Sending in scrap to be refined – OR how to make money on your mistakes!

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up the studio and found a box of old projects that didn’t turn out the way I expected. Projects that no longer represented me as an artist, and projects that I would get around to “some day”. I decided to collect everything together and send them to Rio for refining. Usually I melt some of the pieces into small balls and use them as decorative components in my work. Kind of like granulation. But one can only have so many components.

There are lots of different places to send scrap into for refining, some of them even give better rates Rio does. But to be quite honest, since I deal with Rio all the time it’s just plain easier to send it to Rio. If you haven’t done it give it a try. It’s easy and in my case, since the price of silver went up from the time I purchased it, I think I actually made money!

Rio makes it easy by providing you with the form to download and all of the details you’ll need. There is even an on-line estimator to see how much cash you’ll get!
I usually just get a Rio credit instead of a check.

Keep your fine silver scrap separated out from sterling, gold (per karat) even coin silver .900. Remember EVERYTHING can be refined, this includes wire clippings, clippings from head pins everything, jump rings that bent of out of shape. You can also send in filings from your bench as well as long as they are not contaminated with other matter. Just keep them separated out. Also remove any gemstones as well.

For metal clay artists be sure to fire everything before you send it in. Metal artists also remember you CAN reconstitute unfired metal clay. See my post reconstituting metal clay.

Here are the basics steps.

Step 1 - Download the form from Rio — **Step 1 – Download the form from Rio**

: Step 2 – Weigh the silver
In my case the scale will only measure up to 300 grams. So I had to break up the silver into a few batches.

Step 3 - Bag up the silver — **Step 3 – Bag up the silver**
Clearly mark the silver content and the weight
of each bag. Remember not to use tape because
scrap can stick to the tape.

Step 4 - Mail it to Rio — **Step 4 – Mail it to Rio**
Fill out the downloaded form accordingly and package it all up to mail to Rio.
I usually send it USPS flat rate with signature verification.

In a few of days you’ll get a call from Rio to verify they got and how much the silver (or gold) is worth!

Here is what I bought with my mistakes!
I can’t wait to get into the studio to use my new tools!

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