I have some silver that I melted in a charcoal furnace a few years ago, but unfortunately I didn't cover the lid ( as it was my first time ) and ash got into the crucible.
Is there anyway I can re-melt the silver and remove the ash completely?
I have some silver that I melted in a charcoal furnace a few years ago, but unfortunately I didn't cover the lid ( as it was my first time ) and ...
Yeah. When you figure it out lmk
it should float if the metal is molten.
Smelt it again with some flux. The ash should just burn away.
How can ash "burn away"? It's already ash! It can't become nothing!
Vaporize, become more granular, etc.
Listen, you already fricked it up. Might as well try again and see what happens.
Autism.
OP, you're not going to get pure silver without chemical refining or cupelling or something, so unless you want to do that the best you can do is re-melt it a flux which will dissolve and be absorb the ash. Whatever ash is left behind will be dispersed through the silver and will not be visible.
would I be able to do this with Borax or do I need flux?
Depends on your method for melting. If you're using a crucible in a furnace, a proper flux mix will be better. If you're using a melting dish and torch, borax will do the job. Not sure if pure borax will work in a furnace.
I don't think that will work. Ash doesn't burn.
hmm when trying to get the cleanest water you pull it from just under the surface, I would assume you can do the same with any liquid. A sewage treatment plant uses sedimentary ponds to remove most containment than coagulant to get the smaller stuff, replication of a rainwater cleaning might yeild results.
the elctronegtivity of carbon is higher than silver not sure about pore size but an arc furnace might collect the contaiment onto the nodes where it can be scrapped off.
convection from the heat sources makes the settlement difficult; creating the right environment (pressure) would yield better results.
hammer it out
strike with hammer
Just amalgamate it with some mercury then burn the mercury off
There's some stupid replies ITT.
What do you actually want to do with the silver OP?
If the silver is formed and you just want to remove some surface defects then use a chemical to dissolve the ash out.
If you want to reform the silver (like into a bar or something) then you just need to purify it when you melt it again- that's a very serious process.
If you want to work the silver you may well get away with hammering it out then removing the ash with chemicals, you might have to hammer it out several times but this won't take more than 20 minutes.
Couldn't you just turn it into silver shot and toss out the slaggy bits?
Heat up the silver till it has just barely liquified, then sprinkle some borax on it to draw out the un-bonded impurities (ash, oils, etc). When the darker i purities have "slided off" the silver liquid, allow just enough time for the silver to solidify enough to be picked up and quenched, but not long enough for the liquid impurities surrounding it to solidify to the silver.
This can be done with gold and copper as well. Don't be afraid to test with your metals anon