sdf527 Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 I overcame my hesitation on the HF acid and bought a 500ml bottle from a supplier in the bay area. Shipping cost more than the acid, about $90.00 total cost. I gave the Moore Creek gold a short acid bath about 4 hours total. It really whitened the quartz matrix and dissolved a bunch of it. I wore long gauntlet rubber gloves and used a small wooden dowel to turn them around in the bath. The 7.5 oz nugget is down to 6.8 now. You can see more of the sandwich type gold now in the smaller nuggets. I was still holding about 10 oz of Moore Creek gold from last year and gave it a short bath too. Really improves the appearance. I'll post another photo of the whole shebang later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron (CA) Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 That is some impresssive looking gold!! Turned out nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Soloman Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 WOW! Absolutely beautiful SDF - Thank you for sharing! - TerryI overcame my hesitation on the HF acid and bought a 500ml bottle from a supplier in the bay area. Shipping cost more than the acid, about $90.00 total cost. I gave the Moore Creek gold a short acid bath about 4 hours total. It really whitened the quartz matrix and dissolved a bunch of it. I wore long gauntlet rubber gloves and used a small wooden dowel to turn them around in the bath. The 7.5 oz nugget is down to 6.8 now. You can see more of the sandwich type gold now in the smaller nuggets. I was still holding about 10 oz of Moore Creek gold from last year and gave it a short bath too. Really improves the appearance. I'll post another photo of the whole shebang later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claim jumper Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 Looks 10 times prettier now!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze Posted July 16, 2010 Report Share Posted July 16, 2010 Did you end up with much crumbs on the bottom? I mean pieces that were part of the whole and only attached by rock? A tiny bit tempted to give that a shot too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexb Posted July 16, 2010 Report Share Posted July 16, 2010 Big difference, looks real nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdf527 Posted July 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2010 Did you end up with much crumbs on the bottom? I mean pieces that were part of the whole and only attached by rock? A tiny bit tempted to give that a shot too...The smaller nuggets have a lot of very fine crystalline gold and it falls off real easy. The quartz matrix is the only thing supporting it, then it gets dissolved leaving the gold structures to get banged around and broken off. Ken P had his gold from last year dipped and he ended up with a lot of fines. It seems to be a good idea for the bigger nuggets, especially if they have a lot of that butt ugly muddy quartz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonHarnack Posted July 17, 2010 Report Share Posted July 17, 2010 The smaller nuggets have a lot of very fine crystalline gold and it falls off real easy. The quartz matrix is the only thing supporting it, then it gets dissolved leaving the gold structures to get banged around and broken off. Ken P had his gold from last year dipped and he ended up with a lot of fines. It seems to be a good idea for the bigger nuggets, especially if they have a lot of that butt ugly muddy quartz.Steve:I've used this acid on lots of gold in quartz. Found it best to dilute the acid with H2O - maybe 10% acid/90% H2O. That way the action of the acid is slowed down and does not eat the quartz too deep to fast.Tucsongramps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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