Storing lead

My wife was always busy "nesting" before each new arrival- good for you - looking around for dangers. Look under your sinks and other chemical hiding places. Babies have no "normal" tastes yet so will chug anything. Drain cleaner and Lysol and tsp and oven cleaner and and and. Go look now to avoid tearful memories.
I can tell about electrical danger too - ungrounded appliances - or about an aquarium full of dead minnows and a child too young to tell the story but with fearful eyes - and the aerator pump sitting inside the aquarium. Stairs are the least worry - bruises heal but poisonous house plants and dangerous dogs that "have never done that before" and a little bite of raw carrot and a hundred other little things are no danger at all to us - and seldom are to them but now you are responsible and it is you that will lose everything that you live for ... if ...

Go have a look around.

Congratulations too! I enjoy just sitting here remembering - an enjoyable "thousand yard stare"!
 
From Glen Fryxle
Question from a reader: I'm interested in casting lead bullets. My concern is lead poisoning and my 2 1/2 year old son. Of course I'll do all of this out in the garage, but will the smoke and vapor accumulate on the walls to the point where simply touching them could cause peoblems? How old can a child be before exposure isn't quite as harmful? I'm willing to put casting off for a few years if that's what it takes.

As a Ph.D. chemist involved in the environmental chemistry of heavy metals and heavy metal toxicology, perhaps I can add a few helpful comments here. First off, you are right to be concerned about your children. Lead is considerably more dangerous to kids than it is to adults. A healthy 200 lb man can carry a lead burden (with no symptoms) that would cause severe mental retardation in a 5-year old. This is because one of the mains effects that lead has is on the developmental biochemistry of the brain and spine. Once you've grown up, lead can't enter that particular pathway anymore. There are still other toxicity mechanisms to be concerned about, but the neurological development of children is easily the most serious. If you want to learn more about lead and its effects on kids, the CDC has an excellent report that they will send you free of charge from their website (I recommend this report to anyone who shoots cast bullets -- notice I did NOT say "bullet casters").

As to your concern about fumes and vapors, my opinion is that with the fan you describe, that is the least of your worries. I cast in a lab-grade fume hood in my garage that should provide similar ventilation to what you describe. I have been actively casting bullets for about 10 years. My wife has her blood chemistry evaluated quarterly as a result of having MS. They can't find ANY lead in her blood. Not just acceptably low levels, they can't find ANY. So, with adequate ventilation, general lead vapor contamination can be easily controlled or eliminated.

I would be much more concerned about general "lead housekeeping", especially with small, teething age children around. Discovery of an interesting new object seems reason enough for a child to put that object in their mouth and chew on it (this is why we got rid of lead-based paints). Ingots, stray sprues and shiny new cast bullets are all potential teething rings, and should be kept away from children.
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ChromeArty said:
Lol! :)

I'm not a safety facist... but I was a bit concerned with a bunch of lead
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I'm not going to getting into the real or imagined dangers of storing lead residentially but one thing I would certainly suggest is that if you are storing the lead outside either make sure it's in a water tight container or if it gets wet it is thoroughly dried before you try to smelt it. I can tell you categorically that dropping moist lead into molten lead always works out very badly for the droppee.
 
Jericho said:
Not necessarily. Lead dust is dangerous and can be inhaled. Depends on what is stored and how it's stored.
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A guy in the US bought some lead online, when he opened the box they're was a lot of lead dust in the box. His kids got sick from elevated lead in their blood.
 
Tazzy said:
A guy in the US bought some lead online, when he opened the box they're was a lot of lead dust in the box. His kids got sick from elevated lead in their blood.
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I think the prick comments are coming from people without kids... As they clearly don't know how lead affects kids vs adults.

Thanks for the post
 
you have been given some excellent advice thus far I will add that wrapping the bars in plastic wrap will stop oxidization and prevent any unwanted handling exposure
congats on your new baby!
Jonathan
 
What about spraying/preserving freshly cast bullets to prevent oxidation? I did my first casting of pure lead Minies today, was wondering if I should give them a spray with G96 or something else before storing them to prevent oxidation?
 
Another PhD here....
Vapours are not much to worry about from the solid metal, more to worry is transcontamination from melting vapours and anything that could dust the material. Keep it bagged up, avoid raising any dusts, and anything that comes into contact, or is worn when manipulating (that could cause powdering or raising vapours), should be kept away from the kid.
 
And as far as kids and their developing neurological systems are concerned, you might be interested to know that the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended no TV for children under three. No Baby Einstein, nothing.

...Just checking on that I see since I read about it years ago and now that's being given a "rethink". :rolleyes: Plenty of lobbying and leveraging going on to get that changed no doubt! http://www.wsj.com/articles/pediatricians-rethink-screen-time-policy-for-children-1444671636 Notice that they make no reference to any change in the science, or the common sense, just the current ubiquitous devices and how acclimatized we all are to them.

The reasons given originally were that the high-speed visual stimulation of TV sets up the neurological wiring of the child's developing brain for just that: high speed stimulation. The result is that the real world seems "slow". It has been suggested by some researchers that there is an obvious link to this and the ADD/HDD epidemic. Who'd'a thunk eh?

Unlike most of our edumacators, the European Union doesn't think WIFI is good for young minds either.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...uch-a-thing-as-too-much-wifi/article18592972/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/health-advice/wifi-internet-family-dangerous-health/

http://wifiinschools.com/uploads/3/0/4/2/3042232/europe_seeks_to_ban_mobile_and_wifi_in_schools.pdf
 
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