It's all about the oxides. Pure molten metal has really high surface tension, and will bead up, roll about and merge with other droplets easily. But hot metals in oxygen don't stay pure; they react and form metal oxides which coat the beads, reduce the surface tension and make them "sticky". Borax and other fluxes selectively dissolve the oxides and keep them away from the metal, returning it to it's "pure" state with it's desirable surface properties.
i want to say i saw an older video where you essentially had a lifetime supply of melt dishes. im thinking Mr Sreetips wanted to play with that new camera filter of his, haha! enjoy your weekend, and thank you for your content.
I was putting a torch to so metal that was fighting me. I finally got perturbed, and cranked the OxyAcetalyne as hot as I could get it, to get the metal I was trying to get molten to stop beading up. I was successful; however, I discovered that you can actually melt the ceramic burn dish! Cleaning ceramic carbon off the metal was really frustrating! Next time, I'll use the Kiln and a graphite crucible! (You can ignite graphite also, if the temperatures are high enough!). All tremendous fun and a learning experience! Wade
Tallahassee in da house! Well, I visited near there once. I ❤FL Good morning from an old Tennessee boy living on an island in the middle of Puget Sound.
It can be handled that way, yes. I’ve poured the molten borax in water but it explodes and splashed water everywhere. So I resorted to pouring it out on the concrete floor.
That was so fascinating how with the right heat and some Borax...you know I saw as the Borax kinda peeled down the wall of that melt dish and just like you said all the little dots of silver came together. Nice.
The best way I saw to remove the tiny beads of metal from the melt dishes is to put them in water with sulphuric acid like you do with the buttons then you can get all the beads out
As usual another awesome video! I hope you and yours are doing great! I’d love to see a full overview of gear needed, including tools chemicals, torches, beakers etc, would that be possible? I’m starting int out and want to spend the money on some good equipment and cover everything possible to begin with, and it’s all quite daunting 😂 and exciting! Plus I think it would make a great video! Cheers mate, keep up the awesome work! 👊🏻
A cool analogy to the physics you described about metals boiling off and re-solidifying on cooler objects happened to me when I visited Meteorite crater in AZ. I went into the gift shop after touring the crater and they were selling little baggies with small limestone chunks with black spots on them. The explanation was the meteorite vaporized on impact, and bits of nickel/iron froze to fragments of rock flying out of the crater. They wanted $5 for 4 little pebbles. As a Geologist, I'd noticed that the desert surrounding the site on my drive in was covered with these fragments, so instead of buying some, I just drove off, parked and walked around collecting a pocket full of them. I gave them away as gifts to fellow rock hounds. 😁
there is an interesting channel called filligreenus and he uses chrysocolla to make flux. the word chrysocolla means gold glue and some interesting melt experiments he did shows there is some sort of energy that comes from the magnetic portions of the mineral that softens the area closest to the heated mineral
Sreetips, have you ever pickled your melt dish/s?? i used to pickle them and curcibles. the hard part was de-acidifying after. broken ones not so important to de-acidify. but ones i reused, seven or eight hot water boil/ and replace water. then a couple hours in the oven. poppy's workshop says HI
Sreetips. Your videos are excellent. What do you use to clean your glassware. Not sure if it’s worthy of a short video. I just have trouble cleaning my beakers. Keep up the great work, all the way from Australia.
Most of the solutions that I works with rinse out quickly and cleanly. I wash with a scotch brite pad and alconox glassware detergent. Rinse with tap water. Quick rinse with distilled water. Then air dry.
As I don't know what the max temp for your High Temp oven is, I will offer this idea, in the event it can reach the sufficient temp. 1,763°F is the melting point of silver, whereas the vapor point is 3,924°F.... so if your oven can reach and maintain 2000°F... simply place your melt dishes in the oven, set the temp for 2000°F... give it 20 mins, and the silver will melt down in the center of the dish... gravity and heat are fun things to play with.
Not sure if you see all your comments all the time or if it's been suggested, but it would be interesting for you to do some of the Gold Backs that say they're 1/1000 of an ounce a piece.
Everyday I drive pass the borax mines in Boron, Ca. on my way to work. One day I'm gonna take the tour of the mines just to see how deep they really are. I've heard it's mine-blowing.
You can go up to the top of the hill to the right when you go into the plant parking lot and visit the museum and watch the movie. Then go on top of the building and look down inside the open pit mine. This is open to the public.
Thanks for the content love it i have a question iam fixen too do gold filled some of the watch band tops that I removed from watch band are magnetic do I still process them same as the regular gold filled and is rgp and rgf process some
Every time I see your used meltdish collection only thing I can think: send it to Jason at (mbmllcc) to process with the jaw crusher /shaker table, it would be a nice collab. And probably cheaper then the oxy-acet.
I’m not familiar with the cost involved or the lifespan of melt dishes but that particular dish should be taken out of rotation and displayed, possibly set in a custom silver stand (or gold, or both). It is quite appealing to my eye. Thank you for the well rounded content!👍👍
Sreetips. I've watched almost all of your refine videos. You make things very clear on how you do you approach refining, But I want to start refining my self (as a hobby) and have a ton of questions. I hate leaving comments on UA-cam out of fear of last of respect from others. I was wondering if we can communicate on some of the questions I have via email. I'm sure you get this request a ton, but take that as a compliment because there people out here that trust your experience and knowledge. I would like to pick brains so I can learn more my self. I've done a few minor experiments as I collect metals for proposing at another time. Just looking for advice. Thank you in advance.
@sreetips Brother I have a bead, 1.5 grams. It has been confirmed almost 9k gold inquarted in silver. I've tried nitric and distilled hardly anything dissolved, then went the aqua regia route, nothing dissolved. Have no idea what is going on with this bead lol First time I've ever had this happen. I don't know what else to do with it. But it is mainly 9k gold with small about of silver. Used an XRF gun to test it as well and it all checks out correct. But it will not dissolve. I am clueless. It does however melt to a gold color but once it's quenched, turns dark gray mixed with gold color.
Heat up, add some borax, keep a flame on it. The borax will release the gold and cause it to flow into a central mass at the bottom of the dish. Flux means “flow”.
There is a series of videos, by a guy, who reproduced those wagons, behind those 20 mules. (Really 18 mules, and 2 horses.) For all his forge welding, he also used 20 Mule Team borax. (Forge welding, get 2 pieces red hot, sprinkle with borax, and then pound them together. Rinse and repeat as needed.) ua-cam.com/video/z17e6by0V14/v-deo.html&ab_channel=EngelsCoachShop Those wagons were quite impressive. One wheel was well over 1000 pounds! steve
I somehow have tiny gold beads stuck all over mine. I'll make a video short now, I don't know how it happened or best way to get it? I'll try what you did. 👍 video
@@sreetips Ok. Our ceramic crucibles used to build up a thick layer of borate glass, which our instructor would have us grind out with the flex-shaft. Maybe that was just his preference and we didn't really need to.
I disagree with the use of the word “…like magic!”. This is applied science. Science is an earthly effort based on knowledge shared from experimentation, records of failure and successful trials.
"Increase the heat!" yes, yes...increasing heat. "more borax!!" indeed..adding more borax... "fire! fire! yea!" but of course, Beavis, the fire of the acetylene torch knows no bounds.
It's all about the oxides. Pure molten metal has really high surface tension, and will bead up, roll about and merge with other droplets easily. But hot metals in oxygen don't stay pure; they react and form metal oxides which coat the beads, reduce the surface tension and make them "sticky". Borax and other fluxes selectively dissolve the oxides and keep them away from the metal, returning it to it's "pure" state with it's desirable surface properties.
could not have said it better , excellent explanation
Good description, I was wondering if the boron was merely liquifying and merely pushing it down with volume.
Just need to do your melting in an inert gas environment. Argon's cheap, right? ;)
You're one heck of a teacher . If there was a class entitled "Precious Metals Refining" with Professor Sreetips , I'd sign up for it in a heart beat !
this is the class (sreetips channel) and you are signed up (subscribed)..no? =b
Super useful! Thanks! 🌟 👍
i want to say i saw an older video where you essentially had a lifetime supply of melt dishes. im thinking Mr Sreetips wanted to play with that new camera filter of his, haha! enjoy your weekend, and thank you for your content.
I watch a number of blacksmiths on youtube as well, and borax is one of their favorite fluxes for forge-welding steel together.
Borax is the 'go-to' for a lot of things. 👍🖖
Thanks, the new filter seems to be working out just fine. Great photography
I was putting a torch to so metal that was fighting me. I finally got perturbed, and cranked the OxyAcetalyne as hot as I could get it, to get the metal I was trying to get molten to stop beading up. I was successful; however, I discovered that you can actually melt the ceramic burn dish! Cleaning ceramic carbon off the metal was really frustrating! Next time, I'll use the Kiln and a graphite crucible! (You can ignite graphite also, if the temperatures are high enough!). All tremendous fun and a learning experience!
Wade
Rather informative. I was curious as to where the silver might go during vaporization in a previous video.
Gooood morning from central Florida! Hope everyone has a great day! Borax is very interesting... Thanks for the video!
Tampa Bay is in here too!!
Tallahassee in da house!
Well, I visited near there once. I ❤FL
Good morning from an old Tennessee boy living on an island in the middle of Puget Sound.
@@jayhac3803 👍😎
Bonus content! Really interesting stuff. Made me go down the rabbit hole checking out Borax and Boron online…..interesting element.
I enjoy the Educational quality
of your podcasts !
Awesome knowledge! Thank you! Now I know I can save a few of my crucibles just by cleaning with the Borax.
Yes. And during a melt that silver can fly out the dish and end up as dust on your work area. 🤓 Witnessed personally.
Nice demo/explanation, I don't think I have seen this before.
Glad you posted this, I have the same issue with my melt dishes. I'll do this with them later today.😁👍
Great video ! I love it when liquid metal coalesces, reminds me of the T-1000!
Borax has so many uses. It's always a good idea to have around.
Do you reheat the dish and pour out that borax before you reuse the melt dish?
It can be handled that way, yes. I’ve poured the molten borax in water but it explodes and splashed water everywhere. So I resorted to pouring it out on the concrete floor.
Excellent information!
Thank You!
Oh my gosh! Ive had this problem on several melt dishes and I wasn't sure how to fix it. Now I know! Thank you sreetips.
That was so fascinating how with the right heat and some Borax...you know I saw as the Borax kinda peeled down the wall of that melt dish and just like you said all the little dots of silver came together. Nice.
The best way I saw to remove the tiny beads of metal from the melt dishes is to put them in water with sulphuric acid like you do with the buttons then you can get all the beads out
As usual another awesome video!
I hope you and yours are doing great!
I’d love to see a full overview of gear needed, including tools chemicals, torches, beakers etc, would that be possible?
I’m starting int out and want to spend the money on some good equipment and cover everything possible to begin with, and it’s all quite daunting 😂 and exciting! Plus I think it would make a great video!
Cheers mate, keep up the awesome work! 👊🏻
A cool analogy to the physics you described about metals boiling off and re-solidifying on cooler objects happened to me when I visited Meteorite crater in AZ. I went into the gift shop after touring the crater and they were selling little baggies with small limestone chunks with black spots on them. The explanation was the meteorite vaporized on impact, and bits of nickel/iron froze to fragments of rock flying out of the crater. They wanted $5 for 4 little pebbles. As a Geologist, I'd noticed that the desert surrounding the site on my drive in was covered with these fragments, so instead of buying some, I just drove off, parked and walked around collecting a pocket full of them. I gave them away as gifts to fellow rock hounds. 😁
Only a rock hound would know to do that.
First 👍's up thanks for sharing
there is an interesting channel called filligreenus and he uses chrysocolla to make flux. the word chrysocolla means gold glue and some interesting melt experiments he did shows there is some sort of energy that comes from the magnetic portions of the mineral that softens the area closest to the heated mineral
Thanks for this little bit of information. I've wondered about the use of borax.
Excellent.
Sreetips, have you ever pickled your melt dish/s?? i used to pickle them and curcibles. the hard part was de-acidifying after. broken ones not so important to de-acidify. but ones i reused, seven or eight hot water boil/ and replace water. then a couple hours in the oven. poppy's workshop says HI
Good info to have 👍🇺🇸
you can use hydro chloric acid to break down old crucibles to get at the metal still in them
Sreetips. Your videos are excellent. What do you use to clean your glassware. Not sure if it’s worthy of a short video. I just have trouble cleaning my beakers.
Keep up the great work, all the way from Australia.
Most of the solutions that I works with rinse out quickly and cleanly. I wash with a scotch brite pad and alconox glassware detergent. Rinse with tap water. Quick rinse with distilled water. Then air dry.
As I don't know what the max temp for your High Temp oven is, I will offer this idea, in the event it can reach the sufficient temp.
1,763°F is the melting point of silver, whereas the vapor point is 3,924°F.... so if your oven can reach and maintain 2000°F... simply place your melt dishes in the oven, set the temp for 2000°F... give it 20 mins, and the silver will melt down in the center of the dish... gravity and heat are fun things to play with.
Not sure if you see all your comments all the time or if it's been suggested, but it would be interesting for you to do some of the Gold Backs that say they're 1/1000 of an ounce a piece.
That's a good amount in there
Everyday I drive pass the borax mines in Boron, Ca. on my way to work. One day I'm gonna take the tour of the mines just to see how deep they really are. I've heard it's mine-blowing.
You can go up to the top of the hill to the right when you go into the plant parking lot and visit the museum and watch the movie. Then go on top of the building and look down inside the open pit mine. This is open to the public.
Thanks for the content love it i have a question iam fixen too do gold filled some of the watch band tops that I removed from watch band are magnetic do I still process them same as the regular gold filled and is rgp and rgf process some
Thanks 🙏 I wanted to know if 20 mule team would work!
That’s what I use.
Every time I see your used meltdish collection only thing I can think: send it to Jason at (mbmllcc) to process with the jaw crusher /shaker table, it would be a nice collab. And probably cheaper then the oxy-acet.
Love the closeup of borax melting
Are you able to use this dish again for anything with all that Borax now in the bottom?
Yes, I can pour out the molten borax and use the dish again.
I’m not familiar with the cost involved or the lifespan of melt dishes but that particular dish should be taken out of rotation and displayed, possibly set in a custom silver stand (or gold, or both). It is quite appealing to my eye. Thank you for the well rounded content!👍👍
Nice vid.
Thanks Sreetips🙂
Sreetips. I've watched almost all of your refine videos. You make things very clear on how you do you approach refining, But I want to start refining my self (as a hobby) and have a ton of questions. I hate leaving comments on UA-cam out of fear of last of respect from others. I was wondering if we can communicate on some of the questions I have via email. I'm sure you get this request a ton, but take that as a compliment because there people out here that trust your experience and knowledge. I would like to pick brains so I can learn more my self. I've done a few minor experiments as I collect metals for proposing at another time. Just looking for advice.
Thank you in advance.
That was very cool cool Cool
Sir any gold maker tell me recipe many thanks very much
What ratio do you dilute your sulfuric for this cleaning of the bead?
100ml distilled water 5ml sulfuric acid with some heat.
@sreetips Brother I have a bead, 1.5 grams. It has been confirmed almost 9k gold inquarted in silver. I've tried nitric and distilled hardly anything dissolved, then went the aqua regia route, nothing dissolved. Have no idea what is going on with this bead lol First time I've ever had this happen. I don't know what else to do with it. But it is mainly 9k gold with small about of silver. Used an XRF gun to test it as well and it all checks out correct. But it will not dissolve. I am clueless. It does however melt to a gold color but once it's quenched, turns dark gray mixed with gold color.
What do you do if you melted gold in an unseasoned melt dish and it’s stuck everywhere in the dish?? How do you get it out?
Heat up, add some borax, keep a flame on it. The borax will release the gold and cause it to flow into a central mass at the bottom of the dish. Flux means “flow”.
There is a series of videos, by a
guy, who reproduced those wagons,
behind those 20 mules. (Really 18
mules, and 2 horses.)
For all his forge welding, he also used
20 Mule Team borax. (Forge welding,
get 2 pieces red hot, sprinkle with borax,
and then pound them together. Rinse
and repeat as needed.)
ua-cam.com/video/z17e6by0V14/v-deo.html&ab_channel=EngelsCoachShop
Those wagons were quite impressive.
One wheel was well over 1000 pounds!
steve
I remember that one
got metal condensate on the walls, flush it down with flux
Hello sir, I have borax as dekahydrate, didn't use it yet, do I have to "dry" it to anhydrous?
I use borax right out of the box
Sreetips, my catalytic converter went out what fo you know about recovering the platinum from them?
I have a video on it. It’s not easy. Not for the amateur refiner.
I somehow have tiny gold beads stuck all over mine. I'll make a video short now, I don't know how it happened or best way to get it? I'll try what you did. 👍 video
I have them too. What ever you do, don’t look with a magnifier, they will look gigantic.
Good morning
Hello
Anhydrous borax works even better as you don't have to drive off the excess water that is in normal borax but is more expensive.
I use grocery store borax and have never had a problem
that was fun
Can this glazing technic be used on crucibles?
I’ve never done it, but I’ve been told that borax can be used on graphite crucibles.
Five stars brother
can u tell me ho to remove the borax coating on my gold?
Soak in hot 5% sulfuric acid solution for about 10 minutes.
👍
When I add borax .... It turn black slag....i use propane torch...why?
That’s baffling, I don’t know why
thank you...@@sreetips
Do you find that you eventually have to grind out your crucible and start fresh?
I’ve never done that
@@sreetips Ok. Our ceramic crucibles used to build up a thick layer of borate glass, which our instructor would have us grind out with the flex-shaft. Maybe that was just his preference and we didn't really need to.
I’ve never tried it
The bits of silver are clinging to the melt dish because of the borax. Have you tried washing the dishes with hot water? Fluxes are gooey like lava.
What if you just filled the whole dish with borax?
That’ll work
I take it this works wil gold also???
Correct
@@sreetips i have a small one...covered with gold and didnt know how to get it out. This...is perfect! Youre the best!
Seems like alot of fuel to recover a minute amount of silver.
The recovery isn't the point. It's cleaning the dish
I disagree with the use of the word “…like magic!”. This is applied science. Science is an earthly effort based on knowledge shared from experimentation, records of failure and successful trials.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clark
Dude, you really need to get yourself a proper furnace. No torching the shit out of your product is unacceptable with the volume you work with.
It’s my hobby
@@sreetips lmao! Alright, alright, i get it.
I’m not a professional refiner. I don’t work on other peoples material. Only stuff my wife and I find at local sales.
can we use borax on the 15 dislikes for this video and coalesce them into some sort of single like? hmmmm...
"Increase the heat!" yes, yes...increasing heat. "more borax!!" indeed..adding more borax... "fire! fire! yea!" but of course, Beavis, the fire of the acetylene torch knows no bounds.
A new Sreetips video 😀
5:53 minutes long 🤬