How to Recover Sterling Silver from Silverware and Melt in a Furnace

Conducted an experiment trying to recover sterling silver from silverware. The handles of these pieces are made of sterling silver and in this video we melt them down and recover the silver as a block at the bottom of our cone mold. This was a fun experiment to do and we ended up with 300 grams of sterling sliver from 12 pieces of silverware!
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[@johnvanegmond1812]

Honey, you know that flatware we got at our wedding that we've never used? I used it.

[@mercedeslluberes50]

Hahaha

[@The66Leadfoot]

I made TWO karambits!

[@johnvanegmond1812]

@@The66Leadfoot I had to look up "karambit". That's hilarious!

[@texas_germanic7073]

Video's like this makes my sterling silver flatware set worth more in the future

[@Macky1101]

I wish I had the same faith as you. I have over 10kg of usable sterling flatware and can't sell them to anyone. Not on ebay, craigslist, kijiji, or anywhere. They will all have to go to scrap soon. even though most look like they're never been used.

[@spocker22]

Meh. Morgan silver dollars are better

[@michaelharrison2165]

Man, you make it look so easy! Thanks for making this video! Very informative.

[@JimFinlayson]

Long time subscriber but just found this one. Right up my alley. Thanks again for sharing.

[@DennisHicks78749]

Another great video by you guys. I love to watch them. As a jeweler, sometimes I want to reprocess my scrap or smelt old jewelry, then reprocess into the shape I need to make what I want. Between this and the cupelling video you have helped me a lot!

[@golftownpro999]

Coolest thing I've seen all week thanks bud 😎

[@MrMENOVA]

Thank you so much this video really helps out for knowing what to do great job man.

[@Ticonderoga12]

Best video I've seen on this, thanks

[@NickyNightShine]

So this was the debut of Cone Mold and Kaowool Furnace, nice!

[@lucianopasladim5085]

Amazing Video Man

[@chrissummerfield9583]

Great video thanks for the share 👍

[@CandSMINING]

Thanks for the video and sharing. Great info.😎👌👌👍👍⛏⛏⚒⚒

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks for watching! Make sure to watch out for our next video!

[@kornkobbler1]

cool vid. love to see the pyramid at the end

[@averagedude76]

Such a cool channel!

[@JimNichols]

I would love to work for you, I understand chemistry somewhat and have worked on a hundred different machines. The work there must never be boring!

[@20melon20]

Awesome melt

[@michaelsinaloense6449]

You hammer really fast. Quite amazing 😄

[@JojohnWick]

Lol too funny😂

[@BackyardProspector]

great video, thanks :)

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for your comment and for watching our videos!

[@jackryan261]

Thank you Jason.

[@bantalee2002]

Were the makers marks stamped on the handle or on the blade or other part of the ware? I know forks and spoons usually stamp makers marks on the reverse side. Cause i have had a few butter knives so old that looked like silver but i could not find makers marks.

[@cindystevensdiy1932]

Yes Red.. im all over it.. I did get the bottles of gold silver platinum test fluid..

[@brandongarcia4179]

I come across similar silverware with no markings hoe can I tell if it’s silver? Thanks! Amazing video

[@boblemon8337]

Does smelting take out the impurities and raise the kt weight?

[@Rezin_8]

There is a few more steps to refine.....once you pull off your slag, drop your "pure" mix into a bucket of PURE OZARKA ice water (TALL BUCKET TO AVOID A MELTED BOTTOM).... Then repeat the process with the tiny silver pellets you got in your bucket.... On your 2nd meltdown add more borax, remove any more slag/impurities by skimming top (should be WAY less slag than the 1st melt) I worked in a shop for a year or so fabricating, designing and scrapping

[@kenmastersmaster]

How do you remove the copper from the sterling

[@ekshoe]

@@kenmastersmaster Cuppelling is how he usually purifies silver/gold. He has several videos showing that.

[@daniellee3831]

How would you cupel this to fine silver?

[@311g]

Do you find that it is easier to sell scrap sterling silver as raw scrap or as ingots?

[@primaldesigns8203]

Do you glaze the crucible before melting the silver

[@LucasBean-pw1ec]

Very cool video. I watched as brain break. I still don't understand adding Flux to the crucible. Very cool will watch more.

[@sparksmcgee6641]

Chemistry. It's removes impurities from the metal

[@mikem9877]

Can Cupellation be used to remove the copper from Sterling Silver??

[@213kidangel]

Such a beautiful piece of history melted away.

[@213kidangel]

A B the design is worth something... that being said- in America people destroy great art all the time... we are very wasteful.

[@mbmmllc]

yeah, but what else do you do with them?

[@moncorp1]

No one wants silverware anymore. It is nothing worth preserving. There is already tons of it in museums. And you think stuff is disposable now? Wait to millennials take over. EVERYTHING is disposable to those morons. They have no sense of history whatsoever. Anything older than five minutes is worthless to them.

[@NwoDispatcher]

@@moncorp1 hopefully that's changing as they age i just rescued 40 lbs of silver plated ware from a scrapyard... It was just laying in a puddle of mudd... as a Millenial, I'd like to think my sense of racism makes me more sentimental of old things, boomer

[@sparksmcgee6641]

​@NwoDispatcher What are talking about??? I'd say someone bragging they're racist let's us know to ignore anything else you say. Proud Bigot in one area lests us know you're that way about everything.

[@HoboMinerals]

I love this video

[@goodfinds3663]

Sweet Video!

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks!

[@Mizai]

What do you do with the slag after

[@axelhoogland9442]

So, what do you do with this after you've melted it?

[@burtonfootballer5408]

The gunk as you refer to it inside the handles on old pieces will be shellac. Newer pieces probably an epoxy style resin that does not crumble so easily when bashed with a hammer

[@wandererg5117]

I've recently been trying to fix some 1980's silver knives where the blades had come half out of the handle (probably because some douche put them into a dishwasher). Only way to get the resin to loosen up was by heating it over a fire until the blades shot out at about 100mph. So I''m guessing epoxy indeed.

[@Dirtyhandscleanmoneys]

Could you cupel after to get a higher purity after melting

[@knyansa1569]

Can you tell me where to get these equipment to melt these metals

[@speckledjim_]

Is there no cheap way of removing the copper from the sterling?

[@kevinwatson5833]

Im curious if you can cupelle to increase the purity

[@thomasjordan5619]

How did you make the pyramid part of that stand? I work at a steel warehouse. I have access to the material!

[@RealLifeFinance]

Way cool videos man. Love your work. This has been on my mind as a hobby for a while...question would the end product still be sterling or would the impurities from sterling slat out with the rest of the junk? Leaving you with pure silver? Thanks in advance

[@mbmmllc]

Would still be sterling, but there was a lot of it in this silver wear!

[@DennisHicks78749]

Doh! Spell check strikes again! Should be silver ware.

[@Qysdjjfdkm]

@@mbmmllc could you use a cuppel to turn it from Sterling to pure silver?

[@colejosephalexanderkashay683]

Probably less than sterling because manufacturers liked to cheap out and many knife handles have lead or solder in them

[@boblindstrom3479]

@@DennisHicks78749 uh, silver ware is one word: silverware.

[@SuzyQ777]

You have a lot, nice!

[@howardharaway2259]

I hope you respond to all questions. I do commercial HVAC. I have been collecting compressor,and blower contactors. They have copper coils which add up . I have 3 home depot buckets full. My question is, is there silver on the contact points and is it worth extracting it . I also think old circuit breakers have silver too but not sure. Is it worth it ? I have spare time in the colder months to sit in my garage taking stuff apart.

[@mbmmllc]

Not sure on that one. Maybe take them to your local scrap yard and see if they have an XRF gun and get them tested

[@josephpecoul6532]

Did you say the oz's for the weight before burning

[@theadjuster151]

Where do I get a crucible? Can I make one? I'm pretty handy.

[@christopherkeillor9728]

How to separate the silver from the other metals in sterling silver cannot find this information online for some reason I am not tech-savvy

[@corysmith2757]

Do you borax the cone mold?

[@colinjohnstone6469]

Since sterling silver is 92.5% pure do you put it in a cupel with lead to get the copper and other stuff out?

[@johnmartin9920]

Great question. Hope he has a video of how to do that too.

[@BeeBee-dd2rr]

So is the end result silver or sterling silver?

[@DiscoTrickle]

Any tips on how to refine it/remove the copper? Which chemicals are needed?

[@matthewgrutzmacher224]

Nitric acid if you can get it or you can use sulphuric acid . Both are very dangerous!!! Make sure you do your homework! All this video is doing is melting spoons into a bar, still has all the copper

[@rickmilburn2447]

I have old silver coins that burned in my gun safe during wildfire. I have about 30 lbs. Would this work to capture the silver content?

[@snarky_user]

It will only change the form: burned ugly silver coins of various impurities into an ugly poured ingot of homogeneous impurity. Further work needed to refine it, which could just as easily be done in their present condition. If your intention is to clean the pile up for the purpose of selling it, then the above is wasted effort. Refiners will happily melt your pile, assay it, and pay you accordingly.

[@fourwheelingforgems5940]

What about silver plated flatware? Is it worth separating the silver?

[@RyanZinn-lh2bx]

No, absolutely not - it's nothing more than silver dust.

[@geneburlette7307]

Hi Jason, I was hoping you could answer a question for me since I also melted some Sterling silver (salt and pepper shakers). If you were to cupel that button with lead, would it increase the purity? Thanks, Gene

[@mbmmllc]

Yep, that should work

[@geneburlette7307]

@@mbmmllc thank you so much big brother!

[@johnmartin9920]

What would the purity be after that and do you have a video of you doing all of that, the powder you use to get the black stuff off and then making it more pure With lead so I can see how all that done?

[@wallypaige8496]

How much was that worth?

[@agarmonkey]

Nice I do the same wanted to know I wasn't crazy its cheaper than acid

[@mbmmllc]

Great! Thanks!

[@joshua.snyder]

Props for using the crudest furnace ever.

[@johnmartin9920]

Would that be .999 pure silver now?

[@bobbertbobby3975]

Just a word for folks who might consider this. I worked part time in the summer for my Uncle who worked in a salvage yard when i was a teen. I found out that the ppl in the salvage biz really frown on folks bringing in melted down sterling silver such as this. Cause USUALLY, not always, the silverware on its own has more value than the raw silver weight. and the only reason to melt down silverware like that is 1 it is damaged badly and 2 its stolen. so if you do this and then take it to a salvage place or a pawn shop..dont be surprised if they turn ya away.

[@Macky1101]

Pawn shops and other "reseller" will only pay 20% to 40% of what its scrap value because they want to pay you peanuts and sell it at max profits. It is actually more profitable to scrap the silver than sell it to dealers and pawn shops. I know because I've checked around looking to unload my sterling collection.

[@EddieLopez711]

Can't you melt the steel?

[@davidbixler6532]

So wait you did calculate for the brass or copper that the plate is on right cuz you should of got closer to 20grams of silver

[@samueladams584]

How were you able to tell the handles were made of silver

[@haleiwahi27]

You can either acid test them or most chance they have "sterling" stamped on the handle in an inconspicuous place.

[@kurtremislettmyr7108]

Can you refine the silver somehow by smelting?

[@omaraki01]

you need nitric acid for pure 100% silver

[@ricmadthesilverslayer9281]

What is the flux that you use? Also how do you get fine silve from sterling? I'm new to this

[@kelvenguard]

he said borax at 2:35

[@mbmmllc]

Borax, and nope you still end up with sterling silver, just all in one piece

[@kelvenguard]

@@mbmmllc what is Nope... I'll research

[@Jremo1979]

You don't get fine silver. This is not refining. This is just melting. Which actually makes harder to refine. This process does nothing to help anyone and is a complete waste of time.

[@NwoDispatcher]

Smash it as flat as you can get it or shave it into powder then you can do chemistry. Or if you can hold it at an exact temperature, hold it where silver is molten and copper isnt

[@milesaway3422]

Awesome video! If I wanted to do this with my silverware, where would I take it? Or what kind of professional do I seek out?

[@JemSquash94]

Don't. Silverware is worth more than melted 925

[@glasius22]

@@JemSquash94 But what if it's silver plated and the platting's comming apart... I mean like the things this guy showed, ugly stuff

[@snarky_user]

@@JemSquash94 really? I want to sell you some then.

[@snarky_user]

(Mostly replying because of the pug pic.) Depends upon your intention. If you want to sell it, the refiner doesn't care what condition the silver is in. They will either make an educated guess as to content on small lots, or melt a larger pile and make an assay. Seeing the sterling marks on the original pieces may make small piles more saleable to some buyers; more certainty than a lump of unmarked metal. If you want to keep the silver, but want it "pretty" and pure, the refiner could probably swap refined metal for your scrap. You will take a significant haircut, because you'll be paying for his services plus a production premium of whatever end product you choose.

[@snarky_user]

@@JemSquash94 I'm still waiting. I've got just shy of 6 kilos ready to go.

[@20melon20]

Those stainless blades can be recycled into carving knives 😉👍

[@kouroshjavanbakht3790]

Nice work Jason. You can always run that piece in a silver cell to get 4 nine silver.

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for your comment and for watching our videos!

[@CoinSilver800]

the bane of the precious metal buyer, weighted handles! Ideally you should just remove the filler as it can be Plaster, "Pine Resin" (that brown stuff from your handles), Lead, Sand, tar, or a almost hard Plasticine/clay type material (usually when found it's in sterling mirrors and brushes) What you did works but it is very hard on your crucible not to mention not the greatest ideas to do if your handles are weighted with lead. Sand easiest just remove handle and dump out sand, Plaster is a pain because you have to really smash the handles all over and dump it out "Pine Resin" and the Clay/Plasticine like material can be done by smashing them with a hammer but you have to be careful to only hit it a few times and then try to dump what is loosened and repeat because if you try to smash it all in one go the material turns to goop and is literally like pine resin to clean up from your hands and remove from the sterling handle. tar is as far as I'm concerned the biggest headache because you cant smash the handles because they instantly turn the solidified tar back into black goop. your best bet for them is to remove the blade and then try to burn the tar off but that also gives off a decent amount of smoke so a real catch 22. Lead you just have to slowly from the blade side heat up SLOWLY and eventually the blade will loosen enough so that you can remove it and then again SLOWLY heat up towards the end of the handle. WARNING! if you try to heat the end of the handle without removing the stainless steel blade the handle WILL explode. No may explode IT WILL EXPLODE and you will have molten lead flying everywhere. I save all my lead handles after being processed to be processed alone at the refinery company I use because they are contaminated with lead and some refineries don't like to process silver that has been contaminated by lead.

[@Meaty33]

I buy precious metals all the time and personally i love getting weighted handles. From taking them apart for around 15 years the most efficient method i have is just hammer and chisel. Chisel a line down the middle, open up the gap with the chisel and dump out the contents. As for lead exploding i find this to not happen if you chisel a line on the non-leaded part of the handle to create air flow ( sometimes theres also filler in this part thats not lead so dump that out) then heat it up through the silver with map gas. Always use tongs to hold it and necessary gloves etc and make sure you have a bucket to catch the stainless and lead. Also as a quality of life improvement i always keep a large 2 pronged fork on hand to aid pulling out the stainless on some annoying ones. In terms of contamination this is easily solved by heating up the silver to 330 C which is the lead melting point and since silver melts much higher the lead will melt right off. I hope this helps, Rob

[@BigDaddyJL89]

Smart man

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks for the great info!

[@NYRM1974]

I have about 6 lbs of sterling silver flatware and I'm going to do the same thing melted down into a block

[@farukhagwan8577]

Sir steel ke bartan par chandi ki polish kese Kare please sir video bnaye please sir

[@Justmyopinionlol]

those sterling handled pieces don´t deserve to be destroyed like this. but then again, they are useless on the after market.

[@RealLifeFinance]

I was like Noooooo they are so beautiful...then 300grams....yay...thats okay!!! 😂

[@mbmmllc]

yeah, but what else do you do with them?

[@joedesmond4245]

@@mbmmllc use them

[@pieterp.774]

There are always people missinng some parts and serching for it.

[@Caderic]

@@mbmmllc This stuff is worth more on the market as silverware than melted down. There is ALWAYS some one looking for a lost piece.

[@richardmckinney4963]

Now take the button put into dilute Nitric acid then when the silver is in solution add a copper rod and pure silver will appear on the copper rod.

[@MainEventMinistry]

I hope you checked the pattern

[@raymondcarter1137]

Great but that Ingot is worth how much? If it’s less than 30 bucks it seems like a waste of time.

[@primaldesigns8203]

300 grams of sterling silver is worth $217.43

[@twisttwister8254]

Great video that was cool. Thanks

[@SomervilleBob]

I peel them. Living in the city, I can't bash stuff too loudly.

[@moncorp1]

Yeah, cause cities are so quiet.

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for your comment and for watching our videos!

[@richardmckinney4963]

Filled sterling

[@hamsterman2008]

Where do I find old Silverware ?

[@20greeneyes20]

Goodwill , second hand stores flea markets yard sales. It all out there. Know what your looking for

[@apefromthekitchen]

why not purify it?

[@redinthethevalley]

Look out for the influx of people who will be wanting to learn this in the coming days 😂

[@frantiseklaluch6605]

Right, I am one of them... 🙂

[@RunningOnAdd]

Would it burn my fingers if I touched it while it was orange colour

[@ArtbyLuke]

no

[@modmoto6016]

how ill you burn your hand on orange juice? It is not even bubbling, so should be below 100 degrees for sure

[@glenndelong2503]

Not at all, make sure to take a sip before hand as well genus!!!

[@jedijeff5732]

I melt scrap like this in my kitchen with a small crucible and a blow torch and then poor it directly into a graphite mold. Comes out much nicer. Those handles are pretty much 100% sterling silver. Smelting them with borax is completely unnecessary.

[@510Redneck]

He's just using the borax to drive off the impurities into the slag (the "putty" stuff that he mentioned was on it)

[@soufimustapha3486]

Where so i sell it

[@ThatDashingDasher]

contact your local jewelers they are always looking for silver.

[@tkeo12]

as a "silverware" it costs much more than the "recovered" silver "button"

[@TheMyradin]

no one wants granny's silver set anymore, this is a good way to get rid of items that are overly pitted, tarnished, etc

[@Reds3DPrinting]

Easy 280 bcukoos!

[@bjoernaltmann]

Scrappers are like those who would paint a Chippendale chest of drawers white.

[@nathanstephens6971]

Nope, I also refinish worthy furniture. But mostly, yes, LoL ☮️

[@ellesbells902]

I gotta go thrifting and garage saling

[@kornkobbler1]

9.6oz of silver, i think. not bad

[@dannyteebone9233]

All the people on eBay saying Shiat!!! I was paying by the gram and today’s silver price for mostly steel!

[@chevy6299]

$157.178571429, not bad for a half hours work.

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for your comment and for watching our videos!

[@eleventeenmachine5991]

I found some knives had what looked like bits of asbestos in the handles. Didn't take any chances and dropped them off at the proper place. Always want to be safe.

[@amandagepford1279]

Okay now I just need to know how to make this damn thing so I can make my own rings I have a lot of silverware that is real sterling silver and it just sits in the boxes I want to make rings out of it

[@Justmyopinionlol]

on ebay these silver dealers want $25+ for a knife which is a total rip off lol

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for your comment and for watching our videos!

[@LivingInTheShade]

No... That beautiful cutlery destroyed.

[@CitizenNerd]

nice that like 200 euro right there

[@1zcon]

Bout a $250 piece of silver right there sonn

[@venictos]

Why is it still 92.5% silver after you melt it and separate the slag? Otherwise, really cool video man. I just discovered your channel.

[@ColCurtis]

92.5% silver + 7.5% cooper = 925 sterling silver. The copper makes the silver harder and not wear as fast.

[@venictos]

@@ColCurtis interesting, i didnt realize that the copper wouldn't be separated! Thanks for the info!

[@redbaronrefining5322]

Only way to properly separate is chemically. For whatever reason people tend to think that by just melting metals, the different weighted layers will separate, however, that is not the case except for a small amount. With this specifically, I would use dilute nitric acid, on low heat, add the silver pyramid into the acid, and heat until it’s dissolved. Filter out any slag or leftovers until just clean solution (most likely slightly blue or green because of the copper). Once you have the clean solution, add a large piece of copper, and watch as the silver chloride forms and precipitates onto the copper bar. Leave until all silver has come out of solution, filter, and spray down copper bar to remove any leftover silver. At this point you have relatively pure silver, but not .999 fine. You’d have to grow silver crystals in a silver cell (another process) to get it pure enough to be called .999 silver.

[@mbmmllc]

Yes, I just melted it. Didn't do any refining.

[@fredwalters3210]

@@mbmmllc using the nitric acid, if done right, will give you .999 silver. But if it comes out .997, who cares.

[@edwardk3]

I don't get it, you got 300g of sterling silver? I thought the while point was you wouldn't have sterling silver anymore

[@ileaddeaths]

Bing bing bing bing bing brrrrrrrr

[@whywouldicare8618]

Did you use borax or something

[@Caderic]

Yes, he said it in the video several times.

[@whywouldicare8618]

@@Caderic don’t watch his videos

[@whywouldicare8618]

@@Caderic preference is at the bench

[@Caderic]

@@whywouldicare8618 What are you talking about? You make no sense.

[@whywouldicare8618]

@@Caderic lmfao I was saying I don’t watch this guys videos much I think only seen this one lol I watch the channel at the bench 😂😂

[@ktrout17i70]

Now knock of the pure silver button from the top of that.