Writing your private key in gold leaf

[jim618]

There was a thread a while back about etching your private key onto a copper plate.

I just came across this UK site selling gold leaf:
http://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/

For instance, they sell:

22ct Moon Gold Leaf Roll - 10mm Ref: 2206/R/10
Each roll contains a continuous length of 20.5m length of genuine Moon Gold Leaf pressed to a tissue paper backing.
Price:£36.50 (Excluding VAT at 20%)

Does anyone have any experience of using gold leaf ?
I am thinking:
1) You write your private key in gold leaf onto a suitable substrate - say a block of nice mahogany wood.
2) Seal in the gold leaf (which I imagine is quite fragile) using a varnish.

You could do that at home (no-one else sees your private key) and the end result would look pretty neat.

p.s. I have no connection with that site.

[ErebusBat]

But if it were a display piece would you want your private key on it?

[jim618]

I was thinking it would be stashed in your 'safe place'.

Hopefully then if there was an untimely accident whilst you were trying out your latest home-made rocket-propelled gyro-copter . . .

. . .your next of kin would see it when s/he went through your stuff and would recognise it was valuable rather than the scrawls of a demented geek.

You are right - it would not be for show.

(Thinking about it: something like stainless steel would be better than wood as the substrate as it would be fireproof).

[hazek]

Isn't gold a bit risky for stuff like this because it's relatively soft and can be easily damaged?

[jim618]

Yeah - great corrosion resistance but soft.

I was hoping someone would actually know gold leaf work and say 'oh use XYZ as the substrate then the gold foil gets impregnated into the material and lasts forever'.

Kind of like that black stain you can never get off your favourite white T.

[HeavyMetal]

I have worked with gold leaf before, and yes it is very delicate until you encase it with some sort of clear fixative.

If you put your gold leaf QR code on a block of nicely sanded mahogany and varnished it then you would have a very sturdy and beautiful wallet that you should never let anyone see.

Interesting take on my copper etching idea.

[kjj]

I wonder if plating techniques like ENIG might work.  ENIG would be a huge pain in the ass to set up and do right, but maybe something similar.

[randy-waterhouse]

Titanium might the way to go if you want to etch something onto it ... it will have better temp. resistant not sure about corrosion but I think some of the modern alloys of titanium are v. stable now.

If you wanted to go nutz you could use that diamond etching technique they use for identifying diamonds from "good" places ... laser etched minute private keys on diamonds would be v. stable ... and awesome cool too.

[HeavyMetal]

Titanium might the way to go if you want to etch something onto it ... it will have better temp. resistant not sure about corrosion but I think some of the modern alloys of titanium are v. stable now.

If you wanted to go nutz you could use that diamond etching technique they use for identifying diamonds from "good" places ... laser etched minute private keys on diamonds would be v. stable ... and awesome cool too.

I have been thinking of the idea of a fire proof private key, most thin sheets of metal would melt in a hot fire.

Perhaps the trick would be to engrave it deeply into a large chunk of metal with a high melting point.

[fcmatt]

Remind me again how you would supply vendor with private information in order to get something like this made?

[unclemantis]

I have worked with gold leaf before, and yes it is very delicate until you encase it with some sort of clear fixative.

If you put your gold leaf QR code on a block of nicely sanded mahogany and varnished it then you would have a very sturdy and beautiful wallet that you should never let anyone see.

Interesting take on my copper etching idea.

Why not just encrypt it?

[ErebusBat]

I really like the gold leaf in wood idea... to present value.

however I don't think you need to limit yourself to just one.  Why not make two and keep one at home in your safe and another in a safe deposit box?  The chances that both the bank and your house burn at the same time is insane.

If you are uber-paranoid then you can encrypt it.  Or even have the engraving be the encryption key and store the data in the cloud (http://aws.amazon.com/glacier/) that your next of kin could then get if need me.

Ideally though you could use MofN txs for this.  Give one to your lawyer and your family.  As long as your wife doesn't run away with your lawyer you are ok !

[kjj]

I really like the gold leaf in wood idea... to present value.

however I don't think you need to limit yourself to just one.  Why not make two and keep one at home in your safe and another in a safe deposit box?  The chances that both the bank and your house burn at the same time is insane.

If you are uber-paranoid then you can encrypt it.  Or even have the engraving be the encryption key and store the data in the cloud (http://aws.amazon.com/glacier/) that your next of kin could then get if need me.

Ideally though you could use MofN txs for this.  Give one to your lawyer and your family.  As long as your wife doesn't run away with your lawyer you are ok !

Even better, there are optical M-of-N schemes too.  You can actually design a stack with holes that reveal the code only when you combine enough of them physically.

[mc_lovin]

what about engrave a secret passphrase on a piece of metal that is the solution for your brainwallet?

[ErebusBat]

what about engrave a secret passphrase on a piece of metal that is the solution for your brainwallet?

Problem is that you need it to be simple (assuming your family after your passing is your target).

I guess if your brother is Sheldon Cooper you might be able to more complicated.

[Topazan]

How about carving it into stone, or baking it into clay?  Archaeologists have managed to recover writings on these materials after thousands of years.

Would it be possible to write your key on the inside of a closed clay vessel, have it fired, then break it open to reveal the key?  That way, you wouldn't have to trust the firer.

I have no idea what kind of tool you'd use for stone.  Maybe concrete would work?