lead paint.

[oldjoe]

Just a quick questions about finishes. With all the recalls recently on toys with lead paint paranoia is setting in, And my wife and I were wondering how does a person know if the paint or finish that you are using has lead in it? Is lead listed on the label of the paint. I have used milk paint and I know that is safe but what about the other ones that are out there?
Thank in advance for your imput.

[Jeff_Birt]

Unless you buy paint from China (or have some really old stuff) you have nothing to worry about. Lead paint was phased out in the US in the 1970's.

[jspringertx]

I am not aware of any paint in the USA that uses lead.

I am old enough to remember when a local paint manufacturer bragged about the lead content of their paint. It lasted a lifetime...but if you used lead paint you didn't live that long.

Every paint can I have seen has specified that there is no lead in the paint.

[BobHill]

I'm not one to take safety lightly, but especially today, I do believe that this heavy fear of lead is a tad over done. I've reached a pretty ripe old age (and plan to outlive a lot more who are younger than I now). As a small child I used to chew on window sills loaded with lead paint, then all during my youth, I painted everything in sight and it was always loaded with lead. I'm still here, and any health issues are far more due to other errors I made growing up, and had nothing to do with lead.

Having said that, I'm a great lover of acrylic paints today, particularly because of their easy cleaning and brush preserving attributes. I also don't like China using something that's illegal here in the U.S. and not getting caught before this. I used to use real lead (tire weights) all the time to make my scuba weights .. and that was a lot of real lead. I don't mean that it's all hogwash, but the extent of the danger, like many things today, I feel is over done.

Bob

[oldjoe]

Thanks Bob for your input. I have to agree with you what you said brought back a memory of my father. I was working on a project that involved plumbing. I was sweating some copper pipe fittings and he asked me if I was using the new solder that was I think 75% tin and 25% lead. Of course I was because we had to meet local building codes. He laughed and said he drank water that came from a lead pipe most of his life and we were worried about a tiny ring of solder in side a sweat joint, He is gone now but because of asbestos even still he made it to 80 pretty good for some one that drank from lead pipes. Thanks for the memory Bob

[BobHill]

Thanks, Joe. The problem with saying anything, is it would seem that I (or we) would be discounting safety, when that's not the case at all. It's like "global warming" and "environmental awareness", unless you believe in it like a religion some believe you don't believe in it at all.

Bob

[TIMCOSBY]

i work with the lead came you use in stained glass. we were taught to wash hands before eating. just touching it is not harmfull it was the kids eating the pealling paint... but they had to eat a lot of it. if its painted with lead paint play with it all you want just don't knaw on it.

[castingman]

I made cast lead window weights years ago as my father & grandfather did. SAE 64 BRONZE at one time was 10% lead , when we knocked the red hot casting out of the sand it would sweat a lot of the lead out . We no longer make window weights or bronze but i am still here. Michael

[oldjoe]

Here at work we use a substance called ampco bronze not sure how much lead is in it but I am always warning people about grinding it and if they do where a mask. I have even started wearing a mask when I have to machine it.
Bob I could not have said it better myself.

[Gman_Ind]

Lead poses more of a threat to developing brains we can only get a bit dumber it is not fatal.
Lead paint was banned in the USA in 1978, so homes build before 1978 may contain lead.
The Mackinaw bridge has tons (literally) applied to it.

"Lead is one of the most significant and widespread environmental hazards for children in Maryland. Children are at greatest risk from birth to age six while their neurological systems are developing. Sustained exposure to lead can cause long-lasting neurological damage or death. Effects of sustained exposure include learning disabilities, shortened attention span, irritability, and lowered IQ. The major source of exposure for children is lead paint dust from deteriorated lead paint or from home renovation. Most childhood exposure occurs through children's normal hand-to-mouth activity after contact with a source of leaded dust. The most effective prevention of childhood lead poisoning is to reduce or eliminate exposure.
http://www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/LandPrograms/LeadCoordination/index.asp

[mtylerfl]

"Lead is one of the most significant and widespread environmental hazards for children in Maryland. Children are at greatest risk from birth to age six while their neurological systems are developing. Sustained exposure to lead can cause long-lasting neurological damage or death. Effects of sustained exposure include learning disabilities, shortened attention span, irritability, and lowered IQ... The most effective prevention of childhood lead poisoning is to reduce or eliminate exposure.


You could just about substitute the word "television" or "video games" for the word "lead" in that description.;)

[oldjoe]

So true so true. And I have heard they are finding problems linked to some of the video games causing siezures and stuff. But I am sure somewhere in a labratory there is a scientist inventing a drug to eliminate this issue. Probably will have lead base :rolleyes:

[Gman_Ind]

Good one!
My nephews keep asking for an Xbox My sister just answers "No, we like you smart"
thats my sis!

[Digitalwoodshop]

I fixed Play Station 2's a few years back when they first came out. I had more fun playing my favorite movie 20 times a day, Top Gun then playing the games.

Like someone said, developing brains are more susceptible to learning disabilities from Lead. But we all have our hazards, for me it was years of exposure to Lead Primer called Red Lead and from asbestos. Just the hazards of life in the Navy. Then there was all the third world country water that I drank over the years not to mention all the Formaldehyde that was in all the BEER I drank..... Then there is the RF or Radio Frequency energy I was exposed to, like standing inside a microwave oven. You could hold a Neon Bulb in your hand standing on the deck of a Navy Destroyer with all it's radars going and see the bulbs flicker with all the energy in the air.

The Cell Phone hazards are just being recognized. My feeling on this whole topic is moderation is the key.

AL

[jspringertx]

I work in my daughter's organic products store and we use no lead on any of the products. I usually tell the customer that their child can eat the toys as they are not finished, but the splinters from the wood would be painful.

I remember making lead soldiers as a kid and I am now 68. I guess I was just lucky as we also sold asbestos insulation to wrap the furnace pipe.

I would prefer not messing with lead and I certainly wouldn't carve anything using the treated lumber of today.

[BobHill]

Thanks, Mike. I always wondered why I was so dumb, having been born and brought up in a house first built and painted in 1876. I can blame it on the paint <g>.
Bob

[oldjoe]

Bob you can't be as dumb as you want think otherwise you would not own a CC or CW, And did the house that old have lead in the paint when did they start adding lead to paint and why? Always wondered that.