If by farty you mean like rotten eggs or a cold catalytic converter then
that would be H2S hydrogen sulphide gas which is poisonous. I would use
it in a well ventilated room. Might be one of those that if you can
smeel it then its not too concentrated and at a relatively safe
concentration.

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Don Bruder wrote:
snipped


And sulphur figures into the equation, but I can't recall how. All I
remember is that the stuff we used when we did copper impresssions (I
think mine was about 6th grade - Not sure. I remember that I did a
motorcycle, though ) stunk to hell and gone of sulphur. Had to do
that part outside on the benches around the courtyard, the stench was
so bad. It ws safe enough to give to youngsters our age, so it
couldn't have been *TOO* toxic beyond the smell.


Odds are that you were using "Liver of Sulfur" (POTASH SULFURATED).
It's been the standard stuff for darkening copper and bronze for
donkey's ages now. I bought some a few years ago from a crafts supply
shop. It came in powder form, to be mixed with water. And yes, it does
have a very farty smell to it.

It does a good job of "antiquing" copper and brass stuff, and can't be
too hazardous, as I've gotten it on my fingers plenty of times for a
minute or so, and they didn't fall off or anything.

Jeff