Making my own gold ring from scratch

Hello all, in this video I show some of the process while I make my own pure gold ring using gold I mined. This all started when I was asked to make a wedding ring for a friends bride to be. After laughing at the idea I should make it;(laughing cause it seemed like a horrible idea that a guy with no experience make something as important as a wedding ring) I thought about how I could do it. Then I did it & was shocked that with some effort I was able to make it! While I can't show off that ring until after the wedding(bride hasn't seen it) I am able to show the second ring I made, this one for myself, I made it from scratch, and I mean from scratch, I first mined all the gold(a lot from just panning) then I smelted(purified) the gold then made a mold and cast the ring in one piece, while the first ring went smoothly my ring gave me lots to learn from while I was remaking my failed attempts. While I did end up with a great end result, I did have to get help with soldering a crack that I couldn't get rid of, so thanks to Delamont jewellers here in Cranbrook BC. I've already been asked to make another ring for a wedding anniversary so I'll be able to show more of the process in future videos. I hope you enjoy watching my video & hope it gives you the confidence to try something you never did and learn at the same time. Please subscribe if you haven't so I know people want to see more of my videos.

[@albertasasky3723]

So Awesome!! 👍🏻👍🏻 👏🏻👏🏻😎Thank you for sharing your journey!

[@dawnthemetaldetective3083]

Beautiful done!

[@BackyardProspector]

Thats pretty cool. Great job! Thanks for sharing.

[@TheGoldPanner]

That's awesome James! Great work! Have you considered trying out lost wax casting or maybe sand casting? It might work better than graphite, graphite is an excellent material for sapping heat out of whatever material is touching it and and that rapid cool down could be contributing to your cracking issues. I have to be mindful of it with my glass work as well for the same reason.

[@TheNuggetHunter]

Yes I have, and I chose this method for several reasons, the cracking was cause I was using placer gold with no alloy that is not totally pure, it’s not like working with 99.99% gold, this is the best way for me with the equipment I got, when I get a new furnace with temp control I can to “pour” type casting

[@MrAntifascista23]

Are you making a 24k ring? It's pretty common to crack at that purity, in Italy they make them 18k and in Dubai they really push it up to 21k but usually only for earrings or stuff that doesn't touch the skin. Maybe I'm just ranting and you're not using pure gold, but make sure you use a compound, most rings in the us are 14k, i think you can make better without it cracking

[@TheNuggetHunter]

Ya that one of my probs, I'm doing 22-23.75k

[@MrAntifascista23]

@@TheNuggetHunter ok, good luck 🤞 i believe you need to find a workable alloy to make it possible. My previous comment is not correct btw, it's not gold that cracks but the presence of mineral impurities. I would try to make sure my gold is at the highest purity and then work it down with the alloy metal from there. Do you have any idea of the composition of your nuggets? I foresee an interesting chemical study in your journey. Very cool experiments, good luck again