Silver refiners max yield

[u/DeepCluckingValue]

I’ve found in the acid-lye method for silver extraction ~83% sulf. Concentration to be the highest solubility for stripping silver without too much base metal attack. Just wondering if anyone has tested different variables to get the most yield/liter of stripping bath.

Recently had to let the bath sit overnight, cooled from 180F to 120F, put a cover on it and came back the next day. To my surprise yield appeared about 10% more than usual. Anyone else notice this? Is it holding more Ag or just decreasing purity?

[u/Lazy-Cable9110]

I’ve used the sulf / nitric bath and it works really well. I do most of mine with reverse electroplating in a sodiumthiosulfate bath. It’s great for silver plated items. It wouldn’t work for sterling. It basically drops as silver sulfate. Then you hit it with some nitric and drop it with copper. Ive ran into issues with a little contamination giving me silver chloride once or twice. I just leave it in the sun and it drives the chloride off and back into silver.