Metal smell/taste

[ThomasPowers]

You only have a single voice?  Lucky dog; sometimes the arguments get so loud I can't hear myself think!

[Frosty]

You only hear voices or see written words? My voices send ne notes and write letters when I'm alone. 

My problem seems to be my voices are hiding the notes in the folds in my brain. Practical jokers every one. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[pnut]

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

You only have a single voice?

Yes but strangely enough it's not my voice. 

Pnut

[Deimos]

Try living with a inner voice that does everything in rhyme.

[Frosty]

So long as it isn't an inner mime! Okay, on second thought; do the deaf hear their inner voice or does it sign? Wow, I guess an inner mime isn't out of the question. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Deimos]

Good question. found this about it.

https://voxy.com/blog/2012/05/deaf-language/#:~:text=Hearing-impaired (also referred to,how the vocal language sounds.

To long didn't read: When they think, they’re seeing themselves signing from first person point of view or third person point of view.

[Frosty]

Makes sense you can't use a reference you don't have. I wonder about folk who don't know sign? I don't know how you'd ask though. 

I just started on the article, thanks for the link.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Apple Duck]

The ionization explanation sounds plausible, but I'm not wholly convinced.

I know that I can smell different types of steel for example my Dad's rifle has a unique smell as opposed to newer black guns I've sniffed. and its not the oil or gun cleaning stuff. I notice that when I smell a metal, the 'smell' penetrates into my brain differently than another substance, that is off gassing or emitting fumes. Make sense, yeah me neither. 

As far as taste goes, I can sure tell the difference between a SS spoon and an old silver one. Aluminum wow that is more of sensation AND smell. If you ever as a kid were tricked into licking the top of a 9v battery, that is how metals taste/smell times 10. --which makes me believe the ionization concept.

While fishing, or other activities, I have unintentionally tasted Lead, which is kind of sweet. Heck the ancient people used to go crazy because their goblets were made of or contained lead, some of the roman records though incline that lead imparted a preferable taste to their beverages.

I know animals can smell steel.

[BartW]

I have really good smell too; I can distiguish between stainless, steel, iron, copper, brass ... the usual metals.

But I've also learned that *if* I can smell the metal; that's usually a really BAD sign, as in dust is getting into my lungs.. 

It also helps detecting propane/butane smell before something blows up.  I can swear that people that smell "bad" usually end up incompatible with me. The virus going round, when they said you'd loose your smell, this actually scared me.

Your sense of smell is important for some people; and really helpfull too; and I wouldn't want to live without my sense of smell. Now can you use this sense ... well actually yes you can; but not in blacksmithing. 

Friend of mine works at Nike, and her job is making sure shoeboxes smell nice. She told me there are several "profiles" of olfactory sense; and smelling metal is not really uncommon, but still a usefull profile (which they don't have at nike right now). You'd be amazed how many things really NEED to smell nice to sell

[Frosty]

Lead oxide is sweet and why children tend to eat lead paint off the window sills. In Roman it was known as "sugar of lead" and added to wine to make it sweet.

Black rifles and your Dad's rifle have different bluing, I'd be surprised if they did smell the same.

Different scents are picked up in different places in your sinuses. If you've ever smelled a really new odor you might have noticed it felt different in your sinuses. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[SLAG]

Sugar of lead is lead acetate. 

 It is poisonous.

The Romans only had honey to sweeten their food and beverages. But they also used lead acetate, the only other sweetener they were aware of. 

Some historians theorize that it led to the fall of the Roman empire.  (as it is known to cause infertility).

Lead damages the nervous system among other body tissues. Young children,  whose brains are growing,  are particularly susceptible to lead. It can cause mental retardation.

SLAG.

For more detail on lead poisoning check out,  Lead poisoning - Wikipedia

[pnut]

11 hours ago, BartW said:

Your sense of smell is important for some people; and really helpfull too; and I wouldn't want to live without my sense of smell

I think it's my strongest sense. I'm always the first person to smell something and sometimes the only person. It's very strongly connected to memory too. Just the other day I caught a whiff of something and I swear it took me back to three years old sitting on my grandmother's lap.  I worried too when I heard that loss of smell was a covid-19 symptom. A strong sense of smell is a double edged sword though. Some odors will make me have to get out of the area. 

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

I think the lead pipes used in the Roman baths in Bath England are still working...

If your wine was sour, turning to vinegar == acetic acid, then having it in a lead container will form lead acetate.  Funny that folks haven't mentioned Pewter which was lead based to fairly recent times!

[SLAG]

Folks,

The Roman's ingestion of lead was mainly due to the consumption of food and beverages that were sweetened with lead acetate. ("sugar of lead").

Generally the water pipes in areas with hard water form a "limestone interior lining coating the inner diameter of the pipes. This lessens or eliminates water leaching lead from the pipe walls.

So pipes in areas where limestone is predominant usually do not result in lead contaminated water.

It is a different story in places where the water is soft. Calcium carbonate does not form. And the slightly acidic water tends to leach lead from those water pipes.

(we get a similar reaction with some lead glazed pottery when they are filled with acidic beverages. For example orange or tomato juice).

Regards, citizens,

SLAG.