The Workbench Library
Books by Jake Lawson
Twenty-two years of creek experience, written down. No filler, no recycled internet advice — the processes, paperwork, and field techniques that actually put metal in your vial.
Liberating Precious Metals
A Practical Guide to Gold, Silver & Platinum Group Recovery
Everything Jake knows about recovering precious metals in one workbench reference — from creek gravel and black-sand concentrates to silver contacts, catalytic converters, and platinum-group recovery. Step-by-step processes, safety protocols, and the real chemistry explained in plain English. The oversized paperback is built to sit open on your bench while you work.
Why the big paperback? This is a bench book — oversized pages, diagrams you can read with gloves on, built to lie flat next to your furnace or leach bucket. Buy it once, use it for years.
Sold on Amazon. Price shown is list price — check Amazon for current pricing.
More from the Library
Staking Your First Gold Claim
A Beginner's Guide to Finding Open Ground, Filing a Federal Mining Claim, and Holding It for What It Actually Costs
Find open ground, file with the BLM yourself, and hold your claim for what it actually costs.
NC Gold Prospecting
A Practical Guide to Finding Fine Gold in the Carolina Slate Belt — Legal Creeks, Right Gear, and Why Western Advice Won't Work Here
Fine-gold tactics for the Carolina Slate Belt — where America's first gold rush started.
Read the Book, Then Find Your Ground
Staking Your First Gold Claim teaches you how to file. When you're ready to skip the search, our sister site lists gold, placer & patented claims for sale across the western US — plus free BLM filing guides for all 19 states.
Want a taste before you buy? Start with Jake's free guides: cleaning gold without chemicals, recovering gold from electronics, or staking your first mining claim.