Longevity of Gold

[Neko]

so my birthday was sunday and my Grandpa sent me some 14k gold ignots. im gonna go sell/trade for a bit of 22k for some fumed imploision pendants/mibs. Money is tight and i want to be somewhat conservative with this gold so im wondering how long i can expect a gram to last. Im not fuming pipes,just the backside of blanks for mibs/pendants. gold is a little to valuable to figure this out by trial like i did silver so i figured it would be worth atleast asking because i know alot of you guys use gold for these applications daily, thanks.

[Captain Glass]

It lasts a good bit more than the silver. And I use it on almost every pipe I make every day.

And just because your using it for a pendant doesn't mean it's gunna last longer than it would for a pipe. If you fume very heavily for the pendant and I fume very lightly inside a pipe your gunna go through the gold faster than I would.

[yoloswag420]

Just use what you have, a gram will do thousands of pendants.

[yoloswag420]

I just read the 14k part, thought you meant you were trading solid ingot, use the 22k.

[KLAW]

Yeah a gram (1/31st of a troy oz..somewhere around abt $50ish worth) shud last you multiple years of smaller stuff/not day in day out fuming!! Prob even if it was straight up production style pumpin out big stuff like 1' long tubes as much as you can everyday that you were doing, it would still last you a year i would think...I usually put about a pin head size piece and it lasts me months of fuming every other few small pieces...Personally i would try to get a half gram(or half whatever u can) of 22k & half of 24k because 22 & 24 give slightly different results...and its nice to have a bit of both to see which you prefer for certain applications...

Also if you dont have any silver yet you might want to try and get a small coin of .999 or .9999 to play with too...you can get them from jewelry/coin/pawn shop places at spot price, which is well below $30/oz last i checked and that's like a reg silver dollar size(except go with any other .999-.9999 silver one...i use a Canadian "$5" .9999 troy oz piece personally or go with one of the Asian coins i've heard the tiny bit of other filler metals they use can give more desirable results, same thing with gold thats 22k...either way just make sure its .999 or .9999) coin which will last multiple years and be a cheaper learning curve to try before the gold & help you get the justs of fuming before using the gold(however gold likes diff flame chemistry...more of a reducing flame i think...i always have to play to remember for some reason which likes which & its been a month since i really did) Also I got some 6mm abt 8" long Quartz rods for free from my local scientific glass place for each one and its made a hell of a diff in making my fuming easier...you dont have to worry abt the rod melting and touching your torch face or something undesirable like that...its just a bit hard to get the metal to stick to the quartz rod when you first put it on...if you try the quartz just put a tiny little divot on the tip of it to help the metal settle into...then personally i wrap diff colored duct tape around the base and write what it is so i dont grab it to use on something else by accident ever or can grab the one i want quick and easy and tell the 22k & 24k golds apart easier without having to test them each time...Good Luck Buddy!!

[Neko]

Thanks for the replies, really cleared up alot. i went into a local jewlery shop expecting them to have 22k or 24k for me to buy and they said they had none... i sold the 14k and im gonna go checkout a couple coin shops tomorrow and hunt for a gold maple coin i read about somewhere on here, and go to a pawn shop if that falls thru. Klaw i have been fuming silver for a bit now and i really want to add some gold to the mix, thanks for the thorough response!

[KLAW]

Yeah fo sho...No Prob...

Yeah figured id just add the silver part in just in case...Try a pawn shop...they usually just melt down a lot of the stuff they buy from people if its a bigger place...But deff try to get a little of both 22k & 24k i like diff ones for diff applications...and you get diff colors when mixing with silver too & one being first then the other,layers of all three...infinate combos...i love fuming and am trying to get back into learning how to do it mor consistently...your clear makes a big diff to i guess...I just got a ton of Simax to try out with fuming so hopefully i end up liking it better & it adds to the whole shibang....Have A Good One Brotha (or Sista i guess i shud say :) )

[MikeyMan]

I like the 2 peso mexican coin if I can find one. It's only 90% gold which is about 21.5K. But it's small, so it's affordable. And it fumes nicely.

[D. dino i ninjah]

most places aren't "selling gold right now" unless the spot has changed dramatically ..

[Udai Hussien]

yeah there was a recent plummet in gold prices recently, most businesses can't take the hit from liqudating gold right now. if you can get to a currency exchange Kugarands are 22k. hope this helps..