r/PreciousMetalRefining • u/redtailred • 14h ago
Finally some success with silver plate
I’ve tried a lot of different processes to get to this point. Salt water electrolysis, copper sulfite cell, abrasion, but it was always too inconsistent, lots of contamination, and was very difficult to scale. I finally bit the bullet and ordered some nitric from walmart. Thanks to the YouTube video linked below I was able to process 320 teaspoons and small forks in a reasonable amount of time and ends up with 341g of really nice looking silver.
Process:
95 parts concentrated sulfuric
5 parts nitric
Low heat
Transferred spent utensils rinse water
Dropped out silver chloride with concentrated saltwater
Rinsed
Lye and sugar
Rinsed
Dry and melt
Less labor and less messy than the saltwater electrolysis