Getting The Lead Out....of Your Shop...and Your Life.

[WyomingSlick]

I have observed that some members have recommended using a sheet of lead as a base to drive hole, and other punches into.

I strongly advise against this......and reccomended getting all of the lead out of your shop !

If you do some research on the toxicity of lead and the results from lead poisoning, you will find:

From Wikipedia: "No safe threshold for lead exposure has been discovered that is, there is no known sufficiently small amount of lead that will not cause harm to the body."

Now...bearing that in mind...that any amount of lead is toxic and harmful to a body.....don't you think you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and your customers to eliminate any possibility of your leather items being contaminated, even minutely, with lead.

For those of you who can not see the connection.....let me point out to you that lead oxidizes. That is why fresh cut lead is shiny, while lead exposed to the atmosphere for a time is dull gray. And, that dull outer layer is easily scraped, or abraded off, and can end up as a residue on you, your workbench, your tools, AND the leather products you make.

So, say you make a dog toy which you punched some holes in using a lead sheet to drive the punch into.

Congratulations ! You have just poisoned your dog !

[electrathon]

Lead is all around us, we are exposed to it constantly. It is still no reason to up your exposure to it. I have always been shocked when leatherworkers advocate using it as a backstop for punching.

[BDAZ]

Thanks for the heads up WL!

I use lead scuba weights covered in leather as a weight when I am tooling. Turns out the scuba weights are an alloy which is much harder than pure lead and not a hazard, even with no covering.

The most dangerous issue is dust that can be inhaled or any particles that can be ingested. At least in the scuba community, handling lead weights is not regarded as hazardous.

In addition, I no longer reload with un-plated lead bullets, healthier for reloading and for shooting as well.

Cya!

Bob

[Mudruck]

Thanks for the heads up! I try to stay as lead free as posssible. Had a buddy that was reselling used brass from the shooting range and for a while he couldn't figure out why he felt like crap all the time. He went in for tests and when the doc ran blood tests he literally got the 'OMG What the hell are you exposing yourself to?! Your Pb levels are literally off the charts!' He had to end up having his entire basement professionally cleaned as the lead levels from the used firearm brass had contaminated everything down there to levels that were completely unsafe. It took months and months for the Pb levels in him to even reach 'acceptable' levels.

[Hi Im Joe]

I must not be old enough...but with the options out there now I can see no reason to use lead to punch into...just use a poly board?

It doesn't make sense to me at all. If you want weight use tungsten not lead?

I don't know but I wasn't even aware people considered using lead for this kind of stuff b/c the hazards of lead poisoning are so well documented.

[stelmackr]

Lead is all around us, we are exposed to it constantly. It is still no reason to up your exposure to it. I have always been shocked when leatherworkers advocate using it as a backstop for punching.

I use movable lead/tin/antimony type to emboss leather with text and wash my hands after using. So easy to forget.

Bob Stelmack

[WScott]

Good reminder, have some lead foil I will recycle

[St8LineGunsmith]

send me all your lead I cast my own bullets

[WyomingSlick]

send me all your lead I cast my own bullets

Yes............................like I was saying........Lead is poisonous to the body.

According to Wikipedia:

Lead poisoning symptoms (Include, among others) :

1.Headaches, irritability, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, difficulty learning or concentrating, and aggressive behaviour