Silver Thermite

Well, it all started when I had some silver wastes lying around contaminated with copper. So, I had to figure a way to separate and purify. I took the silver/copper nitrate solution and added to sodium hydroxide. That precipitated the silver oxide and the copper hydroxide. I dried this a bit then added to some HCl, this dissolved the copper hydroxide and left (most of) the silver oxide. Then not wanting to loose any of this in the thermite reduction I had planned I decided to bind the silver oxide with the aluminum powder using sulfur, seeing as how it would just turn into gaseous sulfur dioxide when used as a binder compared to my other option plaster of Paris which would require more refining. So I took my silver oxide, my aluminum powder, and my sulfur and mixed in a pan under increasing heat. Eventually I could not tell there was even any sulfur added, I expected it to at least get goopy or something so I added some more and more. Finally even though I really couldn't tell a difference I figured enough was enough. I was loading it into a short length of copper pipe as a mold with a spoon when the whole mixture went up. It could have been from the residual hydroxide on the silver oxide reacting with the aluminum under high temperature, it could have been that enough heat had been formed to initiate a reaction, it could have been a lot of things but I swear I could smell hydrogen sulfide in there somewhere.... I was wearing gloves but that wasn't enough, and my face shield turned into a twisted flaming piece of debris, the mixture deflagrated and went everywhere splashing silver over everything. The ground was all on fire and I was trying to calm myself as I looked at the glowing red liquid solidifying in the pan. I took stock of the situation, gloves intact, most of my hair still here, no obvious burn holes, no hair on my left arm, not too bad..... then I took the glove off my left hand, and most of my skin came with it. I had to spend 5 months in a glove waiting for it to heal, but I did get to lecture the doctor at the hospital over chemistry.