Silver Reclamation, new to me, probably also to you

[TXBullion]

Check this out

[TXBullion]

Except maybe the Morgan doctor has been keeping this his secret

[Rodebaugh]

Jack, I have heard of this before......never sold any of my films.

Just stack'n

[68Camaro]

yeah, I was aware of this. Kodak is one of the larger users of silver, and film cost is one of the contributing drivers to people moving to digital x-ray.

[reddirtcoins]

I always thought itronics would hit big but, didn't happen .. There is a lot of silver and gold still sitting unclaimed..

[Morsecode]

I remember setting aside canisters for reclaiming silver back in the 70's at the photo lab I worked for. Never knew much about the details, but the cans were picked up once a month or so.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Silver reclamation can also be done on the drain of the dark room where the waste water is emptied out. If you have the time to invest, it is worth it.

[Thogey]

In 197? someone gave me a huge spool of silver nitrate (movie)film. I knew it had value for the silver, but I was a kid.

You can make awesome smoke bombs with silver nitrate film, electrical tape and a firecracker. I demonstratated how to do this to my hoodlem friends. I managed to sell and trade the film for various barter items, including a big bull snake.

The snake escaped within 24 hours and wound up in one of my dad's bird cages. I denied the whole thing.

[beauanderos]

Charlie Riser (retired Fresno Fire Capt) had a business recycling the silver from xrays. Don't know how lucrative it was, but I guess it paid well enough to hire a few off duty firemen, one of them being John Hodges (I think that was his name, this was years ago). Both of them died early deaths due to cancer, along with another employee.

[68Camaro]

Charlie Riser (retired Fresno Fire Capt) had a business recycling the silver from xrays. Don't know how lucrative it was, but I guess it paid well enough to hire a few off duty firemen, one of them being John Hodges (I think that was his name, this was years ago). Both of them died early deaths due to cancer, along with another employee.

Lovely. Wonder if was from firefighting related stuff, or if they were messing around with bad chemicals during the recycling process?

[shinnosuke]

In 197? someone gave me a huge spool of silver nitrate (movie)film. I knew it had value for the silver, but I was a kid.

You can make awesome smoke bombs with silver nitrate film, electrical tape and a firecracker. I demonstratated how to do this to my hoodlem friends. I managed to sell and trade the film for various barter items, including a big bull snake.

The snake escaped within 24 hours and wound up in one of my dad's bird cages. I denied the whole thing.

Bill? Er, President Clinton, I didn't know you were on Realcent! Can I get your autograph so I can sell it on ebay?

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

In 197? someone gave me a huge spool of silver nitrate (movie)film. I knew it had value for the silver, but I was a kid.

You can make awesome smoke bombs with silver nitrate film, electrical tape and a firecracker. I demonstratated how to do this to my hoodlem friends. I managed to sell and trade the film for various barter items, including a big bull snake.

The snake escaped within 24 hours and wound up in one of my dad's bird cages. I denied the whole thing.

LMAO!!

You may have made more money by extracting the silver, but who cares?! You can't buy entertainment like that!

[beauanderos]

Charlie Riser (retired Fresno Fire Capt) had a business recycling the silver from xrays. Don't know how lucrative it was, but I guess it paid well enough to hire a few off duty firemen, one of them being John Hodges (I think that was his name, this was years ago). Both of them died early deaths due to cancer, along with another employee.

Lovely. Wonder if was from firefighting related stuff, or if they were messing around with bad chemicals during the recycling process?

Could have been either or both. Methinks it was the chemicals they were dealing with... but back in the day (1974) when I first became a firefighter... the oldtimers would mock any rookie who wanted to don a SCBA tank and mask to go into a burning building, and God forbid you would keep one on during overhaul when the fire had been knocked down. Those guys would stand there, faces soot-stained and sweat pouring from beneath their helmets, leaving tracks coursing down their face, and laugh at us "stoopid rookies" as they smoked their stogies or chain smoked Marlboro's, one hand on a shovel or pitchfork, as smoke continued to billow from beneath mattresses with beams fallen across them, steam rising so that we were all enbillowed in clouds as if on a particularly foggy day. More than a few, I recall, died on the job, or lasted less than six months into retirement. Surprisingly, three or four committed suicide within a year or two of retiring. Two while on the job.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Charlie Riser (retired Fresno Fire Capt) had a business recycling the silver from xrays. Don't know how lucrative it was, but I guess it paid well enough to hire a few off duty firemen, one of them being John Hodges (I think that was his name, this was years ago). Both of them died early deaths due to cancer, along with another employee.

Lovely. Wonder if was from firefighting related stuff, or if they were messing around with bad chemicals during the recycling process?

Could have been either or both. Methinks it was the chemicals they were dealing with... but back in the day (1974) when I first became a firefighter... the oldtimers would mock any rookie who wanted to don a SCBA tank and mask to go into a burning building, and God forbid you would keep one on during overhaul when the fire had been knocked down. Those guys would stand there, faces soot-stained and sweat pouring from beneath their helmets, leaving tracks coursing down their face, and laugh at us "stoopid rookies" as they smoked their stogies or chain smoked Marlboro's, one hand on a shovel or pitchfork, as smoke continued to billow from beneath mattresses with beams fallen across them, steam rising so that we were all enbillowed in clouds as if on a particularly foggy day. More than a few, I recall, died on the job, or lasted less than six months into retirement. Surprisingly, three or four committed suicide within a year or two of retiring. Two while on the job.

You are right on both accounts, Beau. The chemicals from gold reclamation and the toxic chemicals released inside a house fire worked together to kill them.

I fought fire briefly in 1975 - '76 and grew up in construction working with cement-asbestos boards. In both careers, using masks to protect your lungs was "pussy". Today I marvel I am still alive.

[Hades12]

I had access to a stack of film about a year ago and looked for someone to sale them to. Even the big yard I work with did not want them. found someone on the gold refining forum that bought them but the 50 pounds or that I had were the much newer stuff that is real light in silver and was not worth the time to ship them. The fellow I spoke to said the years on it were very numbered as there was so little silver still used in them and they were being replaced by Digital.

[Oakair]

Ive got like 10 pounds or so of X-rays from the 90s...

Interesting, I never really delved into the mechanics of film...never woulda guessed silver played a part

[knibloe]

I had read about it before, somewhere I read a formula fo how many square inches or feet it took to make an ounce of silver.