How to melt gold at home on a gas stove (burner), in aqua regia and how much does remelting cost?

Every jeweler, beginner or experienced, has a question in his head: how to melt gold at home. This is not as simple as it seems, because there are many pitfalls and nuances that should be taken into account by an individual who wants to engage in the business in question. For example, the metal should not be brittle and porous, as it turns out due to the action of oxygen on gold.

Let's figure out how to melt gold correctly. The question of how much remelting costs will also be raised.

What is needed for smelting

To melt this noble metal, you need the following:

Crucible. Pure gold melts at temperatures exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius. Not everyone has a working container - a crucible - that can cope with such heat. But it can be replaced with raw potatoes. It is necessary to cut a hole in the tuber and put gold there. A container of natural origin will cope perfectly with melting.
Forceps. Heat-resistant tongs are an essential tool when melting gold. They will have to touch the crucible frequently.
A mixture of sodium carbonate and borax. It is used to make flux, which is added to gold before the smelting process. It takes two pinches of flux to clean every ounce of gold. The dirtier the noble metal, the greater the amount of this substance required for cleaning. Flux can also be made from baking soda and bicarbonate. When adding a substance, the contact between gold particles improves, and all impurities are better removed from the metal when it is heated.
Oven or microwave. There is an option to purchase an electric furnace to melt metals or use a microwave. The latter must have a power of more than 1000 W, with a magnetron located on the side or behind the equipment.

There are furnaces sold at inexpensive prices that are specially made for melting metals. Such a device is designed for mixing several minerals at once, for example, gold, silver, aluminum, copper.

Attention! The microwave in which the precious metal was melted can no longer be used for domestic purposes. That is, heating and defrosting food.

If there is no oven or microwave, you must use a gas burner.

Scrap melting (process)

You need to be prepared for the fact that there will be a lot of impurities in scrap gold. Sometimes their amount in the metal reaches 25%. Such scrap is not suitable for figure casting, but you can work with it using the printing method (that is, heat and stretch).

First, you need to sort the scrap by color. The more copper it contains, the redder its hue.
To speed up the melting process, it is recommended to divide the scrap into small pieces.
Next, you need to carefully sprinkle flux inside the crucible and put the precious metal there. You need to start with larger items (if you need to melt a lot of things), and add smaller ones as the process progresses.
So, when the gold objects are laid out in the crucible, the latter is placed inside the furnace and wait until the gold becomes completely molten.
Then you should pour the resulting substance into molds. And after that, immediately harden the metal with water or alcohol so that products made of metal become stronger.

But what to do if you only have a gas burner made by yourself?

Melting with a torch

If you do not have a furnace at home, but you need to melt down a gold item, you can do this using a gasoline burner. To make it you will need:

air injector and sprayer from any household appliance, for example, a spray gun or chemical sprayer;

sealant;

hoses;

jar with a closing lid;

foot driven car pump.

Melting gold with a gas torch
To assemble the device, do the following:

Cut two holes for hoses in the top of the can.
One hole for the hose from the pump, the other for the spray gun.
We pour gasoline into the can, pump air into the can and fill the holes with sealant. The mixture of air and gasoline will be sprayed only from the injector nozzle; the remaining holes must be closed.

If everything is ready, we ignite the stream of mixture coming out of the injector and adjust it, the color of the middle of the flame should be blue. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to melt gold at home using a gasoline burner:

We treat the crucible with borax and place the scrap there.
Fill it with alcohol and set it on fire, after the alcohol burns out, place it on a fireproof material, for example, a brick.
We light and adjust the burner, melt the scrap over an open fire. When the alloy burns out and the base metal is completely melted, pour the molten gold into the mold. Cool quickly with water.

A very real and easy task is smelting scrap gold using a torch. However, you should not use a gas welding machine for these purposes, as it will simply evaporate all the gold.

Making a homemade burner

First, let's look at how to create a gas burner. To do this you will need the following materials:

injector;
sprinkler from sprayer;
automobile pump;
sealant;
tin can with lid.

It is necessary to visually divide the jar with the lid horizontally in half, and make two holes for the hoses in the upper part of it. Insert the pump hose into one of them, and the hose leading to the sprinkler into the other. Next, connect the latter and seal the holes.

To check whether the container is sealed or not, you should pour a little gasoline into the jar and start pumping air. Ideally, it should fly out of the sprinkler hole. If this happens, you can start melting at home.

Melting metal using a torch

Using a gas torch, you can melt metal in a matter of minutes.

First you need to sprinkle the crucible with borax (flux), then put the scrap in there, which has already been crushed. The more borax, the lower the temperature required to melt.

Next, pour in alcohol, set it on fire and wait until it burns out completely. It must be remembered that the crucible must be placed on a refractory area.

Turn on the burner and adjust it so that the edges of the flame are yellow and the middle is blue. The process is carried out using an open fire, so the crucible cannot be heated quickly. A crack may appear on it. The procedure is carried out slowly and evenly. The flame is kept at a distance of several centimeters from the metal.

The redder the metal, the lower the burner should be lowered to it. This is necessary so that all the ligature from the metal disappears, and parts of the material are melted down faster.

At the end of the procedure, the precious metal is poured into molds and hardened with water.

Melting gold at home with a gas torch

Silver is one of those valuable metals that is actively used for making jewelry, cutlery, and also as spare parts for technical devices, so some owners of such wealth often wonder how to melt silver at home for the purpose of its subsequent remelting.
Carrying out such manipulation at home is somewhat difficult, but nevertheless possible. If the amount of silver is not large, then there will be enough space for melting it even in the kitchen. The main thing in this process is the availability of the necessary materials and tools, as well as adherence to order when performing the procedure. Metal smelting involves the transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid state when exposed to high temperature. When deciding to melt silver at home, you need to take into account that this process is inextricably linked with the need to convert the molten metal into a solid state. Therefore, you need to prepare a mold for hot silver in advance - ingus. The metal undergoing smelting is called charge.

Silver smelting can be done in several ways. This allows you to use different tools for work. Let's look at materials that may be useful for melting silver at home:

A piece of silver;
Sheet asbestos;
Gasoline or gas burner;
Scales;
Muffle furnace;
Microwave oven;
A step-down transformer;
Charcoal or carbon-graphite powder;
Borax for charge;
Fire-clay.

If we briefly describe how silver smelting occurs at home, it looks like this:

A smelter is made from a spoon;
Its surface is treated with flux;
The direct process of heating the charge until it transforms into a molten state.

Melting down pure gold

Unlike scrap, pure gold can be melted down in a barbecue with thick walls.

We light coals in it and place a crucible there with metal pre-cut into small pieces. You need to monitor the fire every minute and periodically blow it. When the metal is completely melted, it is poured into molds.

Tips for Beginners on Melting Pure Gold

You cannot melt precious metal on a kitchen stove, as there is a high risk of starting a fire. Gold smelting is carried out either in a room specially designed for this procedure, or in a courtyard at a summer cottage (for example). Definitely need a table.
Beginners are advised to consult an expert before the procedure.
The individual must follow safety precautions, so he must wear a mask and goggles to protect his face. You should wear heat-resistant gloves and an apron when working.
There should be nothing flammable near the melting point. This also applies to interior decoration elements.
Beginning “masters” without experience should not immediately take on gold of the highest standard, as there is a high risk of spoiling it. You should start with 999 fine bullion, which can be purchased at any state bank. As for the crucible, you can buy it in online stores.
To prevent pure gold from becoming brittle and porous, which will definitely happen to it because oxygen gets into the metal, it is necessary to shake it before pouring the liquid metal into the mold and only then quench it with water or alcohol.
You cannot melt precious metal using a gas welding machine. After all, they only melt steel - the gold will simply evaporate.
If the procedure takes place in artisanal conditions, not in a crucible, but in a potato tuber, then a hole is made in it and borax is poured into it. And only then do they begin to melt the metal.
24 carat gold is very malleable. Therefore, to make it stronger, it is necessary to alloy it with another metal.

Tip 3: How to melt gold

If you decide to melt down a small piece of gold at home in order to give it to a jeweler, or for some other reason you need to carry out this operation, you can absolutely do it yourself at low cost. You will need some time, a few primitive tools, and a small introductory instruction.

Remelting cost

Not many people think about starting a business by melting gold. But this is quite a profitable business.

There are many situations when, for example, a capricious lady does not like the shape of jewelry, or the size is not suitable. That's why many people order their jewelry melted down.

How much does it cost to melt gold? Experienced craftsmen name the cost depending on the weight of the jewelry. Therefore, it is not advisable to melt down jewelry that weighs no more than three grams. It's easier to fix - it will be cheaper. Items weighing more than 10 grams are usually sent for melting.

The cost of melting gold of the lowest standard is 500-600 rubles per gram.

The worst gold is found in cheap Chinese or Turkish jewelry. Few people would agree to do such hard work. The best sample is considered to be 585. The more qualified the master, the more he charges for his services. On average, the price ranges from 1200 to 1700 rubles per gram.

Interestingly, during the remelting process, the product evaporates by 10%. This happens due to metal splashing during melting and volatilization during remelting.

Remelting gold, the price of which is minimal, will take longer: the worse the quality of the metal, the more impurities it contains, which will take several hours to remove.

Table 1 - cost of gold smelting depending on the sample (Moscow prices)

Try	Cost of regular execution (RUB/g)	Cost of urgent execution (RUB/g)
375	500	650-700
500	700	910
583	1200	1560
585	1400-1500	1820-1950

Useful tips

In order not to encounter difficulties, you should adhere to some rules and recommendations during the process of melting down gold products. Experienced jewelers advise the following:

For melting, it is better to purchase a special crucible. Most often it is made from clay or graphite.
To avoid possible burns, it is advisable to wear gloves, a mask and use metal tongs in advance.
If it is not possible to purchase a crucible, then you can use fresh and raw potatoes. But first you need to make a hole in it.
Before melting, it is necessary to clean the surface of objects; this can be done using a special flux, which is sold publicly in specialized stores. They can be of different shapes, so it is possible to choose the most convenient device. Flux helps improve contact between gold items, allowing them to fuse better.
When carrying out the procedure, safety precautions must be observed, since the work takes place at a very high temperature.
The room in which it is planned to remelt must be absolutely safe; a garage, outbuildings or open verandas are best suited for this. But there should be no flammable substances or objects near the workplace.
As a form, you can use any container made of the same material as the crucible. It can be square, cylindrical or rectangular; this factor does not play a special role.

As you can see, there are simple ways in which you can independently melt gold, silver and other precious metals at home. To do this, you can mount a stove with your own hands or assemble a gasoline burner. The main thing is to comply with all requirements and follow some tips.