jimmy759 said:
Well i have graduated high school and have years of college under my belt. I'm working as a heavy duty mechanic.
Way cool, Jimmy. You have my respect.
But i'm still young and have very little to loose so why not take some risks.
I agree---nothing ventured, nothing gained, but nickel, at least as you've proposed the plan, is far beyond being reasonable. I'll give you my perspective, for what it's worth.
Nickel is one of the metals that doesn't respond well to torch melting. Jewelers use it to alloy white gold, and it's tricky to melt without oxidizing. Of course, with a controlled atmosphere, the vast majority of the problems of melting are eliminated-----but that's way beyond your ability without expending a huge amount of money. Many years ago I investigated an induction furnace that worked in a vacuum (great solution to the problem of oxidization) and found you could easily spend more than $100,000 for one.
I think the point here isn't so much that you'd need some equipment----if your concept was legal, you could simply sell the nickels to a buyer, accepting payment by the pound. Great idea, and I think I'd go for it, too. Problem is, you've openly discussed the process of practicing deceit----as if you're willing to break the law to pick up a few bucks. It's hard for those of us that don't know you to know where you'd draw the line. Could be you'd feel equally at ease with the idea of robbing a bank, so long as you stole only a small amount of money. Or, maybe, you'd be willing to burglarize a residence if you felt you could find some silver coins---if you get my drift. Dunno, and I'm not here to judge you, just trying to help you see that you're presenting yourself to humanity in such a way that we can get a very poor impression of you, when you may very well be one hell of a great guy. I think you probably are----your efforts in preparing yourself to make a living, thus far, appear to be quite good, and are a sign of responsibility.
But criminal risks are not worth it. To a point as everyone does have there price.
Exactly! You'd feel great about receiving even a small part of that $80/hr you spoke of-----but it wouldn't come close to covering the cost of an attorney if you got your butt busted-----assuming there's anything illegal about your plan. Just trying to help you see that.
And well It takes money to make money.
My experience thus far in life is that there's some magical line, which I can not describe. If you live above that line, money tends to fall in your lap. If you live below that line, you're always a day late and a buck short. Not being in debt up to your eyebrows on credit cards, not buying a new car because you want one, not buying stupid things that lose value immediately---not doing drugs-----not being the local drunk-----along with many other factors, dictate, in part, on which side of that line you're going to dwell.
Its been done with silver coins why not with nickel.
I'll give you one real good reason. It's not beyond the ability of the home refiner to silently process silver coins. You can't do that with nickel, for reasons I've already mentioned. There are likely more reasons that I've left out. Some metals are difficult to deal with, and having them in forms that are not easily identified further complicates matters. I'll offer you, as an example, the copper sludge that is generated from refining gold and silver. It's still copper, but there's no market for the stuff. If you melt it and cast a bar, so it becomes marketable as scrap copper, you're invested in the bar more than it's value. I'm afraid you'd find yourself in that same position with nickel. If, on the other hand, you could gather them, bag them, and sell them by weight, great. While they're still in the form, as struck, you know what you have. The moment you change that, you render them as scrap, of unknown quality. Nickel may be worth $20/lb, but the junk you'd end up with won't be, regardless of how you treat it.
And is such a bad idea to maybe think outside the box once and a while.
Absolutely not! That's how new things come about. I don't have a problem with thinking at all----just a problem with decisions that are not viable.
I did not want this to become an argument as it seems to have. But I kind of fueled the fire.
Not an argument as far as I'm concerned, Jimmy. Just a serious conversation (hopefully between friends) that can be beneficial. If you and I can't have a conversation without offending, we're not acting like adults.
I commented I was young once, too. It's been a long time, but not so long that I can't remember getting my tit in a wringer for making bad decisions. One of them was climbing poles, changing out insulators. I was a collector for a few years, back when insulators with collecting value were still to be found on poles, often even without wire on them. I got busted two times before I wised up. The legal owners of those poles (railroads and the telephone companies) take a real dim view of people taking their possessions, even if they aren't using them and they'll eventually end up in the dump. One of my instances was exactly that, insulators from a mainline UP track in a small community south of Pocatello, Idaho. No wire on the glass, not being used, and never would be again, but the insulators didn't belong to me, and they made that abundantly clear!
Young people don't have good judgment in many cases, not having had enough experience in life to be properly informed, and also having the attitude that they're indestructible. I was no different. I see things very differently now than I did in those days. I screwed up big time on several occasions, but was lucky to land on my feet. I understand you and where you are----so please don't take any of this in such a way as to think I'm talking down to you . That's not my intention.
Harold.