Newbie needs help selecting a furnace

[SF Gold Buyer]

Hi and thanks for reading my posting. I have a pawnshop in San Francisco, and we buy a lot of jewelry that we scrap. Occasionally we take a chance on a piece that seems a little questionable. I'd like to be able to melt down those kinds of things, and do an assay on it after melting it. That would be a real good way to learn how to fakes. We most likely would only use it just a few times a year, for a small jewelry item. Some companies use a torch to do that, but I'd rather use a small furnace. Otto Frei sells something called a "Handi Melt", which is about $500. Seems like it would do the job. Anybody have any experience with this, or would you be able to make a recommendation to me. I don't have any experience in fire assaying whatsoever.

 

[fireguy]

Hi and thanks for reading my posting. I have a pawnshop in San Francisco, and we buy a lot of jewelry that we scrap. Occasionally we take a chance on a piece that seems a little questionable. I'd like to be able to melt down those kinds of things, and do an assay on it after melting it. That would be a real good way to learn how to fakes. We most likely would only use it just a few times a year, for a small jewelry item. Some companies use a torch to do that, but I'd rather use a small furnace. Otto Frei sells something called a "Handi Melt", which is about $500. Seems like it would do the job. Anybody have any experience with this, or would you be able to make a recommendation to me. I don't have any experience in fire assaying whatsoever.

If you are looking at doing a "melt" on this material, that would not be too difficult to set up. You might look at a small propane pot furnace as they are fast, and inexpensive:
http://www.lmine.com/category/pot_furnaces.html

If you are REALLY looking at doing assaying, that would nomally involve lead. That makes things more difficult as there are health and environmental concerns. Make sure you understand these issues and are taking adequate precautions.

This small furnace is a little more expensive than the one you are looking at, but it includes a digital controller which makes it easier to monitor and maintain temperature:
http://www.lmine.com/product/26100-B.html

Normally, for cupelling, you might drill a hole in the roof as a vent to allow the lead fumes to escape the chamber. Be sure the furnace is properly ventilated.

An assay textbook might be a good investment if you need more information:
http://www.lmine.com/category/assaying.html

 

[SF Gold Buyer]

I'm not REALLY going into assaying. I just want to see if I bought a fake or not, ie if a bracelet we bought for 14k was within 2 or 3 percent of plumb, then we would know we did OK. If not, we'd learn something, and it wouldn't be a total loss. So I don't need extreme accuracy.