camp smelter

[gold tramp]

Since we do all our mining the old fashioned way all by hand with very little in the way of modern contrivance.
we make fire and smelt our gold that way. My son Gary did his first smelting this weekend and smelted some hardrock samples.
He collected the proper wood,built his smelter, made the proper fire. He did use a battery operated air pump to get air to our fire, I helped with that process and pouring the hot !
he did 2 smelts one he made nuggys the other just a bead. heres a couple pics.

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[Jason in Enid]

Yep, cheap down and dirty method but all that matters is that it works! Nice looking gold, what's the weight?

 

[gold tramp]

Yep, cheap down and dirty method but all that matters is that it works! Nice looking gold, what's the weight?

it actualy got hotter quicker than the turbo funace we use, amazing how much heat you get from hardwood, stuff weighed a little over a gram.

 

[Aufisher]

Nice work guys!

 

[G Freeman]

Gold tramp that looks great. What does a fellow need to do this smelt, what kind of wood and stuff. Would Locust or wild cherry do? And if it is in quartz rock will it work? Thanks.

 

[gold tramp]

Gold tramp that looks great. What does a fellow need to do this smelt, what kind of wood and stuff. Would Locust or wild cherry do? And if it is in quartz rock will it work? Thanks.

we use mesquite from the washes where we camp. you have to have raw gold to melt. but its the same method as any other type smelt.

 

[Sticks]

so is that just a rocket stove with air induction? Have been trying out a couple of builds at home they say you can hit 1750F . Haven't tried a smelt with it yet but I like your set up. Results speak for them selves. Could you use that to roast sulfides?

 

[gold tramp]

so is that just a rocket stove with air induction? Have been trying out a couple of builds at home they say you can hit 1750F . Haven't tried a smelt with it yet but I like your set up. Results speak for them selves. Could you use that to roast sulfides?

Its just a pile of rocks,
As for roasting thats better left for the big money guys if it has to be roasted its most likley so fine the average person couldnt even get a tail panned out.
you would have a mnt of ore to make an oz.
GT..............

 

[Duckwalk]

I used to do blacksmithing as a hobby and did some shows and things of that nature. If you want to smelt your own stuff, i recommend building a brakedrum forge. there are plans all over the internet for them. its VERY effective and can produce some EXTREMELY high temperatures. i have melted steel in a brake drum forge (by accident) while making knives. here is an example just from a quick google search.
Basic Brake drum Forge for under $40

 

[Sticks]

I checked out that brake drum forge thats cool, Thanks, where do I get coal and coke?

 

[Sticks]

Have a vein running right through camp, full of sulfides, further up the walls like 2000' is where all the Load Mines are and all claimed up. While dredging on vein I run into these little cavities in this stuff I think you would call it box works. Any way they are loaded with this white kaolin like clay and pyrites. The stuff is heavy not much stays in sluice but it drops out of sluice and stays right there. I crushed and pan tested it has heavy tail lots of fines but wont amalgamate. It behaves like AU in pan, scratchin head?

 

[Jason in Enid]

whitish fines that behave like gold but aren't gold. I have found lots of that. Another guy who prospects my area had it assayed and it came back as titanium, zircon, cromium and iron.

 

[aarthrj3811]

Just be sure there is no mercury that gets in your smelter...Art

 

[Duckwalk]

I checked out that brake drum forge thats cool, Thanks, where do I get coal and coke?

Sometimes you can walk the rail road tracks and find coal. Coke is a biproduct of burning coal. I just used to start my coal with either a balled up page of newspaper or use 2 pine cones. As long as you can get one small piece going you're golden. If there is a ren issuance fair or some type of old smitty exhibit somewhere bear ya, they can tell you where to find the coal

 

[aarthrj3811]

We used to make molds out of Red wood and pour into them...We had some good looking nuggets

 

[Sticks]

it actualy got hotter quicker than the turbo funace we use, amazing how much heat you get from hardwood, stuff weighed a little over a gram.

I have a bunch of seasoned oak bet that would hit temp. I also have a graphite crucible can I use that in fire? and just a lil more borax than raw gold. only looking to do bout a half oz. regular 20 mule team borax ok? prob way less than half oz for first try I don't want to screw it up, lol

 

[Sticks]

whitish fines that behave like gold but aren't gold. I have found lots of that. Another guy who prospects my area had it assayed and it came back as titanium, zircon, cromium and iron.

I am seeing something like that. It forms line in pan forward of the gold meaning it is heavier. We do have platinum in area but I swear this stuff showed up just in the last two yrs. Fukishima? Con trails? who knows. I thought it might be floured mercury with attached gold but one would think that would be lighter than gold showing up lower in tail. Dunno. Sorry had to clarify I am only seeing this in placer cons. the whitish fines you were ref. to are different also those are a bronze color, the clay is white with a matrix of crystals imbeded within