How to Melt Pure Gold

Gold is a precious metal, and lately it has become even more precious, as gold prices have risen and the economy is in a downturn. Whether you plan to melt gold to make and sell jewelry, or are melting jewelry to sell the gold, you just need a few tools and this set of simple instructions.

Things You'll Need

• gold
• acetylene torch
• graphite crucible or
• fused silica crucible
• filter paper
• crucible tongs

Instructions

1. Gather your supplies. This includes the pure gold for melting, an acetylene torch and a crucible made out of graphite or fused silica, filter paper and crucible tongs.

   See additional details for options on purchasing melting crucibles.

2. Heat the solder up to at least 710 and no more than 787 degrees Fahrenheit. Use the torch to preheat the crucible for a few minutes before placing the gold in the crucible.

3. Wrap the gold with filter paper, put it in the crucible.

4. Heat the gold with the torch from the bottom and the sides, not the top. Once it's molten, you can run the flame directly across the surface of the gold fluid. The filter paper should have burned up with the heat, leaving the gold pure.

5. Use crucible tongs to pour the gold into your mold or form. Make sure to form the gold while it's still hot. If it cools too much, you'll have to re-melt it, and the more you re-melt and reform the gold, the more you risk the metal's stability.

6. Once the gold is shaped, let it cool and harden.

Resources

• Melting Crucibles