Q&A for How to Melt Silver

It is not recommended because the mold might not fit the amount of silver that you are melting and you could have some spill out.

Yes, they will typically help you reach higher temps quicker.

The "non-silver" items would come out as the "slag" mentioned in the article, and the way to calculate purity is to determine the volume, through displacement, and calculate the density as a ratio of weight/volume, and compare that to the scientific density of silver.

This happens very often. Chances are, your home furnace or blow torch won't be able to reach temps high enough to damage the alloy.

Plaster or ceramics are really good materials to use for mold. Ceramics especially are relatively easy to work with and are easy to work with and are durable.

Melt borax in it, assuming it's ceramic. Graphite crucibles don't need to be seasoned.

The likely reason is that it isn't being heated to a high enough temperature. Any metal being cast must be raised a good bit above the melting point so that it remains liquid for the time it takes to pour it into the mold, since the mold will cool the metal as it is being filled.

Fluxes for silver is an absolute must; if you don't use it, the silver will cling to the impurities. The flux is extremely important for the pouring process.

It is possible that your molten silver was contaminated with chemicals or there are still impurities in it. Remelting it at a higher temp might be able to solve this problem.

Pawn shops, online websites, or people in your community will certainly be interested in buying your silver.

It's just a layer of oxidation caused by heat; sand paper should correct the problem.

No, this process is to melt objects which are pure silver. Brass melts at a lower melting point than silver, so if you try to melt silver plating off of a brass object, you will destroy the brass object before the plating melts. You might want to consider a chemical process if you need to remove silver plating from a brass object.

You can find a variety of molds through online retailers.

No. You have probably seen items like shells wholly or partially dipped in copper, silver, or gold in many online stores. None of these can be created using the melting technique that is described here, as molten precious metals can't just stick to any item and form around them. To achieve that sort of look, you should use electroplating or electroforming.

You can determine the weight of your final product by placing it on a digital scale or triple beam balance. These are available for purchase at a number of places in your local community and online. Be sure the scale you are using is capable of measuring to the tenth of a gram (0.1g) at least, if not the hundredth of a gram (0.01) to ensure the accuracy. Scales that only weigh in whole grams are NOT accurate enough to determine a troy oz. A troy ounce is 32 grams exactly. You will inevitably loose some weight during the smelting process to evaporation, burn-off, skimming off the slag, spillage, and the tiny bit that might get stuck in your crucible. So start with more than 32 grams of silver.

Silver will still melt without the use of flux, although without a flux, the impurities caused from the melting process would be difficult to remove.

No, unless you plan on producing a certain look which would require the metal to be more malleable.

If you have oxyacetylene or oxygen propane available, then by all means use that. I have been using mapp gas for years now and have had great success. Mapp gas burns hotter than just plain propane torches, so it's superior in my opinion.

Yes, it is still silver but not pure. It is called sterling silver which is 80%-90% silver and 10%-20% copper and other non-precious metals.

You'll need a forge, a well-ventilated area cleared of combustibles, some dispensable silver, protective equipment, a handy fire extinguisher, and the careful adherence to fire safety precautions. Try to stay away from curtains, clear your children and pets from the area, and consider rolling back the carpet.

Absolutely. The melting point of iron is well above that if silver, so the iron should be able to withstand the molten metal. Now, here's the trick: you need to get that iron skilled to nearly a thousand degrees Celsius before the silver will melt. Your kitchen stove top might get close to that temperature, but without a complete insulated ceramic or fiberglass housing, the silver will never reach 1,000 °C. Also, there's this problem: iron is pretty highly thermally conductive. This means that when it gets hot in one place, that heat moves to another place that is less hot. Without having a kiln of some kind to concentrate the heat you are generating, the iron skillet will do nothing.

Any element or compound you have ever known has a melting point, as well as a boiling point, including silver. When it melts, it experiences a phase shift from solid to liquid. Making that shift takes even more energy than simply getting the silver hot. You have to get it past the phase shift point. If it is melting, then it is liquid. Sounds like you are simply not heating it enough and are getting slush.

Yes. Most definitely. Check online for the melting temperature of plastic, or PLA resin. Then compare with the F/C temperature showing on the graphic above.

Borax acts as a catalyst. It assists the melting process, but does not enter into the compound.

Refining small quantities of silver would be cost prohibitive in a commercial setting.

Most "silverware" is actually stainless steel or, at best, silver plate. If your silverware is stamped .925 (sterling silver) or higher, you can melt it down and recast it but solid silver silverware is rare and getting rarer. It may be worth more intact to a collector than it would be to melt it down. If it has burned in a wildfire, it'll be mostly gone.

Always use a separate crucible for different types of metal so you will not cause cross-contamination.

This borax is helpful in melting the metal and it helps in separating the waste from the melted metal.

Use a pinch at a time, repeating if slag still remains; it doesn't take much. I use this when melting scrap silver for broom casting (only when using a crucible). No borax is needed when using a melting furnace.

Take the jewelry, melt it. Add more silver (inquartation). Pour the silver/gold mixture directly into a bucket of water, use a metal bucket. You want make corn lake-like material in the water bucket. Take corn flaked material (silver and gold) and move to a glass beaker. Fill glass beaker 30% with de-ionized water, slowly add 100 mL of nitric acid. Warning: contents will begin to heat, make sure you use a large enough beaker that there is 50% open space. Also, be sure to do this reaction outside, as brown NOx gas will form. Gently heat the beaker to a boil. Liquid should turn blue/green and give off brown gas. When reaction ends, cool liquid and pour off blue liquid (AgNO3). Repeat until no blue.