Melting old gold is a great way to save money if you want a new piece of jewellery. If you try and sell your old bits of broken jewellery you'll be offered a fraction of what you would pay for it new on the high street. You would be surprised at how little is needed to make a new ring or earrings, and with gold prices at an all-time high it's a great way to get yourself some new jewellery and do something with all those broken bits and pieces you don't know what to do with.
Using a very hot oxygen and propane torch the gold is melted and poured. Here are a few pictures from some that I melted today.
Melting up bits of unwanted gold with a propane and oxygen torch
After pouring the molten gold into my ingot mould I have a workable piece of metal. Just a couple of taps with a hammer to adjust all the molecules. This helps to stop the gold cracking when you mill it out
The gold ingot can then be milled into shape. First I make it nice and square in section, then I flatten it to make it thiner. This is all done with my rolling mill - a bit like a mangle.
Once milled it's time to start making. Here you can see the gold on my bench peg, this is where I make all my jewellery.
After a bit of bending, shaping and soldering I have a pair of marquise colletts for some opal earrings. Once finished they will be sent off to the London Assay Office to be hallmarked before the stones are set.
