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Q&As since 1989


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Wanting to salvage my scrap jewelry

I'VE GOT A BUNCH OF BROKEN AND OLD SCRAP GOLD JEWELRY, I'm looking for a quick and easy way to melt it down , yes I'd like to take out some of the impurities but getting it all cleaned up isn't a huge concern, can you direct me to a source or maybe tell me how to do it? I also intend on making a mould out of wood and pouring the gold into it to make myself a nice heavy ring, old style , lumpy with the carving marks from the wood engrained into the ring, will the gold come out with burnt wood in the ring or if I use a hard wood ,will it be okay? Any information will be helpful, would a torch work? and will the impurities surface for me to be able to scrape it off the top? As you can see I know nothing about this :)

Jason Huncar
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2003

Personally, I would go to a nearby university that has a jewelry making class. The few bucks that it will cost will give you a lot of knowledge, the proper equipment and a large amount of safety. Your proposed method may work for lower temp metals, but gold ought to set a nice fire.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

Hey, :) took a while , but I'd like to thank you for the information , it's helpful and if I didn't have so much on my mind I should have thought of that myself :)

Jason Huncar
- Toronto, Ontario
2004

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Hello and Merry Christmas I recently started melting scrap gold and making nugget style pendants and such ...all I do is to find a red brick to melt on.then I bought a plumbers torch at a local hardware store that has oxygen and MAPP gas very inexpensive! then just melt it on the brick I use a screwdriver and small pliers to manipulate.mix some boric acid [affil links] with denatured alcohol to quench it in .if it turns or stays black just reheat red! not melt and throw it back in the alcohol mixture you don't even really need the borax ...then a polishing wheel with jewelers rough and some patience....I have made some fantastic pieces don't worry about getting the exact shape... a Dremel [on eBay or Amazon] with a few bits will easily fix anything. a wire wheel is also necessary for the rough polish I have a wire wheel on one side of the grinder and buffer on the other.....remember eye protection!

Jason Hubbard
- Jensen Beach, Florida
2006

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Hello again,if you want to mold gold one way is to grind into brick or another type of rock this won't work probably for a ring unless your really good but for simple shapes such as cross,s nuggets ,circle,s ,square,s this works great and will not burn ...soapstone is easily worked good luck Jason p.s. when working hot gold better to pull it into shape then just trying to push it ..

Jason Hubbard
- Jensen Beach, Florida
2006