Hello all, this is my first post in this forum. I am wondering if it is best to collect gold dust from the bench in separate containers based on karat, or if it is alright to mix dust from all karat types into one container? My intention is to save it and send it to a refinery in the future.
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For refining you can mix all karats and colors of gold together. It all goes into one batch at the refiners.
Also, don’t forget to capture the gold that goes down the sink when washing up. You can fit a filter to the tailpiece and send it to the refiner along with your sweeps.
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Awesome. & thanks for the tips Elliot
I keep a hand vac that is dedicated to my shop and use it to vacuum up sweeps and the area around my filing, sanding and engraving benches. Whatever is loose as well as the filters can be sent to the refiners to sort out anything of value. I also do a lot of wet sanding and grinding on a lapidary expansion wheel. I collect the dried swarf from the collection trays and send that in too. If you have clean scrap like clips and pieces of wire that are too small to use, it is a good idea to keep them separate and weigh them to keep track of what you are sending. You might even take pictures of what you are sending once it is ready to be packed. Each refiner has different ways of doing business, so make sure that you understand how they work before you send a parcel of scrap. I once used an old cardboard wine box to ship my scrap to Hoover and Strong. My local post office didn’t care, but when it got to Richmond where Hoover and Strong receive their packages, the Post Office refused to deliver it because it was in a box that was used to ship wine. They sent it back and I crossed off the word wine and sent it back. They were happy then. Good luck…Rob
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I had an interesting discussion with another bidder at a jewelry equipment auction. He had basically gotten a large polishing bench, with backdraft and filters, for free: there was (in his estimate) 1/2 oz of gold in the filters!
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