re: #280 William Barnett-Lewis

I think metal work is neat.

Silver - easy to work with and very useful, but I just am not attracted to the color, and have never worn silver (metal) anything.

I too love the old photography, and have a small library of books on the technical matters. Yet that is all OBE now, a vanishing art.

Of the elements, namely the metals, there are many that can make interesting art and jewelry. However, some of them have such high melting points (e.g. Niobium) that the average metal worker can’t practically cast them, or make alloys.

Th Platinum group metals, other than palladium, have pretty high melting points also. Ruthenium isn’t too expensive but is hard to find, but its melting point is out of reach for most hobbyists/artists too.

I prefer the color of copper, but alas we all know that it loves sulfur and oxygen like crazy and the element color doesn’t last long. Besides copper, the only other two metals with warm color are gold and iridium, and both are horribly expensive (and iridium supposedly difficult to work with - I’d like to try some day.)