.925 refined and poured into .999 bar

I don't know how I missed this earlier, but I would refine it using nitric acid and electrolysis. I would leave it in crystal form. I already have a few ounces of silver in crystal form and I think it's quite interesting.

I don't "expect" any person in particular to buy it, but I regularly see home brew silver sell on FeeBay for full melt value. Of course, that's melt minus 10% or more after factoring in fees and shipping, so there's really no profit there. If I do this, it really would be just for the experience. If I take a loss, then so be it.

I did try to have a go at it a couple of months ago. I went to the chemistry store here on campus and they do sell nitric acid in 1 gallon bottles for $20, but they won't sell it to individuals, or even chemistry students unless they're working on a project that has been approved by a professor. (Nitric acid has been declared an explosive precursor by the feds) She said if I had a business license and insurance she could sell it to me.

Should I decide to do this, I might have to do it together with my brother or the owner of a coin store that I am close friends with. Neither of which would be a stretch to say they're doing silver refining as part of their business. My brother owns an IT company that often deals with large amounts of ewaste and the coin store has even more obvious refining interests. They could purchase the nitric acid, and we could refine the silver together. Fun, fun, fun!

 

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Actually, from what these guys are saying it sounds pretty easy. And for only a few ounces of silver, the emissions can't be that much. For me, it doesn't sound like a fun time, but if they want to try it, then so be it.

 

You're spending many hours, and at least tens of dollars on chemicals. If you want to pursue this as a hobby, more power to you -- I was a chemistry hobbyist myself, and I know that it's fascinating and challenging. But it's a terrible way to try to make a profit, at least on a small scale, and the risks from worried neighbors and authorities are growing every year.

 

First of all I live on 10 acres and my neighbors know what I do. I don't care either way. Nitric acid if done correctly goes a very long way I can disolve about 50 oz with 1 pint of nitric acid which cost around 30.00. You are making uneducated remarks about refining refining silver is not illegal and if it was you wouldn't be able to readily buy nitric acid. Refining silver is not for everybody you must have skill to pour a decent bar worth selling and would not be worth trying for 10 oz I also wouldn't try it if you look like a meth cooker and you think your neighborhood might think this of you. Bottom line though .999 silver is worth more than 90% junk silver coins whether I do it or someone else. My bars look so good you wouldn't be able to tell whether I made them in my garage or they were done in a factory. In average it cost about 1.30 an ounce to refine silver and silver prices don't have to go up much to pay for cost. Not only that pure .999 silver looks so much better than sterling of even lower grade junk silver coins. It is also fun and rewarding to do this yourself and I would do it even if I didn't make any money at it. If you want help at learning the process I will be glad to give you or anyone else some helpful advise. FYI you can't just go buy a graphite mold and a propane or map torch and think you will be able to pour a good looking silver bar it's not that easy and when you finally master this art it is very rewarding.

 

The gas is quickly evaporated and will never reach my neighbors. If done right Nitric acid goes a long way.I can disolve 50 oz with 1 pint which cost around $30.00 do the math. You are making uneducated remarks about refining and refining silver is Not illegal.

 

Oh and one more thing once your set up the cost is minimal to buying nitric acid which like I said goes a very long way.

 

Please take a little more care when you throw around the term "uneducated".

One mole of nitric acid is 63 grams; at the standard 70% concentration, that's about 100 ml -- say, 5 moles per pint.

One mole of silver is 108 grams, or about 3.5 troy ounces.

If you're generating NO2 from the reaction, and it's hard to miss when that's happening, then you're using two moles of HNO3 for every mole of silver.

Ag + 2 HNO3 (concentrated) -> AgNO3 + H2O + NO2 (g)

That means your pint of nitric acid would dissolve at most 8 or 9 troy ounces of actual silver weight (in other words, the silver you get out after purification) -- and that's assuming you have no excess of nitric acid, and none of the silver's contaminants react with the nitric acid, both fairly questionable assumptions.

Now, which of your numbers would you like to correct?

 

I will change none of my figures. I dilute that concentrate. The No2 fumes are also short lived and only last a few minutes. The reaction is still going on long after the red No2 fumes has stopped. I know what I get and do it weekly. I dilute the nitric acid for an example say 50 ml nitric acid to 50 ml distilled water and this 50 ml will disolve easily 7-8 oz of silver. Do it all the time. One other thing you need to understand as well is different thickness of silver disolve at different rates and your little math lesson means nothing there are many variables and your totals are way off for the way I do it. I am not using straight nitric acid and I am heating it as it disolves. To give you another example yesterday I took 11 oz of sterling silver scrap cut it up in small pieces. I mixed 150 ml of distilled water with 150 ml of 70% nitric acid put it on a hot plate and every bit of that silver was disolved within 1 hr. I did the same thing again tonight now do the math that is 22 oz and only half a pint. Now after completion of the refining process that is around 20 oz of pure .999 silver

 

I will tell you what I will make a you tube video with the complete process step by step.I will start doing it tomorrow give me a few days. I will post once it's complete.

 

If you're diluting the nitric acid and keeping it cool, you're mostly producing nitric oxide (NO), not nitrogen dioxide (NO2). That improves your efficiency -- you only need four moles of HNO3 for every three moles of Ag, instead of two-for-one. That means your 50ml of concentrate, representing 1/2 mole, can dissolve up to 3/8 mole of silver, or about 1.3 troy ounces.

If you think you're converting more than 1.3 troy ounces of silver to silver nitrate starting from 50 ml of concentrated nitric acid, you're mistaken. Either you're using more nitric acid than you think, or you're dissolving less silver than you think. You can make all the videos you want, but you can't violate conservation of mass.