I've said it before, but it bears repeating. It's very generous of you to openly share your insights, methods, etc with us all. So many others seem to hold onto what they think is proprietary and their's alone, disregarding the education and passing along of knowledge. Along with your interesting and entertaining refining videos, they all make fir GREAT content. Keep it up and thank you. 👍
its information like this and people like this i feel is what youtube at its heart is. why i started watching youtube and why i still come here everyday. its the best library.
I cannot thank you enough for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us. After watching this 10 times I finally felt like I was ready to build my own. I’m an IT professional and work in film and television, not a chemist. You explain everything so clearly and explain the reasons behind your decisions. I’m happy to say my silver cell is up and running. I made a few modifications that may help with uniform crystal growth in the bowl to help others. Just use a copper strap around the entirety of the bowl. It’s not much more expensive. The silver crystal grows concentrically around the bowl at roughly the same rate. Keeps it off the center anode basket longer. Just wanted to share my findings as you do freely.
You could, but I don’t think it would make a big difference. Copper is 100 on the conductivity rating scale. Silver is 105 (the highest of all metals). Gold is down around 70.
Welcome back my mentor, ive already built mine using your design and got 1.6 kilos of Silvet Crystal after 10 days, all thanks to what I have learned from you
@@dalspaugh748 I believe you can use stuff like sterling silver, and other metal with amounts of silver in it. I'm learning to so if anyone knows better, correct me.
Great video, I have built several cells according to your design, and purify copper. I get about 750g per week from each one. I use old computer power supplies, because I have many laying around. I refine copper and melt it for material to use to forge hand made items. Thanks for all the great sharing.
I add impure silver from my gold refining to the anode basket on top of the silver cell and pass current through it. The silver dissolves, pass thru the filter, and deposits on the inside of the stainless steel bowl (the cathode).
@Larry If I just read your comment correctly you use this "silver cell " to purify copper? If that is correct. Did you make any modifications to the design or is it exactly like his setup? If I misunderstood my apologies.
This refining process is extremely interesting. I recently discovered copper ore, with gold and silver being secondary metals and I have since been interested in how exactly metals are separated from ore. Very cool🤙
I love these videos. As a visual learner , thank you for taking the xtra time of producing this content. I restore vintage mechanical watches , cases, offer plating services, import gemstones and make my own jewelry thru lost wax casting. I own full casting, metalsmith, watchmaker studio. Self taught off of industry standards, principles and methods. Everything you show is a part of the trade I want to develop. I think the first process I want to start is making silver electrolyte. I have everything in here to make the silver cell. Nice constellation by the way. I specialize in vintage omega. I over haul , restore around 12-20 per year.
Holy smokes, thanks for letting us all know how to make such beautiful crystals like you do. Such a detailed vid you gave us all. Much appreciated man!
Master, you opened my eyes of how much I waste just for the Gold process, You taught me within my gold feline, the silver waste, actually covers the shipping cost. You R so Awesome
Thanks for making these videos. I've only scratched the surface of what you've uploaded, but you've clearly put a lot of work into these videos. 15 or 20 years ago, a resource like your video catalogue would seem unimaginable outside of a university classroom or an apprenticeship.
I only wish that videos like mine were available twelve years ago when I first started refining. There bits and pieces and critical details were left out. Then referred you to a web site for a fee to get the rest of the process.
Hi just want to say I ran across one of your videos yesterday and I'm seeing how to make the silver cell today on a separate video. I am so intrigued with this. I am definitely going to do this. I've never done nothing like this. Before but you make it look somewhat simple. Bless you for sharing this information with the world.
Great video. I love learning about precious metal refining at home. I would love to see how you handle your waste and how you dispose of the end waste solutions in one video. Keep up the good work.❤
@@sreetips this is so cool! This was just recommended to me and for once UA-cam did well and I’m fascinated as I have a ton of old busted sterling jewelry I’ve been laughing around… My elderly mom has been pestering me about finding something to do with her 3 sets of sterling 12-setting flatware. Kind of thinking instead of taking a beating at a local metal place, maybe I should try melting and refining using your method…? As this is the first video of yours I’ve watched, I need to watch a few more but wow- thanks for sharing this!! (I need another hobby like a new hole in my head😂). Fascinating!!
Sree my friend you give me hope. I'm in a very bad situation in my life. But brother you have given me hope that I can do this and actually get by. Thank you for your lesson and thank you for educating me. You sir are a great man and I thank you for giving me hope
I was just talking to my wife about doing this. Keep up the great content Senior Chief. And any 300 series stainless is non magnetic, but the 400 series is always magnetic.
Hi, Most folks don't know there are 2 types of stainless steel. One like this and a magnetic type that really isn't stainless at all. They achieve stainless on the addition of nickel and or other white metals in the mix with high carbon steels. This is a great setup. Little time and resorses aside from the power supply to invest in. Ever since meeting you I have wanted to build one of these systems as I create a lot of super fine filings contaminated with a file treatment called "Burr Life" produced by Rio Grande down there in LA. I have accumulated a couple pounds of it over the 6 or 7 years I have been saving it. Not really enough to justify making a system like this but who knows, a possibility in the future eh. If I remember I can send it to you for refining for a cut of the procedes ? Thanks as always. Top notch work here this fine day old friend !
Hi MR sreetips thank you for the greatly detailed educational videos on recovery and refining metals it is a blessing to have this knowledge for personal use. Me personally I’m a new novice and was told in the past that this hobby wasn’t worth it. your videos helped tremendously to prove those acquisitions was wrong. Thank you for serving our country sreetips.
I'm honestly interested in the silver cement powder set up you made. Could you do a video going over that? Also thank you for the knowledge. What is pure silver good for exactly? Coins and value? I'm sure jewelery and tableware need to have other elements added to make it more stable or harder
Glad you found his channel/knowledge. Been doing this since 91 and started growing diamonds a few yrs. ago.(excellent quality). Enjoy your new found hobby and best wishes
The most relaxing videos, if you added ASMR to the title I am sure you would have way more subscribers which of course you do deserve at least 51 million
@@GokouZWAR weirdos that watch videos. Sometimes they watch them over and over. Which is all UA-camrs really care about at the end of day. Number of views, number of minutes. Number of ads watched. $$$
Have you thought about why the silver crystalizes on the cathode? I just think its cool but my guess is that it due to the direction the electrons travel. Our convention is to think of current as flowing from positive to negative but electrons actually flow negative to positive. So, the electrons are entering the electrolyte from the surface of the cathode. The moment they enter the electrolyte, they meet a silver ion. The moment that silver ion accepts an electron, it falls out of solution and since all this is happening in proximity to the cathode surface, which includes the surface of the silver crystals that have already formed, that silver atom falls right into place within the lattice of a silver crystal! 🎉 If I misunderstand anything about this someone please correct me!
Pure silver bars or coins can be used. Cement silver is not recommended. But I think I used it once to get started. Then save out some crystal from each batch for the next refining.
I think this is very important and interesting content... especially in the economy we are all in right now and I thank you for sharing your experience and procedures with us.. God bless you
Most people are clueless about gold and silver. They (gold and silver) are real money. But Americans have been conditioned to believe that paper is more valuable. But I think a paradigm shift is coming. Once folks begin to realize that their hard-earned “money” is becoming worthless. And that all their valuations are based on a mountain of debt - they can never be repaid.
I’ve been meaning to ask you, why not use the nearly pure powder silver instead of pure silver in the electrolyte to increase the usage of the impure silver in the system? You seem to have an abundance of that silver. Couldn’t you use nitric acid to dissolve the silver powder for the electrolyte instead of the pure silver Crystal you could be melting down and selling for high profit?
First, I don’t want to sell any silver with the price so grossly and artificially under valued. I keep the silver that I refine. Put it away and forget about it. Silver is not an investment. It’s a store of value and will conserve and protect my purchasing power. Storing wealth in paper dollars is a bad idea. Because they can print dollars “without limit” but they can’t print more silver. As far as using cement silver for the electrolyte, it’s not recommended because it could introduce contamination into the silver cell. I think I used it once when I first got started. But after that I always use pure silver to make the electrolyte. It’s the way I learned it. I’m getting excellent results with this method.
@@sreetips so are you saying you can make silver? I mean if I just had a little bit of silver I can make a bunch more silver out of it. And if that is the case wouldn't it drive the price down.
No, you cannot make more silver from a little silver. That is nonsensical. Silver is an element. However, you CAN purify silver to 999+ and make it investment grade, which is what our gracious host appears to be doing.
Sreetips, I was driving to Walmart earlier today and was thinking... My 7y.o. son is home from school for spring break and would like to attempt to put metals in and out of solution. Do you have any videos you recommend in your catalog that I could do with my son? Ideally, if you had some YT shorts or any video(s), I could follow along, he could watch from afar, would be great! I have done enough experiments in college to keep him and I safe at a small scale I would work with. I have a few laptops laying around some silver dollars. Anything I could do would be great, my son would absolutely be interested in this. It can be anything as simple as putting a penny in some HCl in a mason jar and tossing some zinc in there to cement it out (I dont know if that would even work). Sorry if this doesnt make sense, half asleep and been meaning to ask you this.
I think that dissolving a 90% silver dime in a test tube with nitric, then adding a piece of copper wire and watching the silver cement out right before your eyes is an awesome reaction to see. It’s seeing that reaction that got me hooked on refining almost 13 years ago. Back then I was able to order a liter of 68% reagent grade nitric acid for a hundred bucks. Can’t imagine what it costs now. The fumes are very bad for human lungs. So the reaction must be done outdoors or in a fume hood. Nitric fumes will cause cramps in your muscles days or weeks after inhaling concentrated levels of those fumes. Nitric fumes also dissolve tooth enamel.
I remember my old high school chemistry teacher, Mr Thomas and all these type of experiments. Then going to metals shop to work the small foundry and pour aluminum. Our little town that I grew up in was near Waterloo, IA and with a large John Deere factory there, it was a good starting point in my education. Thanks for bringing it full cycle!!!
@@sreetips My wife and I have raised our three boys here in Cedar Rapids. Thank you again, as your sharing of these processes will allow us to come out of truly difficult times.
@@sreetips I graduated from Jesup, east of Waterloo. The boys all from Marion HS. The youngest with a 4.25 GPA will graduate from CO School of Mines next December with two bachelors and a minor in public affairs. Cedar Rapids was the “big city” to me as a kid. I’m back in IA, having lived in So Cal and brought my CA wife kicking and screaming here. She loves it here and doesn’t miss CA for anything.
10:20 The proper term for this is not filter, it’s diaphragm. This is because it’s not meant to preferentially stop passage of anything. All it does is slow down diffusion so that the solution around the anode can have a somewhat different composition than around the solution outside touching the cathode. This increases efficiency, because you want the cathode solution to be rich in silver ions and the anode area to be depleted in silver ions, and the conduction of the silver ions can be slow compared to their diffusion rate, which has a random direction, and you want to make the silver ions go from anode to cathode, not randomly. So the diaphragm limits diffusion and doesn’t slow down conduction much, and thus it selects for the conduction that you want.
Really great videos man. I had to watch a couple of your videos to understand that you’re recovering silver in a pure form from silver you previously held in an impure form. Many years ago when I was in college I worked in the darkroom in radiology at the local hospital. The solution we used to develop the films with was loaded with silver from the film. A company would come pick up our old solution every month to get rid of the “hazardous waste”. Even the silver from old films in the patients radiology records were recovered after being inactive for a time. I don’t think they X-rays use films that much anymore except for the portable X-rays and maybe dental X-rays.
I get my silver from local sales. When someone dies, the heirs want to immediately sell the sterling silver and get paid in paper dollars. They actually believe, incorrectly, that paper dollars are more valuable than the silver. And with silver price so grossly and artificially undervalued, we can buy real silver with fake paper dollars (fiat money that can be printed out of thin air). It’s a silver buyers paradise out there right now, for those who know when, where, and what to look for.
I watched this video back-to-back but still cannot figure out how to make the solutions how you make it I don't want to do it wrong and waist money (the cement silver solution stuff) and how do you get the pure silver bar connected to the 10-gauge wire? thank you.
I love the way you explained things. Most people, when they dominate a topic they talk like every once knows what you're talking about. You explained slowly, real teaching skills. 🎉 Thanks 🙏
Good day, I wonder is it possible to go to a local garage market buy like 500g silver spoons, then structure all whats needed to grow sil er and make Moore silver and sell it when it is a big brick? 😅
I buy sterling at local sales. I refine gold. I use sterling silver to refine the scrap gold. I recover the silver from that, melt into shot, and run it through my silver cell. The cell converts the impure silver (about 980 parts per thousand silver) to high purity four nines fine (9999 parts per ten thousand) pure elemental silver metal. The impure silver is added to the anode basket. The anode basket is suspended in the silver nitrate electrolyte. I pass an electric current through the impure silver. The silver dissolves, passes through the Dacron filter, travels through the silver nitrate electrolyte, and deposits on the stainless steel bowl (the cathode). The bowl is connected to the negative pole of the power supply. The process only deposits pure silver on the cathode. So I’m refining the impure silver, into high purity silver. When it’s full, I harvest the pure silver crystal. Then I repeat the whole thing again.
@@sreetips my other account is subed for quite some time now. Been interested in smelting for longer, found u by trying to find basic charcoal forges. Always good content even the old vids.
Very amazing. And very well taught on what to do. I'm afraid myself that I will probably not ever try this because of chemicals involved, but none the least, you are awesome and you should have been buddies with Mr. Rogers. He would have loved you in his show. Kids would have come out the woodwork to watch creativity like this. Subbed for sure brother. And yes I'm a silver Stacker.
At 22:14 when the distilled water is added, there should have been a caveat to not use tap water at this point, since any chlorine in the tap water will instantly precipitate silver out of the electrolyte.
So let me get this straight at 12:30 you described inquarted gold. Which is like an alloy of gold and silver. You take this alloy and dissolve it in nitric acid to produce the silver solution? I’d like to see that part
I know you want the electrolyte and the distilled water to be well stirred. Have you ever considered adding one of your airlines into the silver cell and bubble away stirring the solution?
I got a “D” in the only chemistry class I ever took in my whole life fifty years ago in high school. You don’t have to be a chemist to refine precious metals. But it sure doesn’t hurt.
Thank you but I guess I need to know how do I get the cement silver so I can begin this process? I'm in the Seattle, Tacoma area,, in case that helps to give me some idea where I can get whatever I need. Again thank you 😊
Can you do the same method with silver scrap from jewelry? i mean , put in to the basket pieces of old jewelry that doesnt come from another refination, for example a silver ring ?
So i venture to ask if one were to start this process, after a cycle of growth could you not use the crystalline silver in the anode basket to do a repeat of the cycle? this is new to me and i find if fascinating!
Yes, and I did that once. The ICP assay came back greater than five nines fine. That’s 99,999 parts per one hundred thousand pure silver. For every one hundred thousand atoms, only one wasn’t silver.
I have a blob bar of mostly 925 silver but it sems that some of the material I added was plated I am now trying to figure out what is the best way to try again. I have a Tabletop furnace with a 120oz crucible.
There’s something primal about molten metal. Can’t resist the urge to “melt it down.” The only problem is that melting ruins the markings. Without the markings the purity, and therefore the value, becomes questionable. If it were mine I’d dissolve in hot dilute nitric, filter out any solids (could be a problem depending on if there’s any tin in there) then cement out the silver on copper. That’s what I’d do if it were mine.
Making silver nitrate the chemical agent decene air vapors are explosive 114° f. Is that under compression or open air. I wanna try cook out carbon in beaker but i dont want it to explode. The explosion proof evaporator might cook out carbon idk
Question is it equal exchange in that the weight of silver going in is the weight coming out? Or are you "Making" silver. Sorry if this question is dumb, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.
I only get out what I’m putting in less impurities. It seems valid that wealth can be conjured into existence. Because that’s what central banks do. But we can’t conjure silver into existence out of thin air. And that’s why silver is rising in value, and paper dollars are declining in value.
@sreetips ok, I thought it was something akin to the way Gold can be "created" by using lead and particle accelerator. I thought maybe it was due to a reaction between copper, silver, and electricity. Still extremely interesting, and I'll probably be doing this one I move into my house on the 20th. Thanks for the response, and for the awesome videos!!
As far as I know, the only place where the temperatures and pressures are high enough to cause protons to fuse into new heavier elements is inside a collapsing super massive star - a super nova.
Though when you do process the sterling into pure 999 silver, then poured into bars or coins and numbered. You can then get an Assay company to test, mark and supply paperwork to purity, though I would only do this for a very large quantity due to costs.
Im curious... I didn't see an explanation of costs to run such an operation, from acquisition of raw materials and operation costs. I am assuming this vets out to being cheaper than just buying silver bars, etc... But, by how much? and how much silver would one need to mine like this to recover the startup costs?
I buy sterling silver at estate sales. I use it to refine gold. I recover the silver and then run it through my silver cell. I don’t keep track of costs, profits, income from each batch. I just buy it and refine it. My pay is in high purity silver metal.
@@sreetips Thank you for the reply and I appreciate your candor. I find this very interesting, (just wish you had a better / clearer result to gage ROI for the effort). Best of luck to you and thanks again.
Thank you for your remote mentorship. I've gone through Hokes literature as you recommended. Definitely the Old Testament on Precious metal refining. One question in dealing with waste stream. After transferring out from my Iron tank, I correct the pH to 7-9 to precipitate all the metals. The sludge just sits in my jumbo urn filters draining very little fluid. Can I drop the pH to 6.5-7.2 after precipitation before filtering to ease the process without causing the precipitate to impregnate the solution? If not, what do you do? I'm uncomfortable disposing of the gelatinous filtrate in my solid waste stream. Should I just wait it out to completely desiccate it or am I just being overly cautious?
I add pH decreaser to pH 7, filter out any solids, then add to the waste drain. For the iron hydroxide solids, I like to wait until they are a moist cake before disposal. The dryer the better.
So help me understand, are you yielding more silver than you use, or simply turning existing amount of silver into same amount of higher quality silver, or losing some silver as the cost of refining?
I use 150g of pure silver per liter of electrolyte. So 3.5 liters times 150g equals 525g for my small 3.5 liter silver cell. Some of that gets depleted as the cell operates, it plates out in the cathode as high purity silver crystal. As for the yield: I can expect to harvest 980g of silver crystal for every kilo of 98% impure silver shot that I add into the anode filter basket.
Only at filter construction part but I feel like despite I'm not sure what the end result is going to be but you could have made 3 or 4 filters out of the one you cut off no?
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I've said it before, but it bears repeating. It's very generous of you to openly share your insights, methods, etc with us all. So many others seem to hold onto what they think is proprietary and their's alone, disregarding the education and passing along of knowledge. Along with your interesting and entertaining refining videos, they all make fir GREAT content. Keep it up and thank you. 👍
💪🙌👏
its information like this and people like this i feel is what youtube at its heart is. why i started watching youtube and why i still come here everyday. its the best library.
@@meatynomnoms Amen!
A man en. My sentiments exactly. Snd having a background of the areas of technology you are delving I can validate your intel. Thanks. Dandahermit.
Well said 👏
I cannot thank you enough for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us. After watching this 10 times I finally felt like I was ready to build my own. I’m an IT professional and work in film and television, not a chemist. You explain everything so clearly and explain the reasons behind your decisions. I’m happy to say my silver cell is up and running. I made a few modifications that may help with uniform crystal growth in the bowl to help others. Just use a copper strap around the entirety of the bowl. It’s not much more expensive. The silver crystal grows concentrically around the bowl at roughly the same rate. Keeps it off the center anode basket longer. Just wanted to share my findings as you do freely.
Copper is second only to silver as the best conductor of electricity.
@@sreetipshence, instead of building the strap with copper, use silver?
You could, but I don’t think it would make a big difference. Copper is 100 on the conductivity rating scale. Silver is 105 (the highest of all metals). Gold is down around 70.
Welcome back my mentor, ive already built mine using your design and got 1.6 kilos of Silvet Crystal after 10 days, all thanks to what I have learned from you
Excellent - congrats!
Wow! 😮
@@sreetips if I’m just starting out what can I use as a non pure silver to make the electrolyte solution?
Does the silver cell generate more silver crystals than what is put into making it ? What is the ratio of silver used to what can be generated?
@@dalspaugh748 I believe you can use stuff like sterling silver, and other metal with amounts of silver in it. I'm learning to so if anyone knows better, correct me.
Great video, I have built several cells according to your design, and purify copper. I get about 750g per week from each one. I use old computer power supplies, because I have many laying around. I refine copper and melt it for material to use to forge hand made items. Thanks for all the great sharing.
Excellent!
Question: can you turn silver cells into actual silver?
I add impure silver from my gold refining to the anode basket on top of the silver cell and pass current through it. The silver dissolves, pass thru the filter, and deposits on the inside of the stainless steel bowl (the cathode).
What all do I need to gather to make silver
@Larry If I just read your comment correctly you use this "silver cell " to purify copper? If that is correct. Did you make any modifications to the design or is it exactly like his setup? If I misunderstood my apologies.
This refining process is extremely interesting. I recently discovered copper ore, with gold and silver being secondary metals and I have since been interested in how exactly metals are separated from ore. Very cool🤙
It looks very easy
I love these videos. As a visual learner , thank you for taking the xtra time of producing this content. I restore vintage mechanical watches , cases, offer plating services, import gemstones and make my own jewelry thru lost wax casting. I own full casting, metalsmith, watchmaker studio. Self taught off of industry standards, principles and methods. Everything you show is a part of the trade I want to develop. I think the first process I want to start is making silver electrolyte. I have everything in here to make the silver cell.
Nice constellation by the way. I specialize in vintage omega. I over haul , restore around 12-20 per year.
I’m the same way - all self-taught with with help from some professional refiners on the goldrefiningforum.com
What’s your company name?
A true modern day alchemist. Thank you for sharing this knowledge.
Holy smokes, thanks for letting us all know how to make such beautiful crystals like you do. Such a detailed vid you gave us all. Much appreciated man!
Master, you opened my eyes of how much I waste just for the Gold process, You taught me within my gold feline, the silver waste, actually covers the shipping cost. You R so Awesome
Thanks for making these videos. I've only scratched the surface of what you've uploaded, but you've clearly put a lot of work into these videos. 15 or 20 years ago, a resource like your video catalogue would seem unimaginable outside of a university classroom or an apprenticeship.
I only wish that videos like mine were available twelve years ago when I first started refining. There bits and pieces and critical details were left out. Then referred you to a web site for a fee to get the rest of the process.
@@sreetipsthis knowledge is a true blessing. I can't believe you share it without expecting anything in return. It's very inspiring.
Very generous and accurate explanations.
Thanks a lot to share your knowledges and experiences.
Hi just want to say I ran across one of your videos yesterday and I'm seeing how to make the silver cell today on a separate video. I am so intrigued with this. I am definitely going to do this. I've never done nothing like this. Before but you make it look somewhat simple. Bless you for sharing this information with the world.
Great video. I love learning about precious metal refining at home. I would love to see how you handle your waste and how you dispose of the end waste solutions in one video. Keep up the good work.❤
Yes I also would love to see your process of reclaiming what is leftover in those solutions
Waste treatment, videos are posted on my channel.
@@sreetips this is so cool!
This was just recommended to me and for once UA-cam did well and I’m fascinated as I have a ton of old busted sterling jewelry I’ve been laughing around…
My elderly mom has been pestering me about finding something to do with her 3 sets of sterling 12-setting flatware.
Kind of thinking instead of taking a beating at a local metal place, maybe I should try melting and refining using your method…?
As this is the first video of yours I’ve watched, I need to watch a few more but wow- thanks for sharing this!! (I need another hobby like a new hole in my head😂).
Fascinating!!
Answer: With aboslute perfection.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and well done for answering the same questions over and over without freaking out! 👏🏻
Thank you
Fascinating to see you make the silver cell and these silver crystals are so pretty. 👍
Sree my friend you give me hope. I'm in a very bad situation in my life. But brother you have given me hope that I can do this and actually get by. Thank you for your lesson and thank you for educating me. You sir are a great man and I thank you for giving me hope
I was just talking to my wife about doing this. Keep up the great content Senior Chief. And any 300 series stainless is non magnetic, but the 400 series is always magnetic.
304 stainless steel
Good to know
ive seen your channel before but never appreciated it. Just subbed because of your demeanor and willingness to share knowledge.
Thank you, welcome to my channel!
Hi, Most folks don't know there are 2 types of stainless steel. One like this and a magnetic type that really isn't stainless at all. They achieve stainless on the addition of nickel and or other white metals in the mix with high carbon steels. This is a great setup. Little time and resorses aside from the power supply to invest in. Ever since meeting you I have wanted to build one of these systems as I create a lot of super fine filings contaminated with a file treatment called "Burr Life" produced by Rio Grande down there in LA. I have accumulated a couple pounds of it over the 6 or 7 years I have been saving it. Not really enough to justify making a system like this but who knows, a possibility in the future eh. If I remember I can send it to you for refining for a cut of the procedes ? Thanks as always. Top notch work here this fine day old friend !
Thanks for the video Sreetips. Silver refining videos are my favorite for some reason more steps I guess is what I like about it. Thanks again sir.
Good to see you. I gotta say I'd been hoping to see another one of your awesome videos soon.
You didn't disappoint 🙌
Thank you 😊
APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AND DEDICATION TO TEACH US ABOUT THIS ALCHEMY, VERY INTERESTING 😊 SHALOM FROM LAWRENCEBURG KENTUCKY
Hello Lawrence KY!
Hi MR sreetips thank you for the greatly detailed educational videos on recovery and refining metals it is a blessing to have this knowledge for personal use. Me personally I’m a new novice and was told in the past that this hobby wasn’t worth it. your videos helped tremendously to prove those acquisitions was wrong. Thank you for serving our country sreetips.
Thank you!
Excellent techniques: reminds me of my very first job as a trainee analytical chemist in 1966! Great video! Cheers from Down Under.
Excellent video. Very easy to understand and to practice.
Hello Mrs and Mr sreetips. I enjoy this clip. Thank you.
I whis you a great day, and god bless you. Thanks for the passion you share whit us. Arne
I'm honestly interested in the silver cement powder set up you made. Could you do a video going over that? Also thank you for the knowledge. What is pure silver good for exactly? Coins and value? I'm sure jewelery and tableware need to have other elements added to make it more stable or harder
I use sterling silver to refine gold. Then I recover the silver, melt into shot, and run it through my silver cell.
Crazy isn't it. He has like 60k worth of silver powder, as a byproduct. I love it.
Wow, I just ran across your channel and I am blown away at what it takes to "create" precious metals, thanks for sharing.
Welcome!
Glad you found his channel/knowledge. Been doing this since 91 and started growing diamonds a few yrs. ago.(excellent quality). Enjoy your new found hobby and best wishes
The most relaxing videos, if you added ASMR to the title I am sure you would have way more subscribers which of course you do deserve at least 51 million
I agree 100!!!!
Meh he’d get all the weirdos… lol
@@GokouZWAR weirdos that watch videos. Sometimes they watch them over and over. Which is all UA-camrs really care about at the end of day. Number of views, number of minutes. Number of ads watched. $$$
Thanks for a well spoken and easy to understand and formative video.
Have you thought about why the silver crystalizes on the cathode?
I just think its cool but my guess is that it due to the direction the electrons travel. Our convention is to think of current as flowing from positive to negative but electrons actually flow negative to positive. So, the electrons are entering the electrolyte from the surface of the cathode. The moment they enter the electrolyte, they meet a silver ion. The moment that silver ion accepts an electron, it falls out of solution and since all this is happening in proximity to the cathode surface, which includes the surface of the silver crystals that have already formed, that silver atom falls right into place within the lattice of a silver crystal! 🎉
If I misunderstand anything about this someone please correct me!
Thank you Sreetips! Your videos are invaluable. Id love to be able to do the things you show on here.
How do you make your electrolyte if you don't have pure silver crystals?
Start with pure silver mint coins or bars
@@JoelHirtle Or start with the silver cement, it is already 98% pure, will just take a bit longer to get it really pure.
Pure silver bars or coins can be used. Cement silver is not recommended. But I think I used it once to get started. Then save out some crystal from each batch for the next refining.
This is something I will never do. But I will watch it and find it interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Cristaline silver sold on the market increased 5000% in 2023, all seems to relate to sreetips teaching the masses how to electrolyse silver.
I just need to find a good source for the sliver cement. I'd like to only sticking to refining sliver.
I think this is very important and interesting content... especially in the economy we are all in right now and I thank you for sharing your experience and procedures with us.. God bless you
Most people are clueless about gold and silver. They (gold and silver) are real money. But Americans have been conditioned to believe that paper is more valuable. But I think a paradigm shift is coming. Once folks begin to realize that their hard-earned “money” is becoming worthless. And that all their valuations are based on a mountain of debt - they can never be repaid.
@@sreetips yup.. I have been trying to tell my friends and family that very same thing
I’ve tried. Their minds are made up and they don’t want to be bothered by the truth.
I’ve been meaning to ask you, why not use the nearly pure powder silver instead of pure silver in the electrolyte to increase the usage of the impure silver in the system? You seem to have an abundance of that silver. Couldn’t you use nitric acid to dissolve the silver powder for the electrolyte instead of the pure silver Crystal you could be melting down and selling for high profit?
First, I don’t want to sell any silver with the price so grossly and artificially under valued. I keep the silver that I refine. Put it away and forget about it. Silver is not an investment. It’s a store of value and will conserve and protect my purchasing power. Storing wealth in paper dollars is a bad idea. Because they can print dollars “without limit” but they can’t print more silver. As far as using cement silver for the electrolyte, it’s not recommended because it could introduce contamination into the silver cell. I think I used it once when I first got started. But after that I always use pure silver to make the electrolyte. It’s the way I learned it. I’m getting excellent results with this method.
@@sreetips so are you saying you can make silver?
I mean if I just had a little bit of silver I can make a bunch more silver out of it.
And if that is the case wouldn't it drive the price down.
No, you cannot make more silver from a little silver. That is nonsensical. Silver is an element. However, you CAN purify silver to 999+ and make it investment grade, which is what our gracious host appears to be doing.
@@8d4o0c4 thank you I apologize for sounding ignorant I just do not know about that.
No, I’m refining the impure silver.
I am learning so much from you, you’re a great teacher and I was hoping to learn the entire process!
Sreetips, I was driving to Walmart earlier today and was thinking... My 7y.o. son is home from school for spring break and would like to attempt to put metals in and out of solution. Do you have any videos you recommend in your catalog that I could do with my son?
Ideally, if you had some YT shorts or any video(s), I could follow along, he could watch from afar, would be great!
I have done enough experiments in college to keep him and I safe at a small scale I would work with.
I have a few laptops laying around some silver dollars. Anything I could do would be great, my son would absolutely be interested in this.
It can be anything as simple as putting a penny in some HCl in a mason jar and tossing some zinc in there to cement it out (I dont know if that would even work).
Sorry if this doesnt make sense, half asleep and been meaning to ask you this.
I think that dissolving a 90% silver dime in a test tube with nitric, then adding a piece of copper wire and watching the silver cement out right before your eyes is an awesome reaction to see. It’s seeing that reaction that got me hooked on refining almost 13 years ago. Back then I was able to order a liter of 68% reagent grade nitric acid for a hundred bucks. Can’t imagine what it costs now. The fumes are very bad for human lungs. So the reaction must be done outdoors or in a fume hood. Nitric fumes will cause cramps in your muscles days or weeks after inhaling concentrated levels of those fumes. Nitric fumes also dissolve tooth enamel.
@@sreetips thank you!
I remember my old high school chemistry teacher, Mr Thomas and all these type of experiments. Then going to metals shop to work the small foundry and pour aluminum. Our little town that I grew up in was near Waterloo, IA and with a large John Deere factory there, it was a good starting point in my education. Thanks for bringing it full cycle!!!
I grew up in Cedar Rapids.
@@sreetips Didn’t know that, I’m honored 🙏
@@sreetips My wife and I have raised our three boys here in Cedar Rapids. Thank you again, as your sharing of these processes will allow us to come out of truly difficult times.
I graduated from Jefferson.
@@sreetips I graduated from Jesup, east of Waterloo. The boys all from Marion HS. The youngest with a 4.25 GPA will graduate from CO School of Mines next December with two bachelors and a minor in public affairs.
Cedar Rapids was the “big city” to me as a kid. I’m back in IA, having lived in So Cal and brought my CA wife kicking and screaming here. She loves it here and doesn’t miss CA for anything.
I think I've watched you make this at least twice before and it's interesting every time.
Thank you , that was very informative, I will begin my own silver cell now
Good ASMR video! Your voice is soothing and relaxing. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing this method I really appreciate it an will use it myself
10:20 The proper term for this is not filter, it’s diaphragm. This is because it’s not meant to preferentially stop passage of anything. All it does is slow down diffusion so that the solution around the anode can have a somewhat different composition than around the solution outside touching the cathode. This increases efficiency, because you want the cathode solution to be rich in silver ions and the anode area to be depleted in silver ions, and the conduction of the silver ions can be slow compared to their diffusion rate, which has a random direction, and you want to make the silver ions go from anode to cathode, not randomly. So the diaphragm limits diffusion and doesn’t slow down conduction much, and thus it selects for the conduction that you want.
Agree, plus it filters out the slimes from entering the cell and contaminating the pure silver.
Really great videos man. I had to watch a couple of your videos to understand that you’re recovering silver in a pure form from silver you previously held in an impure form. Many years ago when I was in college I worked in the darkroom in radiology at the local hospital. The solution we used to develop the films with was loaded with silver from the film. A company would come pick up our old solution every month to get rid of the “hazardous waste”. Even the silver from old films in the patients radiology records were recovered after being inactive for a time. I don’t think they X-rays use films that much anymore except for the portable X-rays and maybe dental X-rays.
I get my silver from local sales. When someone dies, the heirs want to immediately sell the sterling silver and get paid in paper dollars. They actually believe, incorrectly, that paper dollars are more valuable than the silver. And with silver price so grossly and artificially undervalued, we can buy real silver with fake paper dollars (fiat money that can be printed out of thin air). It’s a silver buyers paradise out there right now, for those who know when, where, and what to look for.
Silver is just as thin air ish. Your mythology about money is clown shoes, you know that right?
Thanks Sreetip . Great video with a great explanation of what your process is .
God bless you and yours.
Ahh the old saying stays true “it takes silver to make silver” 😂 this is awesome! Loving this series
Thanks for all of the knowledge that you are providing in your videos.
God bless you for sharing your knowledge, I bow to you. Stay safe
I watched this video back-to-back but still cannot figure out how to make the solutions how you make it I don't want to do it wrong and waist money (the cement silver solution stuff) and how do you get the pure silver bar connected to the 10-gauge wire? thank you.
I have a video on how I make the anode electrode bars. I use pure silver crystal dissolve in hot dilute nitric to make the electrolyte.
@sreetips thank you very much! I knew you would reply fast ❤️🔥
Thourly enjoyed this video. Great job describing the process, thanks. Peace. . .
Another awesome video! You're an excellent instructor! Thank You. Jim in Phoenix
I love the way you explained things. Most people, when they dominate a topic they talk like every once knows what you're talking about.
You explained slowly, real teaching skills. 🎉 Thanks 🙏
Thank you
Goooood evening from central Florida! Have a great one!
Goooood evening!
Hello my friend. Have a nice day😊. Arne
Good day, I wonder is it possible to go to a local garage market buy like 500g silver spoons, then structure all whats needed to grow sil er and make Moore silver and sell it when it is a big brick? 😅
I buy sterling at local sales. I refine gold. I use sterling silver to refine the scrap gold. I recover the silver from that, melt into shot, and run it through my silver cell. The cell converts the impure silver (about 980 parts per thousand silver) to high purity four nines fine (9999 parts per ten thousand) pure elemental silver metal. The impure silver is added to the anode basket. The anode basket is suspended in the silver nitrate electrolyte. I pass an electric current through the impure silver. The silver dissolves, passes through the Dacron filter, travels through the silver nitrate electrolyte, and deposits on the stainless steel bowl (the cathode). The bowl is connected to the negative pole of the power supply. The process only deposits pure silver on the cathode. So I’m refining the impure silver, into high purity silver. When it’s full, I harvest the pure silver crystal. Then I repeat the whole thing again.
THANK YOU for sharing this amazing knowledge with us. I hope to learn more about this from you
Very well done Sreetips! Fantastic tutorial! Thank you!
Could you use silver contacts from breakers and electronics
Yes, but not in the cell. Silver has to be fairly high purity.
Thank you sir outstanding information excellent video six stars
I love the content and thank you so much for the education. Two big 👍👍as always.
Thank you so much for showing me how to do this. You are awesome buddy😊.
Very cool Sreetips , I was curious about what happened to you . I'm so glad everything is OK 👏👏
My son and I been doing nickel plating but this is next. Thankyou for sharing
Seen ur vids, just saw the vid and came over to simply LIKE it, and watch later
Welcome to my channel.
@@sreetips my other account is subed for quite some time now.
Been interested in smelting for longer, found u by trying to find basic charcoal forges.
Always good content even the old vids.
Very amazing. And very well taught on what to do. I'm afraid myself that I will probably not ever try this because of chemicals involved, but none the least, you are awesome and you should have been buddies with Mr. Rogers. He would have loved you in his show. Kids would have come out the woodwork to watch creativity like this.
Subbed for sure brother. And yes I'm a silver Stacker.
Welcome and thank you!
I see why other channels recommend you! Thank you
At 22:14 when the distilled water is added, there should have been a caveat to not use tap water at this point, since any chlorine in the tap water will instantly precipitate silver out of the electrolyte.
Good point
Awsome, just awsome 😅😊 I was just commenting earlier out of concern because of the lack of Sreetips in our lives 😃
So let me get this straight at 12:30 you described inquarted gold. Which is like an alloy of gold and silver. You take this alloy and dissolve it in nitric acid to produce the silver solution? I’d like to see that part
I have videos posted on my channel.
@@sreetips I see thanks!
Glad to see your back!
I didnt see his back in the video
I know you want the electrolyte and the distilled water to be well stirred. Have you ever considered adding one of your airlines into the silver cell and bubble away stirring the solution?
that sounds messy
@@arch1107 Not with a regulator.
I slow stir would be better. I just haven’t taken the time to design a stir mechanism that can be used as the cell operates.
@@sreetips Gotcha
Refining is a darn good skill to have!
I didn't even take chemistry in school, and that was probably a huge mistake.
I got a “D” in the only chemistry class I ever took in my whole life fifty years ago in high school. You don’t have to be a chemist to refine precious metals. But it sure doesn’t hurt.
Your awesome for sharing this
Thank you but I guess I need to know how do I get the cement silver so I can begin this process?
I'm in the Seattle, Tacoma area,, in case that helps to give me some idea where I can get whatever I need. Again thank you 😊
I recover the silver from my gold refining solutions and cement it out on copper. Then melt and run it through my silver cell.
Is the hose clamp stainless too?
Yes
Thank you Sreetips. I'm always looking forward to the next video's.
Wow.. Great job master 👍👍🤲🤲❤️
Can you do the same method with silver scrap from jewelry? i mean , put in to the basket pieces of old jewelry that doesnt come from another refination, for example a silver ring ?
Yes but it’s not recommended. Adding sterling/925 directly into the anode basket will cause the electrolyte to quickly become saturated with copper.
So i venture to ask if one were to start this process, after a cycle of growth could you not use the crystalline silver in the anode basket to do a repeat of the cycle? this is new to me and i find if fascinating!
Yes, and I did that once. The ICP assay came back greater than five nines fine. That’s 99,999 parts per one hundred thousand pure silver. For every one hundred thousand atoms, only one wasn’t silver.
I have a blob bar of mostly 925 silver but it sems that some of the material I added was plated I am now trying to figure out what is the best way to try again. I have a Tabletop furnace with a 120oz crucible.
There’s something primal about molten metal. Can’t resist the urge to “melt it down.” The only problem is that melting ruins the markings. Without the markings the purity, and therefore the value, becomes questionable. If it were mine I’d dissolve in hot dilute nitric, filter out any solids (could be a problem depending on if there’s any tin in there) then cement out the silver on copper. That’s what I’d do if it were mine.
Such a fascinating process. Thanks for sharing!
What’s the input costs for the operation such as the silver cement, silver nitrate, electrolyte etc? Thanks.
I really don’t know. I’ve never taken the time to calculate it. This is my hobby.
Should my stock pot 5 gallon buckets be of a specific plastic type? to resist acid types?
HDPE (High Density Polyethylene)
Making silver nitrate the chemical agent decene air vapors are explosive 114° f. Is that under compression or open air. I wanna try cook out carbon in beaker but i dont want it to explode. The explosion proof evaporator might cook out carbon idk
I’ve never tried cooking out carbon, no experience.
Question is it equal exchange in that the weight of silver going in is the weight coming out? Or are you "Making" silver. Sorry if this question is dumb, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.
I only get out what I’m putting in less impurities. It seems valid that wealth can be conjured into existence. Because that’s what central banks do. But we can’t conjure silver into existence out of thin air. And that’s why silver is rising in value, and paper dollars are declining in value.
@sreetips ok, I thought it was something akin to the way Gold can be "created" by using lead and particle accelerator. I thought maybe it was due to a reaction between copper, silver, and electricity. Still extremely interesting, and I'll probably be doing this one I move into my house on the 20th. Thanks for the response, and for the awesome videos!!
As far as I know, the only place where the temperatures and pressures are high enough to cause protons to fuse into new heavier elements is inside a collapsing super massive star - a super nova.
If i boil my water will it remove the concerning chlorine? I also have bottled water but it says minerals added for taste.
I’ve never tried that. I don’t know if it will work
yea man thanks for sharing all that you do ...its absolutely amazing ..your frickin awesome man
So I'm wondering if I can use silver plated copper to make my corn flakes of impure silver instead of going through that whole process?
No, the electrolyte would saturate with copper.
if I was using silver bullion how many grams would I have to turn into shot for the anode basket? I am doing the same 3 1/2 liter .
I usually end up feeding about 1.5 to 2 kilos of impure silver shot into the anode basket during a single run of the silver cell.
Very informative, thank you. You could be a teacher. But then you'd have to deal with annoying people.
Though when you do process the sterling into pure 999 silver, then poured into bars or coins and numbered. You can then get an Assay company to test, mark and supply paperwork to purity, though I would only do this for a very large quantity due to costs.
Im curious... I didn't see an explanation of costs to run such an operation, from acquisition of raw materials and operation costs. I am assuming this vets out to being cheaper than just buying silver bars, etc... But, by how much? and how much silver would one need to mine like this to recover the startup costs?
I buy sterling silver at estate sales. I use it to refine gold. I recover the silver and then run it through my silver cell. I don’t keep track of costs, profits, income from each batch. I just buy it and refine it. My pay is in high purity silver metal.
@@sreetips Thank you for the reply and I appreciate your candor. I find this very interesting, (just wish you had a better / clearer result to gage ROI for the effort). Best of luck to you and thanks again.
Wow... this is awesome. Thank you for sharing. I only
I only wish I had a place to grow this
Thank you for your remote mentorship. I've gone through Hokes literature as you recommended. Definitely the Old Testament on Precious metal refining. One question in dealing with waste stream. After transferring out from my Iron tank, I correct the pH to 7-9 to precipitate all the metals. The sludge just sits in my jumbo urn filters draining very little fluid. Can I drop the pH to 6.5-7.2 after precipitation before filtering to ease the process without causing the precipitate to impregnate the solution? If not, what do you do? I'm uncomfortable disposing of the gelatinous filtrate in my solid waste stream. Should I just wait it out to completely desiccate it or am I just being overly cautious?
I add pH decreaser to pH 7, filter out any solids, then add to the waste drain. For the iron hydroxide solids, I like to wait until they are a moist cake before disposal. The dryer the better.
Would this work with heavy silver plated brass parts from high voltage contacts
1. Is there a way to make a gold cell?
2. Can I put sterling/925 shot into the anode basket? Or does it need to be refined to 98/99% first?
1) yes. 2) adding 925 directly would cause the electrolyte to quickly become saturated with copper
High purity silver crystal is beautiful.
So help me understand, are you yielding more silver than you use, or simply turning existing amount of silver into same amount of higher quality silver, or losing some silver as the cost of refining?
It’s a straight ahead trade. I put impure silver in, and get out high purity silver, less impurities.
I am extremely curious about getting the designs for this and how much silver would I get if I used either five or ten troy ounces of silver
I use 150g of pure silver per liter of electrolyte. So 3.5 liters times 150g equals 525g for my small 3.5 liter silver cell. Some of that gets depleted as the cell operates, it plates out in the cathode as high purity silver crystal. As for the yield: I can expect to harvest 980g of silver crystal for every kilo of 98% impure silver shot that I add into the anode filter basket.
Only at filter construction part but I feel like despite I'm not sure what the end result is going to be but you could have made 3 or 4 filters out of the one you cut off no?
I like to double up the filter to ensure no junk makes it through.