Processing your own gold

[Beach Papa]

Has anyone here tried to process their own gold?? Last week while detecting on the beach I found what I believe to be the cremation remains of a teeth of a couple of people. I have found a gold crown in the past and a gold blob probably of the same type origin of what I found the other day. The other days findings were small brown/black metal blobs. I soaked them in vinegar and salt overnight and hit them with a tooth brush. They turned a pink color and some more golden colored. My wife thinks they are junk but I think they are the cremation remains of gold teeth and silver fillings. I haven't sent any gold in to the refinery yet, and thought about processing these globs myself to confirm or deny what they really are. I have found several web sites that talk about how to refine gold, this one seems informative: 6 Ways to Refine Gold - wikiHow Of course it doesn't say where to get any of the supplies, but it is interesting. Has anyone done this themselves?? Is there a web site that is more informative and a source for the chemicals and equipment? Any suggestions short of sending it off to a refinery, which I know is the easy way to do it, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Beach Papa
One photo is one day's hunt with black uncleaned globs. The second photo is two hunts with the globs cleaned and a gold crown added for scale.

 

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[CASPER-2]

Don't think the teeth thing going over big here

 

[dustytrails123]

Don't think the teeth thing going over big here View attachment 955163

Yeh pretty creepy lol

 

[Beach Papa]

Well, may seem creepy, however, there were no cremation tags associated with the finds so I can only assume that cremation is the source of the globs. I am sure I have seen where others have found gold crowns and grills and not thrown them back. I am not even certain the globs are gold or are really cremation remains, which is why I asked the original question regarding if anyone has tried to process their own gold. I appreciate those who have responded, even if it was just to express their "creepy" concern. Happy hunting and if they start making cremation tags out of gold, make sure you throw them back......

 

[dustytrails123]

You can go onto youtube and learn how to do this in your back yard...theres many ways to do this id suggest just a simple acid test on the corroded items just to see if there silver or gold or nothing at all before getting into refinement ...you can buy a simple kit on ebay to test silver and gold or even platinum

 

[Beach Papa]

You can go onto youtube and learn how to do this in your back yard...theres many ways to do this id suggest just a simple acid test on the corroded items just to see if there silver or gold or nothing at all before getting into refinement ...you can buy a simple kit on ebay to test silver and gold or even platinum

Thanks for the response. I have tested the globs with an acid kit. They test positive for 10k. Unfortunately, I have tested copper wire that has also tested positive for 10k. I am not sure if I have a bad acid test kit or if testing for gold less than 14k is not 100% accurate. In the original post I included a link to an informative web site that gives a refining process, although I know there are several different possible methods. Not sure this method is the best. Perhaps no one on the site has tried to process gold themselves.

 

[lookindown]

I found two or three pieces like that last Summer at Jetty Park...I don't think mine are gold.

 

[WaterWalker]

Doing a specific gravity test will tell the type of metal you have. Weigh the blog in the air, weight it in water, divide the difference into the air weight and you will have the SG. Look the SG up on the internet - you have it nailed.
You MUST use a gram scale that can read to .01 or .001 grams. I have tables for different metals if you need it
You will have to hang the blob off a gallows to get the in the air weight then with it hanging bring a container of water up and cover the blog to get the in water weight...the gallows must be tared out before putting the blog on the gallows.
Sorry I do not have a photo...maybe next time.

METAL	S.G.		METAL	S.G.
Gold - 24K	19.32		Silver – pure	10.50
- 22K	17.7 to 17.8		Sterling - 925	10.2 to 10.3
Yellow -18K	15.2 to 15.9		Platinum	21.45
White -18K	14.7 to 16.9		Platinum – 950	20.1
-14K	12.9 to 14.6		Palladium	12.0
-10K	11.5 to 11.8		Copper	8.93
- 9K	10.9 to 12.7		Bronze	8.82
Stainless Steel	7.81		Brass	8.52

 

[YumaMarc]

Has anyone here tried to process their own gold?? Last week while detecting on the beach I found what I believe to be the cremation remains of a teeth of a couple of people. I have found a gold crown in the past and a gold blob probably of the same type origin of what I found the other day. The other days findings were small brown/black metal blobs. I soaked them in vinegar and salt overnight and hit them with a tooth brush. They turned a pink color and some more golden colored. My wife thinks they are junk but I think they are the cremation remains of gold teeth and silver fillings. I haven't sent any gold in to the refinery yet, and thought about processing these globs myself to confirm or deny what they really are. I have found several web sites that talk about how to refine gold, this one seems informative: 6 Ways to Refine Gold - wikiHow Of course it doesn't say where to get any of the supplies, but it is interesting. Has anyone done this themselves?? Is there a web site that is more informative and a source for the chemicals and equipment? Any suggestions short of sending it off to a refinery, which I know is the easy way to do it, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Beach Papa View attachment 955111 View attachment 955112 One photo is one day's hunt with black uncleaned globs. The second photo is two hunts with the globs cleaned and a gold crown added for scale.

I worked as a gold refiner and assayer most of my life, so the procedures in the website are familiar. Gold is 100% reducible by heat alone, so the first procedure is viable if you want to get all the gold out but are not concerned as to what karat the the resulting metal is. You would need a crucible, some borax glass, soda ash, and maybe a little nitre. Also, you'll need a heat source, but I wouldn't trust a torch to heat a crucible with flux. Anything that will heat evenly to 2000 degrees F will do if enclosed so you have a reducing atmosphere. All the gunk will go into the slag, and the gold will remain as a button in the bottom of the crucible, or whatever you may pour it into. I wouldn't touch the chemical thing at home. That's a recipe for disaster! Even using all the required safety precautions of MSHA, I can show you numerous nitric acid scars.

 

[mnruxpin]

ha, how freakin cool is that! good info probly a lot more accurate than acid tests

Doing a specific gravity test will tell the type of metal you have. Weigh the blog in the air, weight it in water, divide the difference into the air weight and you will have the SG. Look the SG up on the internet - you have it nailed.
You MUST use a gram scale that can read to .01 or .001 grams. I have tables for different metals if you need it
You will have to hang the blob off a gallows to get the in the air weight then with it hanging bring a container of water up and cover the blog to get the in water weight...the gallows must be tared out before putting the blog on the gallows.
Sorry I do not have a photo...maybe next time.

METAL	S.G.		METAL	S.G.
Gold - 24K	19.32		Silver – pure	10.50
- 22K	17.7 to 17.8		Sterling - 925	10.2 to 10.3
Yellow -18K	15.2 to 15.9		Platinum	21.45
White -18K	14.7 to 16.9		Platinum – 950	20.1
-14K	12.9 to 14.6		Palladium	12.0
-10K	11.5 to 11.8		Copper	8.93
- 9K	10.9 to 12.7		Bronze	8.82
Stainless Steel	7.81		Brass	8.52

 

[Beach Papa]

OK. good information. I will start with trying to do a specific gravity test and see what comes from there. thanks for the input. Beach Papa

 

[WaterWalker]

Specific Gravity picture

Here is a picture of the Gallows and how to hang a ring. The pill bottle is used to weigh the ring in water. You can see there is enough room to put the bottle when filled with water under the ring and then raise it up until the ring is under water. At that time take the scale's reading, subtract it from the weight in air. Divide into the weight in air and the results is the Specific Gravity. This should answer a lot of questions. If not, just ask...Oh yes, try not to spill water onto the scale.

 

[YumaMarc]

Here is a picture of the Gallows and how to hang a ring. The pill bottle is used to weigh the ring in water. You can see there is enough room to put the bottle when filled with water under the ring and then raise it up until the ring is under water. At that time take the scale's reading, subtract it from the weight in air. Divide into the weight in air and the results is the Specific Gravity. This should answer a lot of questions. If not, just ask...Oh yes, try not to spill water onto the scale.

Well done!! So simple I would never have thought of that!

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I've melted a suspected counterfeit "CA gold" coin with MAPP gas to see if it was real. It wasn't, so I guess I cant say that ive ever melted gold before.

As to the teethand their origin, gold is gold. Youre not hurting anybody.