Removing Silver from old silverplate holloware

A. One way to go about removing silver from silver plate is the abrasive method, as silver becomes ever more expensive (today spot price is $32.64/oz 12/03/2011) the cost of recovering silver will be more economical. I recommend rigging an abrasive wire or grinder to wind or solar power, fit the item on a lathe and rig it to go back and forth and turn every so often, time is your enemy if you want it done fast because fast will cost you money, if you're willing to wait you can recover plenty of dust that can be collected (if contained properly) and then melted down with a home-built foundry. If you do not have any of these things or are not planning on building them anyway then this method is more costly than just selling it to a scrap recycling company.

I recommend the home built solution because in the end you will learn a new skill and become more self sufficient which will pay off more than any silver recovery process you may do.

A. Hi Muniraju. This is awfully broad. Some silver plating is not economically feasible to recover, and for the rest it depends on the thickness. Different stripping methods may also be required depending on the base metal. There are booklets which might be helpful like ISSN 01400541 "Small Scale Silver Refining" available in libraries, but I think the important things are to not buy silver scrap unless you know what it is, and to acquire some experience before getting involved in large quantities. Another issue of course is that this can be dangerous, depending on the knowledge and facilities you can bring to bear upon the problem. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi again cousin . If at all possible try to get access to the previously mentioned booklet. Otherwise, you can search this site for "silver refining" and "silver stripping" to find dozen of threads ... but it's hard to learn a subject by bouncing around instead of through tutorial instruction.

There is no universal stripper where you just throw your scrap into a single vat and out pop stripped parts and pure silver. The stripping method depends on whether the silver has a clearcoat/lacquer on it, whether the substrate is nickel silver vs. copper alloys vs. steel vs. sterling silver, or something else. It depends on whether it is practical to use electricity, whether you can use cyanide-based processes, and whether you are trying to preserve the substrate (such as a brass musical instrument) or it's okay to dissolve/melt it as scrap. My understanding is that most silver refining starts with melting the scrap rather than stripping it, but it does seems that if you can segregate it based on the factors listed above, it may be possible to strip the silver off as a first step instead.

I don't want to be unkind, but you need to invest more time. This is a mutual help forum not a consulting service, and you've submitted requests for help 14 times but offered none; typos in your e-mail address on several of those postings (including this one) meant our return e-mail bounced and you didn't even hear when we posted your inquiries or readers responded; we've requested that you describe your own situation, but you submit abstract questions. Please take the time to carefully describe who you are, the source of these parts and/or scrap (and their scale), your general thoughts on what you are trying to do and feel you can do ... and double-check your e-mail address. Thanks! :-)

Regards,