Melting 1/2 oz of silver?

tneig

Ordered a small crucible, holder, carbon rod, borax. With the intent of melting raw silver in 1/2 ounce increments.
Will I be able to get by with a butane hand torch? Simple pour into a small brass mold. Guess I should place over flame
too such as my campstove or any extra heat I can get.

(understand about the safety, googles, gloves, apron, no flip flops... lol)

OldEastside

Be EXTRA careful, and stay away from ANY other flamable soures
so if your campstove is propane, butane, or white gas I would
avoid it and not recomend it, as a secondary heat source, Butane
or Propane probably will not give you desired tempatures, ALLTHOUGH
And you do this at YOUR OWN RISK........I have melted Silver with
a MAPP GAS TORCH out in the open air away from ANYTHING FLAMABLE
but the results were not that desireble. as it cools very fast

RESEARCH what you are doing, and DON'T SKIP ANY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

I would not attemp this usless you know what you are doing

guitarwes

what kind of silver are you starting with and why 1/2 oz bars?

tneig

Point taken on the safety and advice. I've melted lead before on that old camp stove so i have some experience with splash and popping. Just pouring into a simple decrative mold that is slightly less than a half ounce. Will setup splash guards.
Was wondering if I could get by with the home torch and will pick up the Mapp unit.

Will break a 1oz bar into small pieces of 1/2 oz for the melt. (I know not to add to a hot melt in progress.)
(be a good time to get rid of my apmex culled Elvis bar, aah huh....)

Any issues or concerns, I'll back off. Show here when done.

mrpaseo

Don't forget about safety googles, gloves, apron, and no flip flops.

lol, sorry could not resist. Okay, my question... Why? Why are you melting Silver? When you decide to move it, how will you identify what it is? Meaning, if you were to sell it to me, how would I know what your blob is?

Just curious, I have no experience with bullion beyond the occasional AGE/ASE.

Ray

SilverBaron

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! NOT A BRASS MOLD!!

1] Molten silver ... 2200 F +/- hitting a brass mold will splatter / pop so badly .......

2] Even if you heat the brass to the point that the silver stays in the mold .... after it all cools ..... getting the bar out may be just short of impossible!


First ........ Only use graphite molds ........ they are cheap and easy to find ..... on line or even on E-Bay.

2nd ........ order a spray can of "mold release" ...... also cheap and it will extend the life of your molds greatly.


a small crucible, Perfect .......... but they do go bad ......... get a few for backup.

carbon rod.....Perfect..... The reason for a carbon/graphite is 1] the molten metal will not stick to it and 2] a metal rod would cool the melt to much and 3] it will not melt.

borax....... burnes off the slag ........ try using .999 fine silver if you can .... then there is no need for the borax.



Just a few thoughts.......

Keep on stacken!!

guitarwes

Just please be super careful with everything you do and have a backup plan in place in case something goes awry.

There are LOTS of helpful YouTube videos out there to let you know what NOT to do.

tneig

Thanks Everyone. I'll slow it down and learn a bit more first. Just tinkering during this relatively quiet time.
No profit or selling btw, just tinkering (credibility is worth everything). Brass NO - Got it.
Saw some videos on rings make from silver quarters and melting and that silver can be cold annealed(?), so becoming interested in a possible extension of the pm adventure for retirement. So maybe some home made trinkets down the road, not bullion. Doah, forgot to order the small hammer.
Besides, the wife won't let me melt her junk silver, and that "Fat-Elvis Bar" has got to go, One way or the other!

So, to keep my PM itch satisfied through lunch, got this little dandy at the pawn shop for $288:

cohodk

In a previous thread you wrote this,

"Been avoiding some raw 10oz bars, due to resale questions".


So how do you plan on selling the 1/2oz chunck of metal that look like lead? How you gonna prove to someone that it is really 1/2oz of silver. I wouldnt trade my chickens for that.

mrpaseo

<< <i>In a previous thread you wrote this,

"Been avoiding some raw 10oz bars, due to resale questions".


So how do you plan on selling the 1/2oz chunck of metal that look like lead? How you gonna prove to someone that it is really 1/2oz of silver. I wouldnt trade my chickens for that. >>




That was exactly my point. Just wondering.

Ray

Baley

this sounds like a plan to do something "for the fun of it",
you know, like surfing on the hood of a moving car, or skiing behind it with a rope and a skateboard, or jumping off the roof onto a trampoline, or zooming down a homemade zipline, etc.
Probably doesn't expect the melted metal to be market- "liquid"
lol

be careful

tneig

Yah. I meant shying away from the dull odd shaped, ruff edged, industrial type, bars, due to my experience level (and cash), and as long they have available recognizable, named bars, or ASEs. Learning on the fly, right here in PM College. I assume the sunshine bar is more well known. (never noticed them numbered before)

Yep, just for fun, and show what comes of it. Maybe use on one of my Pirate hikes. The gang loved searching for the gold painted driveway gravel, so they should love scrap silver. Likely safer to just buy one of those bags of silver pellets.

Hey, I did all those things, and more. Got the stitches/holes/broken bones to prove it.
Zipped - just hated the tree. Not the trampoline yet.. ... My wife won't let me on the roof!

Humm, silver for chickens. How much for pie?

kiyote

I've probably melted down about 7 ounces of silver in the last year. The ONE time I didn't wear safety goggles the silver splattered out of the graphite mold and just missed splashing me in the face. I've always been WAY more careful since then.

I don't melt the silver down to make bars or for resale, but for things like dog tags, keychains and gifts. I made a hefty 3-ouncer round medal commemorating my brother's dog Mika for saving his family from a fire by freaking out and barking at 3:00 am.

piecesofme

Doing this to make your own 1/2 oz bars just seems unreasonable to me for the potential trouble you could bring on yourself, but I guess a mans gotta have a hobby.