These YouTube videos of people putting scrap metal in a forge and melting it are fascinating. I have a small amount of scrap copper but don't have the ability to melt it down (don't have the equipment or the skills). Was wondering if anyone on Pinside did this as a hobby.
I've been saving scarp PCBs, hard drives, CPUs, and just about every connector or prom with gold legs for many years. Always wanted to process out the gold and melt it down. Pretty sure there is a lot of copper mixed in since I really can't tell what is gold plated or copper plated.
Back when I was a teen I bought the molds and stuff and melted several pounds of lead into fishing weights.
I am a metallurgist (with 20 years of experience in ferrous, nickel, and titanium alloys) I see these videos too and I am pretty skeptical. I guess it might be ok for backyard knives, but I would never use that type of metal for anything important. There are just way too many variables you can’t take in account in a garage furnace.
Quoted from Eric_S:What are you planning to do with a bar of copper? Seems like there isn't anything really practical to use a bar of copper on.
A team of Chinese researchers have turned cheap copper into a new material “almost identical” to gold.
But really be careful with any back yard refining.....Fumes, Fires....Burns
Quoted from Eric_S:What are you planning to do with a bar of copper? Seems like there isn't anything really practical to use a bar of copper on.
It would just be neat to have as a conversation piece. Anything small, like a coin or ingot. The small wire trimmings I have still have value, even if it's not much.
Quoted from Crash:It would just be neat to have as a conversation piece. Anything small, like a coin or ingot.
Agreed. Sometimes it just neat to just make something for the heck of it as a hobby.
Quoted from Gotemwill:I would definitely do this.
It's a cool idea. Do you mean you have done this already?
I have a piece of property on a river that just has power and a trailer under a nice cover. Basically a great place to camp and party. For many years we have saved our aluminum cans so that we could put a tin can in the fire and melt the cans....then we just pour out the metal on a piece of cement for a nice big blob of aluminum.
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Oshkosh, WI