[TheForge] Chemicals- was Re: Cast iron pans

[Phlip]

OK, I was the one who brought up chemicals, and much of the turnip and chemistry response was to my posting, so here's my take on it.

I've got a very strong chem and bio background, so I know what I mean by chemical flavors, but sometimes my respondants won't, so to clarify:

Chemical flavors, when I'm describing them, relate to relatively chemically pure substances, such as salts, acids, and bases, but not limited to these substances. Yeah, everything has a rating on the pH scale, but I'm talking about non-food related flavors, and my palate is sensitive enough to taste and identify many, including shoe polish, several different glues and fixatives, soaps, petroleum oils, drugs, insecticides, and so forth. I'm quite well aware that chemicals are the building blocks of life, but there are also quite a few which can help you on your way to a slow or a quick death, and I tend to avoid them. I treat stray
chemical flavors just as I do wild plants- if I know what they are, AND I know that they're safe, I'll ignore or use them, as appropriate. If I don't know that they're safe, or at least harmless, I'll avoid them.

When smithing, I look at dangerous possibilities. When you're heating metals, heat causes reactions- if the known reactions are reasonably safe, as in steel, composed of iron and carbon, I'm not going to worry about them. When you get into more exotic alloys, though, such as those involving chrome compounds, you need to be careful.

A case in point. Titanium BY ITSELF, is relatively safe and non-reactive. BUT, it is frequently alloyed with vanadium, which is EXTREMELY poisonous and dangerous. Consequently, if I want to work with titanium, either I know EXACTLY what the alloy is, or I use extreme precautions.

Y'all are adults- you can make your own choices. But, I reserve the right to make my own, and I usually go for caution.

Phlip