys are using and your opinions about the products that are available on the market and what the best ones are and the ones to avoid.

1) Gold and silver acid test kit (maybe one that includes platinum testing) I'd want one that includes the testing needles with different tips, a testing stone, and the acids

2) Small handheld/pocket size/portable scales for weighing coins and jewelry, preferably one that weighs to 1/100th of an oz., but one that weighs to 1/10 of an oz. if that's what is commonly used by coin/jewelry and nugget hunters.

3) Digital calipers for measuring coins

Thanks, Carol

 

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[batcap]

I had trouble with gold+platinum test acids, but I went cheap - $25-$35. If you want to be confident in the readings, you could spend as much as 10 times what some of the cheap kits cost. I use acid on silver, went electronic on gold. I haven't had a reason to worry about platinum.

My gold tester is the Tri Electronics GT-3000. It tops out at 18K but I bought it used for $150, and never had a piece of jewelry that could fool it yet. The GT-3000 has been used (CyberDan) to test silver too, though personally I only use acid on silver.

Scales . . . For the price of 1 really nice scientific scale, you can have maybe 8 or 10 cheap Chinese pocket digital scales. And the Chinese scales are reasonably accurate, if only to the 1/10 gram. Their main problem is durability. But they are cheap enough that you don't have to sweat taking it along with you to yard sales, etc.

Good luck finding the perfect test kit. I'll be watching to see what some of the more experienced members say.

 

[boogeyman]

You can save a bunch if you buy the refill bottles of acid & a stone seperatly. Needles also. Unless you REEAALLY want the made in china wood box. Grab a magnet from a junk harddrive. A magnifier or jewlers loupe. A scale from Harbor freight & you're ready to go for under $55 If you're looking to size stones, check on the web for a chart. Print it out & either laminate it or cover both sides with 3" clear packaging tape. All this will fit in a small fanny pack or maybe even a clutch or handbag. Whether you're detecting or swap meeting you've got what you need!