Using a gold coin for making gold sands?

[Josh Bernbaum]

Originally Posted by Pete VanderLaan

Normally the highest concentration is 70%. get the highest.

Don't put it outside but it's OK to cover the flask with a-non ferrous cover. It needs to happen as just warm It should take two days though. I'd just put it under the furnace around the back. It's not a violent reaction at all and it isn't really pungent either. The gold shot will just keep getting smaller and smaller. The worst part is putting it in the sand and mixing evenly. Take that outside to do. then bring it bck in and cover the sands and put them in a warm place of they'll never dry. Once dry, screen it. The really wash the screen.

S

Sorry, two more questions now that I have the materials. Let me preface these by disclosing that I got a D in high school chemistry class.. First is: can I cover my boro container with either aluminum foil or saran wrap, or will those materials be compromised by the fumes? Second is: cover or not, do I need to have direct- ventilation going on 24/7 for the days this process will take? Thanks

[Pete VanderLaan]

Making gold sands is simply nothing like making silver nitrate. It's really a slow disolving process unless you choose to turn it hellacious. You could cover this with a little piece of window glass. Let it be around 90-100F. Be patient. Go swirl it until you no longer see the little pieces of gold shot and then pour it on the silica. Again about 100 grams of silica for every gram of gold. Then, just let that air dry in a warm ( cozy) spot until you could easily screen it and Vt Winters that may take some time. That;s why I like to have the sands made up in advance.

But if you're hot to trot and you've mixed the gold into the sands, you can keep diluting the stuff until it will easily go through a screen. Just keep track of the dilution as you would with powder blue. Don't forget to wash the screen when you're done or you'll hate yourself the next time you go to use it.

Melt as a neutral flame. Depending on your density, this should cost less than two bucks a pound for a damn nice intense first gather gold ruby. Lino use to say he thought my gold purple was the best he'd ever seen. Rock out...


Remember, our first gold melt, we did in my wedding ring which was 24 karat. Why no guilt? MB had already lost hers.

[Josh Bernbaum]

Ok thanks, gonna try to start dissolving the Au tomorrow. One quick thought: I know not all formulas can use soda, but wondering about mixing the aqua regia into sodium carbonate instead of (or in addition to) silica sand. Would the soda neutralize the acid and maybe make the dry-out process quicker? Not trying to reinvent the wheel, just curious..

[Pete VanderLaan]

well, then you'll have a salty gold chloride solution that is also caustic. It could have a strong exothermic reaction mixing an acid with a base. I would stick to silica. It will dry out nicely.
In the fire department, whenever we had something misbehaving on a chemical level, we always added sand and it cooled down which was the goal.

On the other hand, you could try it and we might have something new to add to this interesting "Don't" thread which has just started up.

[Eben Horton]

Has everyone here seen the movie "heart of glass"? a fitting movie to go along with gold rubies....

[Josh Bernbaum]

Gold is dissolved. Only seemed to take a few hours. Did 5g in 1/2 cup HCl and 1/4 cup nitric. (which still seems like a lot of liquid) Visible dark fumes were coming off of it for a while at first which made me nervous even though I had the jar covered with a piece of plate glass but then that seemed to subside. There's still this kind of acrid odor around it because it's not sealed I suppose. Would I be able to mix the sands in a pyrex container that has a snug-fit rubber lid to "seal" the fumes in there, or will it need to "breathe"? And lastly, why add even more HCl to the mix instead of just pouring the aqua regia solution onto some sand? Seems like even more acid to have to evaporate then. Sorry if I'm just overthinking this..

[Pete VanderLaan]

That's fast.
Don't even think it. Pour the mess into the sands .