Stripping Silver plated items for Silver Recovery part 1

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stripping silver plated dishes and flatware I have gathered over the summer going to rummage sales.

[@CB-68-westcreations]

If your gloves are any type of a nitril, keep them away from anything to do with nitric acid. They can actually ignite the gloves and severely injure you. Best gloves for acid work would be real silicone

[@leewhite1969]

Question, maybe an experiment. In another video you used potassium nitrate in the place of nitric to make aqua regia. Could you use the potassium nitrate here instead of nitric to do the same process?

[@SilverStoll]

I will have to try that. Would be really interesting!

[@leewhite1969]

@@SilverStoll I would love to see it. I may be giving it a try my self but would be good to know if it works before doing it.

[@leewhite1969]

@@SilverStoll I tried this last night and it does work fairly well with a few issues. I started with about 200ml H2SO4 and added about 50g KNO3. After letting it warm up and mix it stripped silver great. After a few items it seemed to loose its potency so I added more acid and KNO3. The filter after was the worst part. There was a ton of white slime, not sure if it was undissolved KNO3 or just a byproduct of the reaction. The solution contained the silver so I’ll test the slime at a later time.

[@SilverStoll]

@leewhite1969 those white slimes maybe silver sulphate. Boil them in distilled water with copper in it as well. If it's silver it will start to cement. It has to be boiling

[@leewhite1969]

@@SilverStollI will give that a try when I get home today while I am converting the silver chloride.

[@apprenticebirdcarver8733]

Good warnings

[@SilverStoll]

Thank you!

[@Fredpotts]

Maybe Pewter???

[@SilverStoll]

It was actually silver sulphate! I did a second video(very short) how I processed it.

[@frankzahn7773]

If you want to know all the things you are doing wrong, let me know. I've been doing this for many years with good results.

[@garymyers6638]

I want to know what he did wrong. I felt like he was making it harder on himself and the materials part of it he most lacked. The physics of it, the fundamental scientific understanding, etc.

[@garymyers6638]

Also I have a couple totes of plated silver as well, most of it cheaply plated and I really want the easiest and cheapest way for a mook like to get the silver without losing any or the least loss possible.

[@masterofnonetv8361]

I worked in a place years ago that silver plated those little round things sitting on that tray at the 15:45 mark, theyre solid copper but I believe they would plate them with another layer of copper and then silver plate them in a silver cyanide tank. I remember hearing a story about how they came back from christmas shutdown and found a guy that had gotten his arm stuck when he wedged it under the locked lid of the silver tank trying to steal the anodes! He had been there for a couple days!😂 i dont know if there is trace amounts of that cyanide remaining in parts that have been plated in silver cyanide but I do know from working in that plating factory that mixing of cyanide and acid will create a poison gas that will end you.

[@SilverStoll]

I would imagine it's silver metal at this point. I can't imagine cutlery containing cyanide but I could most definitely be wrong! (I imagine that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen)

[@jimirk6226]

Box full for $10 garage sale, now try to get silver off.

[@scrappingonthefly77]

that is so awesome !!! i cant wait to start stripping silver items !!

[@SilverStoll]

Save that sulfiric! You will need a lot! Can't wait to see you results!

[@NothingToNoOneInParticular]

Cool. I wish there was a shop you could take your SP to and they could do it...they frown on chemistry in apartments...cr^pcicles. Excellent vid!

[@SilverStoll]

I will have to try and do reverse electroplating again. I failed miserably the first time lol. That might help your situation

[@hydrostaticshocker3048]

Poke a little hole in the lids and other domed pieces so that air doesnt get trapped under them

[@SomervilleBob]

The finial on the round cover is usually zinc.

[@SilverStoll]

That must be why it picked up the green tint

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

Awesome ⚓️👍🧲

[@markgellie7032]

You can add the left over copper to your stock pot to cement out gold and other good stuff

[@SilverStoll]

That's a good call?

[@osmia3561]

Adding unknown alloys to your acid is never a good idea

[@dannysearcy3373]

Ok my question is, how do you get the silver from solution to metal? If you can't add water? I know adding copper drops the silver

[@SilverStoll]

So getting the silver put of solution you do need to add water. Make sure you are pouring your solution into the water. Then you can cement out with copper like normal. The white stuff o. The bottom is silver sulfate crystals and that you can add to distilled water boil the water with a copper bar in it and the boiling water will absorb the crystals and the cement out on the copper.

[@dannysearcy3373]

@SilverStoll I guess I should have led with, since the solution is sulphuric acid based and adding water is a bad idea how do I get around that since the silver will be suspended in the sulphuric? I like your videos. Currently I have 1800 grams of silver running in my silver cell.

[@SilverStoll]

@dannysearcy3373 adding water to sulfiric is bad! But adding sulfiruc to water is ok! Get a separate beaker and add your water to that. Double your solution. If you have 500ml of solution, add it to 500 ml of distilled water. MAKE SURE THE BEAKER IS HEAT RESISTANT! there is an exothermic reaction that happens that heats the solution up. I'm not yelling. I just want to make sure it's not skipped, lol! Then add copper, and it will act like a nitrate solution.

[@SilverStoll]

After the silver is cemented evaporate the entire solution down to copper sulfate crystals for a copper cell!

[@SilverStoll]

And thank you! Really glad you enjoy the content! I am always open to corrective criticism. (Refining or videos)

[@m3Tesla]

Lol 😂 how do you rinse all your water off?

[@SilverStoll]

I caught that while I was watching! Very carefully 😂🤣

[@bluesSGL]

Wonder if the pieces that didn't change were silver plated nickel. This was a fun video.

[@SilverStoll]

I bet you're right!

[@ivanbasso3027]

What if we use potassium nitrate with concentrated sulfuric acid, will it dissolve silver?

[@SilverStoll]

Matt L is actually currently doing that. You have to add small amount of distilled water. I will see if I can get his chemical numbers to get you an idea where to start. Sounds like a video idea!

[@ButterflyMonkeyEffect]

What is the ratio for the acids

[@SilverStoll]

What I have read is 3 to 1. I also have tried just adding nitric as I need which works as well.

[@mattlevesque5927]

Great video brother!

[@SilverStoll]

Thank you!!

[@sharkozym]

I have tons of totes full of silver plated items and I do the salt water reverse electrolysis to extract the silver because it would take me forever to extract silver plate with this method. Not to say this is bad but it’s just easier when you have bulk plating to extract using salt water versus chemicals. Great video and very helpful to show the process.

[@SilverStoll]

What is your technique for cleaning up the silver you pull off? This would get crazy with all of the sulfuric acid in huge quantities!

[@sharkozym]

@@SilverStoll I use a 10 gallon fish tank to set up my anode and cathode with power supply and it drops into the bottom then I rinse in a big tote of water so I get 2 containers containing silver but the fish tank silver will have some copper so you wash it and the heavy silver stays at bottom then I add that to the clean tote which only has silver from cleaning off the processed material. I then can melt into shot then I put it in my silver cell to extract impurities. You could also refine it with nitric acid but that gets costly. 👍

[@franchi8601]

​@@sharkozym 1. what generator are you using for the electrolysis, as in volt and amp? 2. And do you use pure salt with no iodine? I find that the iodine salt makes the salt water go a muddy ochre color during electrolysis. Also I find the salt water turns to lye with prolonged use. It gives a mighty sting when it squirts on my forearm. I have a 20lb bag of Solar salt, it's pure rock salt for $8. Its def going to go a long way for this electrolysis technique. 3. What is your water and salt measurement for the solution?

[@sharkozym]

@@franchi8601 I just use a standard 12 volt car battery with a straight charge not trickle charger, battery charger and I use a piece of stainless steel for the anode in a 10 gallon fish tank and I use sea salt no iodized salt. I haven’t had any issues with the water acidity with the little salt I use ( about a cup of salt) and I rinse the spoils about every 10-15 pieces of silver I run through the system as it does build up sediment at the bottom of the tank.

[@franchi8601]

@@sharkozym thank you. I have used more salt than that, problem was I used iodine salt and the mud was going brown. Not no more, I am going with pure salt without additives like iodine. I will def try 1 cup instead. Also my battery charger is 2 volts, it's not strong enough, takes way too long, with spotty results. This spring I plan to go with 3 volts or 5 volts. I read elsewhere 8 volts is minimum for stripping silver on full size silverware ware.

[@silvaorgold]

Very cool 🎉🎉

[@SilverStoll]

Thank you!! I love this way to strip silver plate

[@silver_salvage_savage]

Gonna make an attempt. Ive got literally thousands of relays im pulling apart and im pretty sure some of the legs are silver plated. Specifically the parts that are holding the contact points. Im unaware of anything else that tarnishes with that rainbow/dark color the way silver does Not sure what the sulphuric/ nitric ratio to use. 3:1?

[@SilverStoll]

What seems to work for me is cover them in sulfiric and slowly add the nitric in. When it stops eating the silver I just add a little more.

[@silver_salvage_savage]

@SilverStoll I've got a 500 gram sample I'm going to run if this rain ever stops

[@SilverStoll]

@silver_salvage_savage I wish we had rain! Don't have to shovel that stuff lol 🤣

[@silver_salvage_savage]

@SilverStoll snow is coming this weekend for us. These things are silver plated after all. That solution worked great until I added hcl, then I had a little boil over. Thankfully, it's contained, though. Looks like such a small amount of silver chloride, I'll use this stuff in a copper cell in the future. Probably just a thin electroplating.

[@SilverStoll]

@silver_salvage_savage it's best to save the solution until you get the silver sulfate crystals. Then you know it's saturated. Then just double the solution with distilled water filter out the silver sulfate then cement it out the silver. When you evaporate the solution you will be left with copper sulphate crystals for the copper cell. The silver sulfate crystals will go into solution when you add them to boiling water. Add some copper to the boiling water and you get more cement silver. You can evaporate that solution as well for more copper sulfate. Easy to store your "waste" at that point.

[@dannysearcy3373]

So, once you have the silver removed, what do you do to recover the silver?

[@SilverStoll]

Add the solution to distilled water 1 part solution 3 parts distilled and cement with copper.

[@dannysearcy3373]

@SilverStoll thanks again, I realized after I'd asked this that I already asked it, I'm an idiot lol

[@ClaudetteCMBL]

LIKED😁

[@SilverStoll]

Thank you!!

[@Alrik.]

Nice process!

[@SilverStoll]

It works really well!

[@BushDogScrapper]

That is way above my pay grade 😅 I’ve been working on a parcel for you! CheeRs Brother ♻️🐺🇨🇦🤙🏻

[@SilverStoll]

Really looking forward to it! What's above your pay grade?

[@BushDogScrapper]

@@SilverStoll the whole refining part of all this haha I’m good to strip the gold off stuff but I just use vinegar sea salt and hydrogen peroxide. I did pick up some muriatic acid but I’ll wait to try it out next summer as I do this stuff outside haha and it’ll be freezing over night here soon!

[@SilverStoll]

Do you have snow yet?

[@SilverStoll]

Hcl and h202 will dissolve the gold just please be careful it will create chlorine gas

[@BushDogScrapper]

@@SilverStoll No not yet… but I had a dream last night that I woke up to it lol Life in Alberta 🇨🇦🤣

[@joek511]

Interesting, I have about 500 to 1000 lbs of silver plated pins. I melted some into a button and Xrayed it, 2 to 4 % silver. Base seems to be brass. I'm going to give this a try. I was told it could be done but they never mentioned using concentrated sulfuric. I tried a small batch with batery acid no go. Do the math. Even at 2% its a whole lot of silver, thousands of dolors

[@SilverStoll]

So what I have noticed if the silver isn't pure (for example I tried this with silver contacts) it will eat the silver away and then the base metals protect the silver from the nitric. Try a test sample first. If that doest work they sound like a good candidate for a copper cell. Pure Copper along with silver slimes. Lots of cash in copper there.

[@SaitamaGoldRush]

What do you do when you watched Breaking Bad, but don't want to make meth.... you do this

[@SilverStoll]

You bet! Not doing it in whitey tightys though! 🤣😂

[@SaitamaGoldRush]

@@SilverStoll lol!

[@angelooldman7201]

i will not pay $5 for you and yours

[@SilverStoll]

That's OK. Just watching the videos helps alot! Thank you!