Page 5 of 5
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:24 pm
by Phil2401
Obviously i'm good at detecting iron, but still failing to see the irony.
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:25 pm
by fred
Rhumours wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:02 pm

And asking a jeweller to in essence value something usually carries a charge. If you want a piece of paper saying what it is that's a valuation for insurance purposes and usually costs 10% of the value of the item valued. "I would like this sized but not sure what metal it is could you check it is gold for me before I commit" is disgusting behaviour and I wouldn't offer that as a solution.
I wouldn't suggest that either.
Be relatively honest like 'is this gold' and you will probably get an opinion and perhaps an offer based upon that opinion.

Don't even mention insurance as valuations are usually fatally flawed anyway because they reflect the replacement cost not the value. That can easily be ten times higher than the value.
I would always try and get an acid test done rather than any of the other methods available, except of course I always do my own anyway. I am going to renew all my testing acids when I am at the PAS training day at the BM next week as it's quite close to Hatton Garden.
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:52 pm
by Dave8472
By the way, I have since tested this method on several hall marked gold items and it is surprisingly accurate. Probably not a definitive test if you selling something, but good enough for your own stuff and no damage to old items. My stator turned out to be about 9ct and I wouldn’t of wanted to scratch or paint any chemicals on that lol. Especially as it was worth a considerable amount of money when I sold it.
Dave

Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:03 pm
by Danzigman
Dave8472 wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:52 pm
By the way, I have since tested this method on several hall marked gold items and it is surprisingly accurate. Probably not a definitive test if you selling something, but good enough for your own stuff and no damage to old items. My stator turned out to be about 9ct and I wouldn’t of wanted to scratch or paint any chemicals on that lol. Especially as it was worth a considerable amount of money when I sold it.
Dave
We (I) have translated the Testing method to Danish, and it is well know and recognized in detecting sociaty here in Denmark.. So good helping tool..

Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:18 pm
by Twit
Have also tested several rings and found it accurate.

Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:34 pm
by Koala
Twit wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:18 pm
Have also tested several rings and found it accurate.
Depends a lot on what your testing
Ok on a solid plain gold ring. Just about everything else I have tried it failed quite badly.
Porosity, bubbles trapped within a casting and so on make a very big difference.
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:08 pm
by Dom
I remember vaguely something like this in science lessons but i think i must have been day dreaming out of the window at the time.
Thanks for this

Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:00 am
by Twit
Koala wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:34 pm
Twit wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:18 pm
Have also tested several rings and found it accurate.
Depends a lot on what your testing
Ok on a solid plain gold ring. Just about everything else I have tried it failed quite badly.
Porosity, bubbles trapped within a casting and so on make a very big difference.
Air bubbles give a reading that is lower (less gold), but if you use a very fine plastic line you can usually jiggle them off and then raise the object off the bottom without too much water being lifted out on the line.... obviously there are limits though as some objects are too complex for that. For most solid simple ojects it works fine.
Either way it is a first simple step to get an idea, and at the least, if done properly, if it reads gold then it likely is, and if it doesn't you can still check any other way.
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:05 pm
by Fusion
Thanks for replacing the pictures, Dave. I was getting ready to remake some myself, as I PM'd Barnet 6 months ago to ask him if he had the original pics and could sort out a new photo-host. But the message is still in my outbox.
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:26 pm
by Dave8472
Fusion wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:05 pm
Thanks for replacing the pictures, Dave. I was getting ready to remake some myself, as I PM'd Barnet 6 months ago to ask him if he had the original pics and could sort out a new photo-host. But the message is still in my outbox.
Steve not logged in for a long time, I did find a possible contact route via his clubs contact details. Luckily the photobucket issue is linked to third party hosting rather than there being a problem with the original images. I managed to copy the web url code for the images and view them there and copy the images back in to the thread and hosting them on the forums server
Dave

Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:18 pm
by Beachcomber
Fantastic!
Thank you for this- greatly appreciated.
Re: Metal Density Testing Method
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 11:31 pm
by rayz555
Brilliant learnt that at school but you forget these things if not needed