Home Made Silver Bar

Unless he's talking about doing this for profit, I can see where vdbpenny1995 is coming from.

I have a pile of scrap silver that I'm saving up so I can try my hand at refining and make my own bar.

I also have a pile of scrap copper that I've never thought of melting down on my own. But, now that you guys bring it up...

Here's a couple of easy questions for anyone in the know: What purity is modern copper pipe? How would you make the mold to pour it into?

 

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I like the things that copper can be made into. How about making some coins? You could get an artist to design a copper coin and then use it as a barter unit. People have been doing it for thousands of years. I heard that there was a kind of copper economy in North America long before Europeans arrived.

 

There is a physical property known as Specific heat or specific heat capacity. It is the amount of heat required to raise a mass ( usually 1 gram) 1degree C. ). A high specific heat means it takes more heat to raise the temp. and once the heat is removed longer to cool down. The reverse with low specific heat substances such as metals. Water has a specific heat of 1.000, copper is 0.386, silver is 0.223. Raise water 50 deg.C (say from room temperature ) takes more heat than raising same amount of copper, but when the heat is removed, the copper cools much faster than the water. This is the problem most are ignoring. Your melting has to require a high enough temperature for a long enough time, WITHOUT allowing the heat to escape from the mass. With a torch, the heat is hitting a small area. Easier to melt 10 grams of copper with a torch, but to heat 4 ounces, or 16 ounces, the heat has to be affecting the whole mass, not just part at a time. It will soon be losing heat as fast as it gains it, and the temp. won't increase.

To melt large amounts, you need large even heat source or an insulating environment such as a kiln.. Torch temperature is not the problem, heat capacity is the problem. I have seen homemade kilns made from fire bricks and 2 or 3 natural gas powered 'weedburner torch heads' reach the needed temperature and hold it long enough for the whole mass to liquify evenly and then slowly cooled down. If you know some one who does ceramics, they may have a kiln that could do it. A flux is also used to promote even melting/cooling. A person who taught ceramics hand built a small firebrick kiln about 18 " on a side and used one weedburner and a BBQ propane tank to melt various metals for sculpture/jewelry. The inside was about 8"x8x8". The insulation was what allowed it to work. IMO. Burn or blow yourself up at your own instigation.




http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/inteng.html#c4

 

DIY brain surgery also sounds fun/cheap.

I'd guess the small mintage of an odd coin would command a greater premium and hold (more) value than a DIY ingot. Wonder what it costs to pay someone like Mulligan Mint produce 25-100 units/ozt. http://www.mulliganmint.com/about.html

 

Ok guys so I did reasech on Mapp propane torches. Is this one good? Will it get the job? http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/t...mpaignId=T9F&gclid=CNnps-T95rUCFUZV4AodA24Acg If you know of another one for a better deal or that works very well, please post a link to it!

 

I have done this and made more than a few bars of sterling out of old silverware. Mapp works a little better but for the price difference it isn't really worth it. Propane works fine up to about 6 ounces in one continues pour. I found it easier to hold one torch on the bottom of the crucible and one on top pointing directly down on the liquid metal. Just make shore you keep heat on the metal near the spout of the crucible as you pour. This keeps it in a liquid state all the way into the mold. And remember a fast controlled pour is essential

 

30 seconds tops with my Oxy-Acetyline torch and the big rosebud.