I've said it before, but it bears repeating. It's very generous of you to openly share your insights, methods, etc with us all. So many others seem to hold onto what they think is proprietary and their's alone, disregarding the education and passing along of knowledge. Along with your interesting and entertaining refining videos, they all make fir GREAT content. Keep it up and thank you. 👍
its information like this and people like this i feel is what youtube at its heart is. why i started watching youtube and why i still come here everyday. its the best library.
I cannot thank you enough for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us. After watching this 10 times I finally felt like I was ready to build my own. I’m an IT professional and work in film and television, not a chemist. You explain everything so clearly and explain the reasons behind your decisions. I’m happy to say my silver cell is up and running. I made a few modifications that may help with uniform crystal growth in the bowl to help others. Just use a copper strap around the entirety of the bowl. It’s not much more expensive. The silver crystal grows concentrically around the bowl at roughly the same rate. Keeps it off the center anode basket longer. Just wanted to share my findings as you do freely.
Welcome back my mentor, ive already built mine using your design and got 1.6 kilos of Silvet Crystal after 10 days, all thanks to what I have learned from you
@@dalspaugh748 I believe you can use stuff like sterling silver, and other metal with amounts of silver in it. I'm learning to so if anyone knows better, correct me.
Great video, I have built several cells according to your design, and purify copper. I get about 750g per week from each one. I use old computer power supplies, because I have many laying around. I refine copper and melt it for material to use to forge hand made items. Thanks for all the great sharing.
I add impure silver from my gold refining to the anode basket on top of the silver cell and pass current through it. The silver dissolves, pass thru the filter, and deposits on the inside of the stainless steel bowl (the cathode).
@Larry If I just read your comment correctly you use this "silver cell " to purify copper? If that is correct. Did you make any modifications to the design or is it exactly like his setup? If I misunderstood my apologies.
I was just talking to my wife about doing this. Keep up the great content Senior Chief. And any 300 series stainless is non magnetic, but the 400 series is always magnetic.
Holy smokes, thanks for letting us all know how to make such beautiful crystals like you do. Such a detailed vid you gave us all. Much appreciated man!
This refining process is extremely interesting. I recently discovered copper ore, with gold and silver being secondary metals and I have since been interested in how exactly metals are separated from ore. Very cool🤙
Great video. I love learning about precious metal refining at home. I would love to see how you handle your waste and how you dispose of the end waste solutions in one video. Keep up the good work.❤
@@sreetips this is so cool! This was just recommended to me and for once RU-vid did well and I’m fascinated as I have a ton of old busted sterling jewelry I’ve been laughing around… My elderly mom has been pestering me about finding something to do with her 3 sets of sterling 12-setting flatware. Kind of thinking instead of taking a beating at a local metal place, maybe I should try melting and refining using your method…? As this is the first video of yours I’ve watched, I need to watch a few more but wow- thanks for sharing this!! (I need another hobby like a new hole in my head😂). Fascinating!!
I love these videos. As a visual learner , thank you for taking the xtra time of producing this content. I restore vintage mechanical watches , cases, offer plating services, import gemstones and make my own jewelry thru lost wax casting. I own full casting, metalsmith, watchmaker studio. Self taught off of industry standards, principles and methods. Everything you show is a part of the trade I want to develop. I think the first process I want to start is making silver electrolyte. I have everything in here to make the silver cell. Nice constellation by the way. I specialize in vintage omega. I over haul , restore around 12-20 per year.
Hi just want to say I ran across one of your videos yesterday and I'm seeing how to make the silver cell today on a separate video. I am so intrigued with this. I am definitely going to do this. I've never done nothing like this. Before but you make it look somewhat simple. Bless you for sharing this information with the world.
Thanks for making these videos. I've only scratched the surface of what you've uploaded, but you've clearly put a lot of work into these videos. 15 or 20 years ago, a resource like your video catalogue would seem unimaginable outside of a university classroom or an apprenticeship.
I only wish that videos like mine were available twelve years ago when I first started refining. There bits and pieces and critical details were left out. Then referred you to a web site for a fee to get the rest of the process.
Hi, Most folks don't know there are 2 types of stainless steel. One like this and a magnetic type that really isn't stainless at all. They achieve stainless on the addition of nickel and or other white metals in the mix with high carbon steels. This is a great setup. Little time and resorses aside from the power supply to invest in. Ever since meeting you I have wanted to build one of these systems as I create a lot of super fine filings contaminated with a file treatment called "Burr Life" produced by Rio Grande down there in LA. I have accumulated a couple pounds of it over the 6 or 7 years I have been saving it. Not really enough to justify making a system like this but who knows, a possibility in the future eh. If I remember I can send it to you for refining for a cut of the procedes ? Thanks as always. Top notch work here this fine day old friend !
Hi MR sreetips thank you for the greatly detailed educational videos on recovery and refining metals it is a blessing to have this knowledge for personal use. Me personally I’m a new novice and was told in the past that this hobby wasn’t worth it. your videos helped tremendously to prove those acquisitions was wrong. Thank you for serving our country sreetips.
The most relaxing videos, if you added ASMR to the title I am sure you would have way more subscribers which of course you do deserve at least 51 million
@@GokouZWAR weirdos that watch videos. Sometimes they watch them over and over. Which is all RU-vidrs really care about at the end of day. Number of views, number of minutes. Number of ads watched. $$$
I'm honestly interested in the silver cement powder set up you made. Could you do a video going over that? Also thank you for the knowledge. What is pure silver good for exactly? Coins and value? I'm sure jewelery and tableware need to have other elements added to make it more stable or harder
Have you thought about why the silver crystalizes on the cathode? I just think its cool but my guess is that it due to the direction the electrons travel. Our convention is to think of current as flowing from positive to negative but electrons actually flow negative to positive. So, the electrons are entering the electrolyte from the surface of the cathode. The moment they enter the electrolyte, they meet a silver ion. The moment that silver ion accepts an electron, it falls out of solution and since all this is happening in proximity to the cathode surface, which includes the surface of the silver crystals that have already formed, that silver atom falls right into place within the lattice of a silver crystal! 🎉 If I misunderstand anything about this someone please correct me!
I’ve been meaning to ask you, why not use the nearly pure powder silver instead of pure silver in the electrolyte to increase the usage of the impure silver in the system? You seem to have an abundance of that silver. Couldn’t you use nitric acid to dissolve the silver powder for the electrolyte instead of the pure silver Crystal you could be melting down and selling for high profit?
First, I don’t want to sell any silver with the price so grossly and artificially under valued. I keep the silver that I refine. Put it away and forget about it. Silver is not an investment. It’s a store of value and will conserve and protect my purchasing power. Storing wealth in paper dollars is a bad idea. Because they can print dollars “without limit” but they can’t print more silver. As far as using cement silver for the electrolyte, it’s not recommended because it could introduce contamination into the silver cell. I think I used it once when I first got started. But after that I always use pure silver to make the electrolyte. It’s the way I learned it. I’m getting excellent results with this method.
@@sreetips so are you saying you can make silver? I mean if I just had a little bit of silver I can make a bunch more silver out of it. And if that is the case wouldn't it drive the price down.
No, you cannot make more silver from a little silver. That is nonsensical. Silver is an element. However, you CAN purify silver to 999+ and make it investment grade, which is what our gracious host appears to be doing.
Glad you found his channel/knowledge. Been doing this since 91 and started growing diamonds a few yrs. ago.(excellent quality). Enjoy your new found hobby and best wishes
Sreetips, I was driving to Walmart earlier today and was thinking... My 7y.o. son is home from school for spring break and would like to attempt to put metals in and out of solution. Do you have any videos you recommend in your catalog that I could do with my son? Ideally, if you had some YT shorts or any video(s), I could follow along, he could watch from afar, would be great! I have done enough experiments in college to keep him and I safe at a small scale I would work with. I have a few laptops laying around some silver dollars. Anything I could do would be great, my son would absolutely be interested in this. It can be anything as simple as putting a penny in some HCl in a mason jar and tossing some zinc in there to cement it out (I dont know if that would even work). Sorry if this doesnt make sense, half asleep and been meaning to ask you this.
I think that dissolving a 90% silver dime in a test tube with nitric, then adding a piece of copper wire and watching the silver cement out right before your eyes is an awesome reaction to see. It’s seeing that reaction that got me hooked on refining almost 13 years ago. Back then I was able to order a liter of 68% reagent grade nitric acid for a hundred bucks. Can’t imagine what it costs now. The fumes are very bad for human lungs. So the reaction must be done outdoors or in a fume hood. Nitric fumes will cause cramps in your muscles days or weeks after inhaling concentrated levels of those fumes. Nitric fumes also dissolve tooth enamel.
Pure silver bars or coins can be used. Cement silver is not recommended. But I think I used it once to get started. Then save out some crystal from each batch for the next refining.
Master, you opened my eyes of how much I waste just for the Gold process, You taught me within my gold feline, the silver waste, actually covers the shipping cost. You R so Awesome
Sree my friend you give me hope. I'm in a very bad situation in my life. But brother you have given me hope that I can do this and actually get by. Thank you for your lesson and thank you for educating me. You sir are a great man and I thank you for giving me hope
Very amazing. And very well taught on what to do. I'm afraid myself that I will probably not ever try this because of chemicals involved, but none the least, you are awesome and you should have been buddies with Mr. Rogers. He would have loved you in his show. Kids would have come out the woodwork to watch creativity like this. Subbed for sure brother. And yes I'm a silver Stacker.
Really great videos man. I had to watch a couple of your videos to understand that you’re recovering silver in a pure form from silver you previously held in an impure form. Many years ago when I was in college I worked in the darkroom in radiology at the local hospital. The solution we used to develop the films with was loaded with silver from the film. A company would come pick up our old solution every month to get rid of the “hazardous waste”. Even the silver from old films in the patients radiology records were recovered after being inactive for a time. I don’t think they X-rays use films that much anymore except for the portable X-rays and maybe dental X-rays.
I get my silver from local sales. When someone dies, the heirs want to immediately sell the sterling silver and get paid in paper dollars. They actually believe, incorrectly, that paper dollars are more valuable than the silver. And with silver price so grossly and artificially undervalued, we can buy real silver with fake paper dollars (fiat money that can be printed out of thin air). It’s a silver buyers paradise out there right now, for those who know when, where, and what to look for.
I think this is very important and interesting content... especially in the economy we are all in right now and I thank you for sharing your experience and procedures with us.. God bless you
Most people are clueless about gold and silver. They (gold and silver) are real money. But Americans have been conditioned to believe that paper is more valuable. But I think a paradigm shift is coming. Once folks begin to realize that their hard-earned “money” is becoming worthless. And that all their valuations are based on a mountain of debt - they can never be repaid.
10:20 The proper term for this is not filter, it’s diaphragm. This is because it’s not meant to preferentially stop passage of anything. All it does is slow down diffusion so that the solution around the anode can have a somewhat different composition than around the solution outside touching the cathode. This increases efficiency, because you want the cathode solution to be rich in silver ions and the anode area to be depleted in silver ions, and the conduction of the silver ions can be slow compared to their diffusion rate, which has a random direction, and you want to make the silver ions go from anode to cathode, not randomly. So the diaphragm limits diffusion and doesn’t slow down conduction much, and thus it selects for the conduction that you want.
@@sreetips my other account is subed for quite some time now. Been interested in smelting for longer, found u by trying to find basic charcoal forges. Always good content even the old vids.
Thank you for your remote mentorship. I've gone through Hokes literature as you recommended. Definitely the Old Testament on Precious metal refining. One question in dealing with waste stream. After transferring out from my Iron tank, I correct the pH to 7-9 to precipitate all the metals. The sludge just sits in my jumbo urn filters draining very little fluid. Can I drop the pH to 6.5-7.2 after precipitation before filtering to ease the process without causing the precipitate to impregnate the solution? If not, what do you do? I'm uncomfortable disposing of the gelatinous filtrate in my solid waste stream. Should I just wait it out to completely desiccate it or am I just being overly cautious?
I add pH decreaser to pH 7, filter out any solids, then add to the waste drain. For the iron hydroxide solids, I like to wait until they are a moist cake before disposal. The dryer the better.
I love the way you explained things. Most people, when they dominate a topic they talk like every once knows what you're talking about. You explained slowly, real teaching skills. 🎉 Thanks 🙏
Thank you Sreetips. I always learn something from your videos. Question though, I read below that you are stacking silver because it is undervalued. I agree. Why not keep it as sterling then? How would you value your silver crystal if it does not have a stamp on it? I am stacking silver and want to create a silver cell mainly out of curiosity and interest. I am holding onto silver mainly for wealth generation e.g. passing it down to future generations.....Would I be able to sell the silver crystal on after completion of this project?
Because I love refining silver (it’s beautiful). And I’m using it to make videos for my channel. Other than that, there’s no reason to refine your silver. It will track right on up. Your heirs will be glad you did that rather than passing on a pile of worthless paper money.
I got a “D” in the only chemistry class I ever took in my whole life fifty years ago in high school. You don’t have to be a chemist to refine precious metals. But it sure doesn’t hurt.
Okay so this is the most interesting thing i may have ever seen. Im automatically sold and on board. Ive got everything besides the chemicals and then im going to give it a try. Ive watched this video and the one with results too many times then i would like to admit. You are excellent when it comes to instruction and details. I am just curious as to how profitable is this and do people buy just the silver crystals, or do you melt them into bullions? Im willing to compensate you for a little bit more information on the business end of this, if you have time. Much appreciated
I sell a few ounces of crystal on my eBay site. But I’m really not wanting to sell any silver right now. And thankfully I don’t have to sell any. The silver is high purity investment grade pure silver and it can be melted into bars. I used to do that with every bit of pure silver that I produced. But today I don’t have to, so I’m just keeping it. My saving are in silver, that is rising. Not on paper that is declining in value and purchasing power. I don’t refine the silver as you might think. The reason I refine it is because I use the sterling silver to refine gold. Silver is a by product of my gold refining. So I just recover the silver from that, run it through my silver cell, then harvest the silver, put it away and forget about it.
Thanks sreetips your videos are very helpful and educational! Quick question. Can you use copper to bring back the used silver nitrate electrolytes? I seen a video of yours we’re you used muriatic acid to bring back the silver. Also my first silver cell I did I used 998-999 silver for my silver nitrate and my crystal silver once melted had a low percentage like .996-.998. Does silver nitrate need to be made out of 99.99% silver to achieve 99.9%? Thanks again for your hard work making videos
Though when you do process the sterling into pure 999 silver, then poured into bars or coins and numbered. You can then get an Assay company to test, mark and supply paperwork to purity, though I would only do this for a very large quantity due to costs.
May I ask you a technical question , last night . While dissolving Sterling candlesticks and some scrap jewelry I melted down I had some fine purple sediment that I filtered out. When cementing out the silver this morning I noticed a thin layer of purple “ sandwiched “ in the cemented silver layer. Can I filter then rinse with HCL , rinse again. Make shot with this cemented silver and run it through the silver cell?
I just rinse the cement silver with hot water to remove most of the blue copper solution from it. Then dry and melt into shot. Run it through the silver cell. Any gold or PGMs with get trapped in the filter. The only problem is palladium. Being soluble in nitric, it tends to follow the silver. If the acid level in the electrolyte is too high then any palladium in the anode filter could dissolve, pass thru the filter, and start plating out with the silver.
Yes but it’s not recommended because palladium will build up if the same silver is used over and over to inquart the gold. Palladium is soluble in nitric acid and it will follow the silver. High concentrations of palladium can cause problems in the silver cell. The least of which is contaminated silver; palladium is worth about 80 times more than silver.
This is really fascinating😮 Bit too much of a science experiment to do myself for my liking, but the outcome of what I assume will be a silver bar is appealing ! You showed some Stirling cutlery.....is that saleable to a Mint ? If it is I’d start looking in my local thrift shops 😉🙏
I usually come here for ASMR stuff and that's how I get to sleep most might. But now, here we are, thus fella wasn't happy getting us to sleep, He's done given us stuff to DREAM toward. How cool is that??
Will this refining work with 925, or 800 converted to silver shot, or is more refining required prior to pushing through the cell? PS, got hooked on another video of yours and it changed my life. Refining, hunting and stacking and a new perspective. Did a sulfuric boil to silver chloride, etc, turned out great. Appreciate you and the willingness to share this knowledge with the world. 🎉 also, you ever thought about affiliate marketing for some of your preferred gear? You deserve more than ad revenue for the service you provide and you’re well known in the precious metals community from what I can tell. Discounts for us, free gear & $ for you, win win 😊
The impure silver going in should be fairly high purity to begin with. Running 925 or 800 would quickly saturated the electrolyte with copper. High copper concentration in the electrolyte will interfere with silver ions traveling through the electrolyte and it could cause the copper to co-deposit with the pure silver and contaminate it.
As far as affiliate marketing, I get offers daily from advertisers. I know it would mean extra gain for me. But I like to keep it simple. Enjoy myself doing what I love to do. Getting others involved in my hobby complicates matters.
