almus

I swear I looked into the safety of antimony and it wasn't anywhere near as toxic as that MSDS reports. I'm really glad you posted that. I am a complete idiot. I knew antimony was toxic but I thought you had to ingest it or inhale it in an industrial setting for it to be dangerous. I'm glad I kept that idea in my head and went looking for information. Your wife deserves flowers. I know a lot of ammunition hobbyists who cast their own bullets who used antimony in their mixture, so I'm guessing its not imminently dangerous, but I probably shouldn't be messing with it. I'm going to get some pewter and or maybe some copper. Man I'm glad I asked the internet about this one.

That's funny, I thought the fact that I put "total noob" in the topic made it clear I have no experience :-P. Yes, I do not know the difference between melting and smelting. I just googled it, smelting would mean I have antimony ore that I need to refine into pure metal, right? Well, maybe I was misleading, but my antimony isn't literally raw, its in large crude ingots, but its 99% pure antimony. So I do believe my goal is to melt it, am I right? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm a total noob. everyone else, Thanks for the tips, I think the problem is that I'm associating blacksmithing with this project when its really a jewelry making project. I've seen tutorials of people using cuttlefish bones to cast jewelry. When they melt the metal they place it in a crucible and put a blow torch directly on to the metal. Is the blow torch they're using an oxy-acetylene torch then? The torch I've got is just MAPP, but its got a dedicated oxygen tank, which on full tilt according to the manual can cut steel, so it seems like a few dozen grams of antimony should be quick work. I'm guessing that since metal doesn't melt as gradually as ice melts then it would probably take a substantial amount of time for it to start boiling but that just sounds like the beginning of a horror show. That's why I wanted to ask some blacksmiths this question instead of going to a jewelers forum, since I feel like you guys have much more practical experience with the rate that metals transition phases, working with very hot flames, and working in a much more hostile workshop. I wasn't planning on making a forage or a foundry out of the mapp/pro torch, if I end up making a forge its going to be something similar to this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEJwzjaAjM Sorry I was using the wrong terminology, once again, zero experience. Basically I'm hoping to make a little bit of jewelry using the simple and very old fashion cuttlefish bone casting method, and once I'm satisfied with that subject I'm going to graduate from simple, straight forward projects casting simple trinkets and jewelry to learning the much more complex trade of blacksmithing. in case anyone is interested, here is a simple walkthrough of cuttlebone casting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHjVKRHY1QY Thanks for the tips.

Greetings everyone. I've just recently been taken in by the idea of backyard blacksmithing. My girlfriend got me a mapp/pro oxygen torch for Christmas as I thought I'd get my hands dirty with a little bit of simple Cuttlefish bone jewelry casting before really committing and building a DIY forge and getting an anvil and all that sweetness. I thought antimony might be a good metal to start with because of its relatively low melting point and the fact that it has a good amount of luster. However I've quickly noticed not very many people work with it as I've had a hard time finding examples of antimony jewelry. All I really want to know is if its safe to melt antimony with a Bernzomatic MAPP/PRO oxygen blow torch. Its advertised to reach temperatures of over 3000 degrees F, which is theoretically hot enough to BOIL antimony, and I'm no expert but I get the feeling boiling metal in my garage is a quick way to permanently disfigure myself or at the very least end up in the emergency room. I've already purchased a pound of antimony so I'd really like to use it. I was hoping to cast some simple rings and other small trinkets. If anyone has any tips or safety advice I'd really appreciate it. Thanks