So I was thinking about melting down old silver jewelry I can get for cheap into bars and I'm just wondering what would I need to do this? How much money would I need to start this and is it even worth it?
Most silver jewelry is sterling silver so I don't think it's possible. I mean it's possible but I bet it's complicated and pricey to boot.
It depends on how much silver jewelry you have. if you can bring in a few hundred ounces each month then it would be worth it to melt down your own jewelry and make your own silver bar brand. Otherwise it is best to sell to a refinery.
Immerse .925 Ag Sterling jewelry in 35% nitric acid. Avoid fumes. Leave flask for ~24 hours. The jewelry should be for the most part completely dissolved, unless you cooked some gold filled on sterling or vermeil pieces. The silver is now in solution as silver nitrate. Insert a large copper rod into the solution, this will allow the AgNO3 to precipitate. Filter the resulting Ag powder, repeat, repeat, repeat. Melt into crucible. This is, of course, if you want 98.5%+ purity. You can just melt the sterling into a bar, too, if you want. Just make sure you don't have any junk in there.
search you tube.. u can use a kiln to melt large amounts of sterling or u can use an acetylene torch to melt small items.. sterling melts at 1640 f.. even a Mapp gas torch will melt small items..just need a crucible an a mold...
Combine your hobbies; with a bullet mould for your favourite calibre, melt and cast some silver bullets. Use them as reloads, and you will be the best protected against vampires of anyone in your neighbourhood. Please note that coin silver only works on US vampires, European Vampires need sterling or better for a sure kill, so unless you are confident all your local vampires are US bred (you may not have time for INS enquiries) best stick to to the scrap sterling jewellery, or make sure by using bullion rounds for your rounds. Due to the special nature of Chinese vampires, pretty well any metal apart from actual silver is silver enough to drop a Chinese vampire. If you are expecting a hoard of Chinese Vampires, it's a good use for all those Chinese 'silver' coins.
Why not sell your jewelery and buy coins with the money? That way you are turning your jewelery into silver. Most places that buy silver scrap also sell coins, so I would negotiate the sell price first, then ask if you can get the same amount of silver coins for that price.
I'll guess it might be a bit tough to sell silver bars you make yourself. It takes wood stakes to kill some things.
Yeah I think I will just do that, seems like a back breaking process and a big waste of time since I can just sell it to a refinery. Thanks! Thanks for explaining it. Seem to be a huge process and just a money dump since I won't be melting a lot of silver. Thanks!
