yossarian,
You are correct this can be a deadly field of work, but with education and undderstanding it can be done fairly safely.
There is much more to this than most realize.
The gases can be dangerous, and precautions need to be taken to protect yourself from them, I recommend studying the acids your using and the gases that form from these acids when mixed with metals, depending on the acid used and the metals in these solutions will determine which gas or combination of gas is formed, some of these gases like nitric can form NOx gases a wide variety of nitric oxide gases, HCl gas and chlorine and others can be formed from hydrochloric acid, depending what metal or other acid or oxidizer is involved, some of the gases can be poisonous gases used in past wars, sulfuric acid can form sulfur dioxide gases and other sulfur compounds, depending on reactivity series of the metals (look reactivity series up and study also it is a very useful tool), hydrogen gas can form with certain metals in most acids, as well which along with oxygen or other gases could be combustible in a confined area, caustic Hydroxide solutions and some metals can also form hydrogen gas, some of these gases can get very complicated, and in recovery and refining we can be dealing with many combination of these gases, also if working with Ore (minerals), or even in electronics we can be dealing with arsenic and other dangerous and poisonous compounds, even some of the metals we refine the gases formed can blind you even if you did protect your lungs from them, studying as much as you can and reading the forum can help educate you, but many of these compounds formed through the different processes we use can be complicated, and here taking precautions to avoid these unknown gases and body contact with unknown solutions is a very good idea, studying good lab practices and safety precautions can help to protect you from these unknowns, another real possibility in refining metals is making some type of primary explosive compound, along with many other dangers that can pollute yours or others environment, these toxic metal compounds can be very dangerous if improperly treated, here studying how to treat your waste properly is very important.
It is very scary to think of a person reading a couple of pages on some cockeyed internet page of how to get gold using acids, and think all they have to do is dump acids on these metals and make gold bars. These people are very dangerous to all of us, possibly poisoning themselves and others, not to mention the hazardous mixtures they can make using experimentation with unknown combinations of chemicals and metals, then they come to the forum with a big mess wanting us to tell them how to fix the problem they have of not making that gold bar, and get upset when we tell them they are doing everything wrong and to study to learn to do things properly and safely (yes this study can take years, and the more years you study this the more you find out how much more you still need to learn and how much you do not know) this forum and its members is a great education tool for anyone smart enough to take the time to learn, and education in my mind can help to protect you and others from this complicated science we use.
Now if working in test tubes with Hoke's experiments, you can do this outside in the fresh air, with a little breeze, or with a fan blowing fume away from you, the amounts of gases from these test tube experiments will be small in volume, just do not stick your nose in there and take a big whiff of gas, to see what it smell like. :lol:
Joking aside, I wish to say that you are doing what we wish most new members would and should do, studying and asking the right questions, I feel if you keep this up you will do just fine.
I do my recovery and refining outdoors, although I am working on building me a shop to do a few of the processes inside, I have the fume hood I will need for this, but I think I will still do most of my work outdoors in the fresh air, the shed will have a carport type roof extension to keep the rain and snow from running down the back of my neck on those cold winter nights, and to keep those leaves and bugs out of my solutions that are always falling out of that nice shade tree oak I now refine under now.
Keep up the good work you are doing, if you do you can be very successful in this field, and you will be gaining the education and understanding you need to keep yourself and others as safe as possible.
