Safety matches as flux and antimony additive?

[sheepdog]

Read that safety matches contain antimony and arsenic so tried a little experiment. Added 2 burnt matches and 4 dead (once water logged) matches to a pot of a single muffin on wheel weights. Nothing else was added. After letting the weights melt and using the matches to burn to powder as flux I skimmed the dross and reset in a muffin pan.

Difference was very noticeable. Dull gray specks in the mix. Very very hard and less lead rub off on my hands. Muffin almost feels stiff like cast aluminum. I don't have a hardness tester but would like someone with one to run the same mix and see what happens. I realize this is a small ratio but might be something to this.

[Avery Arms]

Flux I can believe but how much antimony can a match really contain?

IIRC your wheel weight alloy is already 4% antimony by weight.


PP

[sheepdog]

Flux I can believe but how much antimony can a match really contain?

IIRC your wheel weight alloy is already 4% antimony by weight.


PP

Thats what I thought. Maybe its the arsenic content? Maybe its all in my head? No idea, but its something to try to duplicate with someone with the right testing equipment.