Silver for activation

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Rex Allers
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Silver for activation

Post by Rex Allers »

Since there have been a few posts recently about silver activation, I thought I'd share a vendor for silver.
I think I shared this before, but anyway...

Rio Grande is a vendor mainly selling stuff to the jewellery/art creator market. A few years back I got some silver from them. I am a satisfied customer.

Here's a link to the best page I found, checking again tonight.
https://www.riogrande.com/product/999-f ... ish/101930

So the offering is .999 fine silver (effectively pure) 6" wide sheet. You specify the length you want. The thinnest 30 Ga ( 0.010" thick) seems most appropriate for activation. I ordered 2" (a 6 x 2 piece) and cut it into three 2x2" pieces. Or you could order 3" (6 x 3) and cut it into two 3x3" pieces.

So tonight (2/26/2021) on that page:
6 X 2 is $24.05
6 x 3 is $36.08
I didn't go far enough to find any shipping tonight. No connection here, but I found them a good vendor and think these prices are fair.

BTW wasn't there a vendors section in the forums for sharing this kind of info? Looking tonight I didn't find a section like that.
Rex Allers
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Richard Hull
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Re: Silver for activation

Post by Richard Hull »

I have used Rio Grande for years. I was making custom gold and silver lost wax casting jewelry in the early 70's, (yet another hobby). Rio Grande is not a discount house so prices are retail and based on metal market value, obviously, plus a suitable profit as most any business will do. They are solid, trusted and reliable suppliers to both professional and hobby jewelers for many years. I have ordered from them twice last year.

The .010 is the ideal thickness for activation. Rex, thanks for the current price. Silver is up from its Jan-Mar 2020 price of $12-$13 per troy ounce to the current daily "spot" price oscillating between 25 and 29 dollars per troy ounce. Again, today, Rhodium blew off the doors at $24,000 per troy ounce. Is there an upper limit!!!

Note: Rio Grande and other precious metals dealers, by nature, have daily price changes based on the spot market for the metal they sell.

Rex, I seem to remember a vendors section in an older forum venue here. I often post such data in the FAQs and just posted posted in the for sale forum the Wagner spheres site which will not be erased just like the LDS vacuum site post at the beginning of the for sale trading post site.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Richard Hull
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Re: Silver for activation

Post by Richard Hull »

Rio Grande has been a solution in our trading post listing of "major important sources" for about a year now. I recommend only a 2" length of the 6" wide foil. This will make three, 2" squares for activation which will go nice with 2" pancake GM detectors for beta counting after activation and for 2.5" PMT gamma spectrometer heads.

Sadly, this entire thread should have been placed in the radiation forum as activation is a labor that sees its procedure and its outcome in various forms of radiation measurement.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Rich Feldman
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Real name: Rich Feldman
Location: Santa Clara County, CA, USA

Re: Silver for activation

Post by Rich Feldman »

My dealings with Rio Grande were reported here about 4 years ago.
viewtopic.php?p=79100#p79100

After forming 2-mm-long rivets from 28 AWG copper wire, for a kluge at work,
I made some from pure silver and gold for corrosion resistance.
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
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