Bench Business

Saw Blades

All broken sawblades should be collected and not thrown away as fine particles of gold are caught in the teeth and can be refined.  Also all old emery paper, burs, bristle brushes, rubber abrasive wheels, anything you use to sand, grind, or polish gold needs to be saved with the polishing waste after they are worn out.

  ~Brad

Jewelers Tools,Scrap Material Management

Precious Metal Accumulation

Place a piece of leather or matte board in the bottom of your lap tray.  This will aid you in cleaning the sweeps out of your lap tray.  Pick up the leather by the corners and dump the sweeps into the container.  This also helps protect stones from the hard metal bottom of the lap tray when accidentally dropped.

  ~Brad

Scrap Material Managament,Precious Metal Waste

Minimum Refining Charge

If you pay the minimum refining charge you are paying the highest price to have your scrap refined.  Always accumulate your scrap long enough to get beyond the minimum charge of the refiner.  Never pay a minimum refining charge; if you do, you are paying too much to get your scrap refined.

  ~ Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Scrap Material Management

Cleaning Sweeps out of Lap Tray

Place a piece of leather or matte board in the bottom of your lap tray.  This will aid you in cleaning the sweeps out of your lap tray.  Pick up the leather by the corners and dump the sweeps into the container.  This also helps protect stones from the hard metal bottom of the lap tray when accidentally dropped.

  ~ Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Shop Management,Productivity

Don't Let Gold Walk Out the Door

Don’t let gold dust walk out of your shop - sweep the floor of the shop daily and mop monthly.  Dump the dirty water from mopping in a sink with a gold trap in the drain.  Never dump the water in the toilet or other drain without a trap designed to accumulate scrap material.

  ~ Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Scrap Material Management

Scrap Management

Refiners vary greatly in the minimum fees they charge and the rate of return they give.  You should contact several refiners, and receive their pricing chart before deciding upon the refiner to use.  Find a refiner whose pricing structure fits with the amount of scrap you have to process. 

~ Brad

Shop Management,Productivity,Scrap Material Management

Clean Shop

Design shop components to minimize clean up.  Remember that any dust generated in the jewelry shop may contain gold particles.  A clean shop increases profits through the recovery of that gold.  It also makes the shop more visually appealing, thereby increasing productivity.

~ Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Shop Management,Scrap Material Management

Shop Apron

Workers should always wear an apron in the shop.  This keeps gold from filing, grinding, and polishing operations from accumulating in their clothes and being washed down the drain.  Thin leather with a tanned smooth surface is best.  Cloth aprons, such as denim, are better than nothing, but they will accumulate precious metal down in the fabric.  If cloth aprons are used they should not be washed, but sent to the refiner to be burned and the gold recovered.

Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Shop Management,Scrap Material Management

Shop Vac

A shop vacuum cleaner is a necessity.  This makes clean up easier, and you will then be more likely to do it more often.  This vacuum is for shop use only, and should never be used outside of the shop.  Save all bags and send to the refiner with the polishing waste.

Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Shop Management,Scrap Material Management

Precious Metal Recovery

When it comes to recovering precious metal, nothing is worthless.  However, when you walk into many repair shops you will find people behaving as if it were.  Many people do not realize what a valuable asset their scrap is, and have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of additional revenues received from a refiner when a clean and orderly shop is maintained.

Brad

Custom Design Jewelry Shop,Jewelry Repair Shop,Shop Management,Scrap Material Management