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Riddle me this....

A lot of people don't hoard nickels for the simple fact that they're readily available at the bank. At the high percentage of copper and nickel, it would make sense to smelt them and seperate the metals out.

Let's overlook the legality of it, and just focus on the process.

I like to learn new things and having a small foundry is on the top of things to do down the road when I'm finally home for a while. That said, I'd like someone with some refining experience detail the process/chemicals involved with seperating the two metals from one another.

My Google searches have turned up vague information.

Hello!

First smelting is what you do to ore to get a metal.

I would think to refine it, electrochemically would be the easiest way through electrolosis. That way they could control which metal went into solution and plated out and which didn't. I know alot of the solutions they use for process' like those use acids like sulfuric and cyanide based stuff.

There is really no need to refine it as the alloy has so many industrial uses in the current ratio. A lot of equipment, time, energy, and risk to change the form of a product already in demand, that they will probably just mix back to cupro nickel. I think even stainless steel has some copper in some alloys to improve machinability or some such.

As for the foundry side I have not cast cupro nickel. The melting point is 2140 - 2260 Far. and copper is less than that (1983). I have cast copper succsefully, and it aint real fun to work with. You would have the risk of fume fever and nickel particles in the air which I have been told form into tiny needle like barbed things that like to lodge in lungs and burrow in causing irritation and infections while the actual metal compounds start forming other poisoning agents.

Kinda like lead, is not what kills you in lead poisoning, but the compounds it forms in your system are deadly.

My experiance is some blacksmithing in my past, I produce the A&M Fine Metals micro bullion, and have succesfully cast lead, aluminum, copper, silver, and gold. I hope to be doing some sand casting soon and sharing the process on that.

Kurr wrote:Hello!

First smelting is what you do to ore to get a metal.

I would think to refine it, electrochemically would be the easiest way through electrolosis. That way they could control which metal went into solution and plated out and which didn't. I know alot of the solutions they use for process' like those use acids like sulfuric and cyanide based stuff.

There is really no need to refine it as the alloy has so many industrial uses in the current ratio. A lot of equipment, time, energy, and risk to change the form of a product already in demand, that they will probably just mix back to cupro nickel. I think even stainless steel has some copper in some alloys to improve machinability or some such.

As for the foundry side I have not cast cupro nickel. The melting point is 2140 - 2260 Far. and copper is less than that (1983). I have cast copper succsefully, and it aint real fun to work with. You would have the risk of fume fever and nickel particles in the air which I have been told form into tiny needle like barbed things that like to lodge in lungs and burrow in causing irritation and infections while the actual metal compounds start forming other poisoning agents.

Kinda like lead, is not what kills you in lead poisoning, but the compounds it forms in your system are deadly.

My experiance is some blacksmithing in my past, I produce the A&M Fine Metals micro bullion, and have succesfully cast lead, aluminum, copper, silver, and gold. I hope to be doing some sand casting soon and sharing the process on that.

Great information here.... I read some books on sand casting and started working a plan for my own casting boxes, furnace and crucibles. Lots of great things you can do, but I'd probably more cast aluminum and copper bars when I had enough scrap. Maybe some brass too from time to time.

I guess one could just melt nickels down and cast large 10 kilo bars, but I suppose that having the smaller nickels would be better as they're of a known weight and purity. Someone looking at a homemade bar of CuNi wouldn't know what it was.