How to Melt Gold at Home: 3 Easy Techniques

Want to know how to melt gold at home?

Gold is an expensive metal that many people want to melt down and use for other purposes. But the process of melting gold can seem complicated and scary if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Gold can be melted using a variety of methods, so long as you have the right tools and materials handy.

I’ve compiled three easy ways to melt your scrap or jewelry into gold bars with this article! These methods are simple, safe, and will help make your life easier in the long run.

In this article, I’ll give you a complete overview of what it takes to melt gold at home. I will also discuss some common methods used as well as safety measures that should be taken into account while doing so.

Let’s get started!

Things You’ll Need

Here is the list of items you’ll need to melt gold:

Graphite carbon crucible

Pair of tongs

Heat-resistant gloves

Propane torch

Protective eyeglasses or goggles

Borax

Sodium bicarbonate

Metal melting furnace

1200 Watt microwave

Respirator face mask

Gold (scrap, jewelry, fine gold, or gold flakes)

Before You Start Melting Gold

It is important to remember that before melting the gold you should remove the impurities in the metal by using flux. This chemical will remove all of the impurities in your gold. The fewer the impurities, the easier it is to meltdown or refine your gold because there won’t be much else besides metal. Depending on the size of the gold melting project, there are numerous forms of flux solutions.

To refine gold and keep small gold particles together for DIY gold melting projects, you may use accessible chemicals like borax and sodium bicarbonate. Borax is available to purchase in the home cleaning section of your local grocery store. Sodium carbonate is produced when you heat baking soda (not to be confused with baking powder), which is also known as sodium bicarbonate.

To create a decent DIY flux, combine borax and sodium carbonate in an equal amount. Add 3 to 4 pinches of flux for each ounce of gold melted. If the gold is particularly dirty, you may add a pinch or two more of flux. However, keep in mind that applying too much flux might cause it to eat through ceramic crucibles.

1. Melt Gold with a Metal Melting Furnace

If you want to melt a lot of gold for DIY projects, a metal melting furnace may be a smart investment.

Melting gold in furnaces with Borax is easy! You will need scrap or jewelry pieces and Borax and follow the steps below:

1. Place Borax and scrap gold in the furnace. The first thing you need to do is place your pieces in a graphite carbon crucible and add borax on top of it. This will help prevent impurities from existing when heating up the coal.
2. Clear off all ashes inside the furnace. Turn on the melting furnace and slowly let it heat up. You will need to monitor the temperature inside the furnace, so be sure to use a thermometer during this process. The gold melting point is 1,948 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,064°C but it is a point if you are melting pure gold, if other alloy metals are present, then the temperature required to melt gold will vary.
3. Once you have reached this mark, turn off the furnace and let it cool down for at least 20 minutes. This is to prevent the pieces in the crucible from melting too fast!
4. When your crucible has cooled down, you can then pour out the melted gold into molds or anything that will help shape them into bars.

2. Melt Gold with a Propane Torch

If you don’t want to use an electric furnace or microwave, then you can melt gold with a propane torch. All you need are scrap or some jewelry pieces, sodium bicarbonate, and water. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Use small bits of scrap. You should ideally start by using small pieces of scrap gold or jewelry if you want to melt the gold with a propane torch. This will help you control the temperature.
2. Use sodium bicarbonate. After you have gathered all your pieces, mix them with water and sodium bicarbonate. The amount of heat that will be produced during the process can be controlled if you use these chemicals.
3. Melting with a propane torch. Keep the mixture on low heat until you see that they are melted. Be sure to wear your protective face mask, glasses, and gloves because this procedure can be messy and dangerous!
4. Use graphite carbon crucible for melting gold. After you’re done with these steps, you can then use a carbon crucible to accommodate the melted gold. This will be further processed to get pure, fine gold that is ready for sale.

3. Melt Gold with Microwave

If you want to melt gold flake or dust, then you can use a microwave. Here are the steps:

1. Place small portions of gold flakes inside a crucible. For this process, it is recommended that you use pure and fine gold flakes instead of scrap and jewelry pieces because it will be easier to “disappear” them in the flake or dust.
2. Pour water and Borax inside the crucible. Once you have placed the gold flake inside your graphite carbon crucible, you can then pour small amounts of distilled water and borax to help prevent air from getting inside the mixture.
3. Let them melt for 4 minutes. Turn on your microwave and set it on high for about 4 minutes. You can also use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of your crucible, but make sure it never exceeds 800 degrees Celsius!
4. You may now move the melted gold from the crucible to an ingot or mold.

Please be advised that once you melt gold in the microwave, it is not suitable for warming food since it may lead to food contamination.

Extra Tips

1. Before heating the gold, make sure that you have cleared all ashes from inside your furnace or crucible. This is to prevent impurities from finding their way into your mixture and reduce the chance of having non-precious metals as a result of contamination.
2. After melting your pieces, make sure to tap and shake your crucible. This will help settle the metal that has melted at the bottom of the container before you pour it out into molds or bars.
3. The fumes released during this procedure can be toxic and dangerous, so please set up a proper ventilation system to monitor the process! This is especially important if you are using an electric furnace.
4. Do not overheat your mixture because this will cause it to form impurities and may lead to explosions! Always make sure that the concentration of water and borax is just right to prevent your mixture from overheating.
5. Smaller ingredients are easier to melt, so make sure to cut them into thin layers if possible! This will significantly help speed up the melting process.

Safety Measures

A Few Things to Remember:

Before you start any of these methods, you need to get some safety tips down. Fumes produced while melting gold can be deadly if inhaled. So you need to properly ventilate the area where you are working by opening up windows and doors or purchasing a respirator face mask. You also need heat-resistant gloves and protective eyewear such as goggles to protect yourself from the heat.

In addition to that, don’t touch hot crucibles or tongs with your bare skin to avoid getting burned. Also, do not leave melting gold unattended because it might start a fire if left alone. Be sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand for emergencies just in case!

Gold Melting FAQs

1. What is the Gold Melting Point?

The gold melting point is 1064.18°C (1947.67°F). This is the melting point of gold if you are melting pure gold but if other metals are present, the temperature will vary according to their individual melting points.

2. How to Melt Gold Flakes?

Gold flakes are best to melt in an electric kiln for faster results. If you don’t have one, use a blowtorch or even a small pot on the stove.

Gold flakes are very tedious to melt in crucibles since it doesn’t spread out like gold bars or nuggets. To melt gold flakes or dust, you should mix the metal with borax and heat it up using a blowtorch.

3. Can You Melt Gold with a Propane Torch?

Yes, it is possible to melt gold using a propane torch. However, you need to be careful as high temperatures can cause impurities and reduce the value of your gold. Another very important aspect is to ensure that you use a propane concentration regulator when melting gold or else you can risk making it explode.

4. How Much Gold is Lost When Melted?

This totally depends on the purity of the gold you are melting. If you want to melt purer gold, there is a higher likelihood that you will lose some during the melting process because impurities tend to rise to the top.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve given you all the information I know about melting gold at home and demonstrated some of the most popular methods for doing so.

All these methods have their pros and cons, but what really matters is that you need to follow safety guidelines and pay attention to small details while melting gold.

➜ Best melting furnaces to melt metal at home