Need help with finding gold for wedding ring

[Primitivecraftsman]

I need some help, I'm new here and dont know much about this community. Let me just get right down to it. I live in mid west PA. and don't have much chance to find gold here. I make all sorts of things with my hands. The woman I want to marry knows that, and she don't know that I'm here postings this. Lol I would like it if someone could message me back about this. I need to find enough gold to make a wedding ring. I know that I can buy it every where. But that ain't the point. I am willing to travel as long as I can find what I need in a weekend. Like I said there ain't much chance that I'll find what I need here so it ain't worth buying all the tools I need. I really hope that someone can help. And if not then I guess that I would be willing to buy some raw material from someone. Atleast it would be natural and not manufactured. But I really would like to harvest it myself. Any help that Yin's might have will be greatly appreciated.

 

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[49er4ever44]

I know people find gold in New Hampshire. J
Here is some info http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/p...3-grizzly-tales-first-year-dredger-diary.html

 

[villagenut]

Glad you ain't askin for much

 

[KevinInColorado]

Cool plan!!

To make a wedding ring (as I did!) you need around 5-7 grams of gold. I seriously doubt you will find a place where you can do that in one weekend. I suggest you get what you can in a weekend and then have your goldsmith combine it with the normal (commercial) gold they normally use. That way you can say the ring "includes" gold you dug yourself.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Unless you have a highbanker or a drywasher, have access to a good gold claim, and know what you are doing - you're having a pipe dream. Get in touch with Steve Wandt Home he's made a couple of things for me, and he is THE man if you are looking for natural gold and jewelry.

 

[49er4ever44]

God forbid somebody be ambitious Terry... Maybe he gets lucky and stumbles on a little pay streak.. or maybe he just enjoys the outdoors

 

[49er4ever44]

Kevin, was that a ladies or man's ring? I was thinking that after mixing it down to 14k he would only need a gram or 2 of raw gold to craft a little ladies ring.

 

[Kenmitch]

Honorable intentions sometimes get rewarded. As far as where to go for a sure thing in a weekend I'm not sure. 5-7 grams sounds like a lot of gold to find in a weekend. Right place, right time, 1 nugget is all it wo hi ld take. Guess I'd look for somewhere that is known for nuggets.

Good luck on your quest!

 

[goldog]

Maybe find a pay to play type place or someone like gold hog doc and explain what you're looking for.

 

[jeff of pa]

Or you could just detect and hope to find a ring already made

 

[fmrUSMC_0844]

Buy some paydirt. Some of that stuff has gold in it. And you can say you "found" it.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Kevin, was that a ladies or man's ring? I was thinking that after mixing it down to 14k he would only need a gram or 2 of raw gold to craft a little ladies ring.

It was a ladies ring but a wide one. Even though the goldsmith will add copper and silver to get to 14k (as you implied), you need more than you might expect due to the molding process. You can get some of it back in the end

 

[kcm]

To get gold in a weekend is all but impossible. For future reference, consider buying some paydirt, as frmUSMC suggested. You can get some good deals, especially from Dirthogg (in Canada) or Lynch Mining (in USA). You would have to also buy a gold pan or set up a recirculating sluice to capture the gold, but this would work for getting raw placer gold.

In a weekend? You'll have to go to a pawnshop and see what junk gold they happen to have on hand....IF they have any at all. Then as Kevin suggested, you could have a jeweler add whatever amounts of other metals necessary to achieve the color/grade of gold you desire. For example, 14k Rose Gold is made up of 41.67% copper and 58.33% gold. That means that if you want 14k Rose Gold, you only need about 53% of the ring being gold, while the rest can be made of scrap copper, such as wiring, the windings of an electric motor (try to avoid coated, to start with - just to avoid confusion), or copper tubing.

If you have access to some place that sells pure gold, you could buy some there to mix with copper or other metals, depending on what you're wanting. Check out this link for more info on various colors/grades of gold:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_gold


ADDED: If you're under strict time constraints, I would avoid the scrap gold jewelry approach and just buy pure 24k gold, if you can. Either that, or get the purest scrap jewelry you can find. That way, it will be less difficult for the custom jeweler to know what other metals to add and in what amounts.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The jeweler can provided 24k gold to supplement what you DO dig.

Btw, you will most likely need to mini-smelt your raw gold before the goldsmith can use it.

 

[kcm]

The jeweler can provided 24k gold to supplement what you DO dig.

Btw, you will most likely need to mini-smelt your raw gold before the goldsmith can use it.

Not necessarily, Kevin. Much of the natural gold found is 22k or higher. Some folks came on the GPEX forum a while back and had taken some placer gold that they mined in to a custom jeweler. They had custom wedding bands made from the native gold - nothing added or purified. The rings turned out simply GORGEOUS!!


EDIT: Might need to strike the "not purified" part, as I don't remember whether the jeweler melted or smelted. ...Maybe they smelted it - my memory ain't so good these days!

 

[49er4ever44]

I personally got into jewelry crafting recently and have started making my own rings. I started with some scrap 14k, some hand mind gold and a little silver. I don't cast jewelry yet. I melt/pour in a cheap crucible/mold and roll out the metal with my rolling mill. After mixing my gold to 14k and rolling out a mens size ring (2.8g) ive still got plenty for a ladies ring. It's really easy stuff to get into and I think its still possible if you don't overthink it. Of course I've invested 500$ or so in equipment to accomplish this. I'll post a pic later.

 

[kcm]

Here's some of the photos of the rings I was mentioning. Had forgotten that the jeweler used small nuggets along with platinum. The OP said that the gold was from dredging, but I'm not sure about the platinum. Also, they didn't know if the jeweler added any metal into the bars. What a difference going from the first pic to the third!!

 

[Goldfleks]

That ring is BEAUTIFUL. You've totally given me inspiration to a piece of jewelery I want to eventually get designed with my pickers. I love it.

 

[49er4ever44]

This is what it looks like when a beginner does it. (Me) lol

 

[49er4ever44]

Not done yet but getting there. I'm still not very good at brazing so I've melted a few when trying to finish them. The first pics are a 14k mens band I'm working on and second pic is just a 999 silver ring I made for practice. (Accidentally melted)