lead melting

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:09 pm

anyone know where can i buy melting pot and laddle for the lead :!:

Guest

Clean out an old paint tin and bend the lip into a spout. Thats a small paint tin by the way. The ladles for this soet of thing don't hold a lot of lead.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:21 pm

cheers dunc
i thought a paint tin would melt as the material used has lower melting point

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 3:12 pm

off to the car boot sale or charity shop and get an old thick aluminium non-teflon coated milk saucepan with pouring lip. Metal handle would be good...... along with a thick leather welders glove.

Guest

Most paint tins are made of pressed steel. Trust me, unless you've got an industrial blast furnace, you won't have a problem!

As Mr T says though, a good pair of welders gloves are a good idea.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 4:16 pm

cheers for the info will give those a blast (just got to get myself some lead now) :lol:

Guest

Thats the advantage of working in the building industry-I get it free when we do strip outs. Have you tried the local church roof? :lol: :lol:

Member Joined: Sep 23, 2007 Posts: 20

can u buy lead from builders murchants?

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 11:30 am

You can. It's about £1 per kilo. Not very cheap really as you can buy 60oz weights for 60p each ready made.

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:54 am

mogthemackem wrote:

You can. It's about £1 per kilo. Not very cheap really as you can buy 60oz weights for 60p each ready made.

ha ha ha,bet ya meant 6oz sinkers Darren mate,sorry could`nt resist it mate

Guest

mogthemackem wrote:

You can. It's about £1 per kilo. Not very cheap really as you can buy 60oz weights for 60p each ready made.

?????? well you will get at least 5 of them from your kilo of lead so even at £1 a KG thats a big saving is it not ????

Member Joined: Oct 07, 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Norwich

Ive been contemplating buying a gemini mould. But thats the problem, lead.

Is it really worth it to buy the lead and make your own? Also, is there any fumes given off that you have to worry about when melting the lead??

Guest

If you handle lead with bare hands there will be some of the oxide that gets onto your skin and ultimately into your bloodstream. When heated, the oxide will give off a gas which it would be sensible not to breathe. In the building industry now, all lead fitters have to have regular blood tests and if they go over the safe lead limit in their blood they can't fit lead anymore. As with all things, follow simple safe working practices:

use gloves
work in a well ventilated area
don't breathe the fumes
wash your hands after handling the lead and before you eat (or smoke for that matter)

And before you all shout me down about nanny stateism, this is one area where the H&S brigade have actually got it right. Lead from the oxides will build up in your body very quickly and can lead to long term health problems.

Member Joined: Oct 07, 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Norwich

hmm...I work with lead at work. Some jobs require lead letters, which has me sitting all day banging lead into the stone all day.

Never heard that it will get into your blood stream. Kind of like Mercury, just less poisonous I guess.

Will have to look into that, how do you go about getting checked?

Guest

Go to the doctors and get a blood test. Tell them that you work with lead and that you'd just like a check. For small quantities it's probably not that bad but the roofers use huge quantities of the stuff all day every day. The problem is the fact that the effect is cumulative. Your body can get rid of it but with roofers, they get it in faster than the body can get it out. Thats the bad news.

The good news is that small quantities handled carefully, as I said, should not have any long term ill effects.

I didn't mean to worry you but a little caution doesn't go amiss when working with what is essentially a poisoness metal.

I think there was a thing on the hSE website a while ago. I'll see if I can dig out the link.