Acid Testing Your Gold Silver & Platinum

[FL-Hunter]

For those who are not versed on how to Acid test their metals, I decided to post this informative document on how to acid test. This should help some fellow forum members out there.

FL-Hunter

This is a simple guide to test precious metals with testing acids.
You will need the acids, test stone to rub the metal onto and cloth or napkins.

Please note that the acid will stain your skin or worse, so be careful not to spill any on yourself and don’t even think of getting any in your eyes.
Gold:

There are 9kt, 14kt, 18kt and 22k testing acids.
The process is simple, scratch or rub the metal (jewelry) onto the testing stone. Try to do it in a spot that won’t be noticeable.
Place app half a drop of the closest acid to the karat you estimate the metal to be. Mostly I like to start with 14kt and move up or down.

• If the acid dissolves the metal it’s less then the karats on the bottle and you should try again with lower level acid.
• If it dissolves the metal slowly, it’s possible you would have a bit less then the karat of the acid in the bottle.
• If the metal stays it’s most likely the karat of the acid in the bottle.

Platinum

Should stay and not dissolve under the platinum acid. Some platinum is 800 type of platinum and will dissolve a bit.

Silver:

Rub extra metal onto the stone, apply a nice drop and wait for a reaction.

• 0.999 pure silver will turn bright red color
• 0.925 sterling silver will turn dark red color
• 0.800 silver will turn brown color
• 0.500 silver will turn green

What should you have in your test kit?

A wooden box to keep the corrosive acids safely confined. Test stone, Testing needles (preferred)
10K, 14K, 18K, 22K, 24K, Silver & Platinum Acids for a complete set.
If you are trying to cut a few corners and want to save some money, you can forgo the 24K because if it holds up to 22, you know its 24K.
You can also forgo the 22k if you want. If it holds up to 18K then you will know its either 18K or higher, but you will never know for certain how much higher.

For me, I stock it all except the 24K which is pure gold. The way I see it, if it holds up to 22K then I know its either 22 or 24K. There is not much of either out
there, but they do exist.


**** One important note to make, the Acids are only good for about 6 months, which means after 6 months, the acid is not as strong and will not work as
effectively. If you are using it has a hobbyist to identify items you already have, I would say you can stretch that out a bit, however if you are using it to
make money, you need fresh acids every 6 months to ensure accuracy. To clean your testing stone you can take a drop or 2 of (3 in 1 oil) or similar oil and
use a black wet sanding paper (very very fine) and lightly clean your stone with that. Then wipe it off with a paper towel. Your stone should be as good as new.

Well hope this helped out a bunch of you guys. As I find more informative items, I will post 'em. Happy Hunting everyone!

[sectshun8]

Good writeup, I know I didn't have a clue

[FL-Hunter]

Originally Posted by sectshun8

Good writeup, I know I didn't have a clue

I just edited the text a bit, you may want to re-read it. I added some other stuff to it that I forgot.

Glad you liked it.

[JBEXPRESS]

Great info! Now I can go test my scrap to see if I have any silver. lol

[Banemorth]

Awesome information. I'll wait until I have a big pile of unknown metal before testing since it's only good for 6 months.