How concerned are you

[Hornady]

I made a sarcastic remark about casting on the wife’s stove, which I enjoy life to much to ever do, and I’m not talking about getting lead poisoning, if I did cast on her stove, I may get poisoned but not necessarily with lead, I have cast for about 40 years, had my lead levels tested never had a problem, guys I shoot with look at you like you are nuts, when they find out you cast, same line every time, (you know lead poisoning is really bad). I have always used basic safety precautions, Good ventilation and hygiene I think the main thing is to keep from touching your mouth with your hands while casting, Lead being a heavy metal, I think air bourn exposure is minimal.

[jawjaboy]

I have cast before in the shop with doors closed and the air conditioner on. Not too often, but I have. Will do it again prolly.

I agree with you H, my biggest concern is contact, 'specially oral. Airborne contaminats concern me, but not overly so. I base my opinion here on all that I've read on the subject.

[cohutt]

don't drink eat or smoke while casting or smelting.

otherwise dust from tumbling cases is probably a higher risk for exposure

[blueline541]

I'm not very concerned.

[lcarreau]

Casting might be ok, but I would avoid trying to turn wheel weights into ingots. :)

[Hornady]

You are only about 40 years late on your warning, if not for WW, I would have been shooting a lot of air bullets over the years, here in Pa, with the snow and pot holes we have an endless supply of WW, the nastiest stuff I ever made ingots out off was some roofing lead, you sure don’t need any flux with it, more tar than lead I think, now if you would have said Car Batteries, they are a big No No.

[BigSlick]

I take some precaution by wearing protecxtive clothing and a respirator if I'm gonna be over a pot for hours, otherwise just goof ventilation.

Definitely smelt outdoors and watch the wind and try to stay out of the funk.

Pulling tire stems and some of the garbage out before hand helps a lot, but I usually just melt everything else and flux then skim.

I use clean ingots in the pot, so I don't worry so much about the fumes, but, I still make sure I got excellent ventilation

My leads levels were almost non-existant last time I had em checked

[Hornady]

At one time I did not worry about picking the junk out, but with the aluminum wheels you get a lot more of the stick on weights, they work great for the smoke pole, but with all the steel and zinc weights its just easier to pick the junk out before they go in the Dutch oven.

[jawjaboy]

I think da onliest buckets a ww's that I ain't never precleaned was the one that Cohutt got and one of the five that went north to Yammer. IIRC.

[TwoShot]

Be sure to wear PROPER SHOOES.:censored:

[jawjaboy]

:doh:

[cohutt]

Be sure to wear PROPER SHOOES.:censored:

pretty good idea imho

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/burns/footburn921d.jpg

[craig110]

pretty good idea imho

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/burns/footburn921d.jpg

Cohutt, you just had to show that again when I'm thinking of setting up an indoor casting station? You're going to scare me about casting again... (If I do set it up, though, it will be in a nice containment box if I can work out all the details.)

[BigSlick]

I think the only real concern other than the obvious precautions are to keep youngsters out of the area. Lead fumes can eventually do heavy damage to children's central nervous system.

[fredj338]

I wouldn't cast in the house, but do in the garage. The fluxing is the biggest problem, not to mention a tinsel fairy visit would be bad in the kitchen. Keep the casting temp below 1000deg, pretty easy to do, & you don't need to worry about lead fumes. Breaking the spur plate does create tiny lead particles, that can't be good in a kitchen envir either.

[chewy]

I kick my pooch out doors when I'm castin. Have the swamp cooler going and sit under a window with the fan suckin' air out. I'm mostly concerned with 'other than lead/metal' airborne particles than lead. And the other basics everybody else mentioned.

[dbotos]

Here's an old picture of my casting cart / fume hood from when I first built it. It's basically an MDF box atop a steel cart from Harbor Freight. Added a vinyl sheeting window (comes down most of the way, but leaves enough room to get your arms in there), light fixture, bathroom ventilation fan with some dryer duct, an outlet, and some switches for the light and fan. I still wear my respirator, safety glasses, and gloves whenever I use it. Nice to be in the garage using it when it's real hot out in the summer or real cold in the winter. My most recent upgrade to it was a PID-controlled outlet for the lead pot. 6" thermocouple probe stuck in the lead pot and the PID switches a solid state relay. Set it to 700*F and rock on. Nice to have a digital temp readout too. :biggrin:

[snuffy]

Not concerned at all. I cast inside a back bedroom, which is also my loading room. No ventilation! My last blood test was over a year ago, but it was 7.3. Not bad for the "so called" exposure I'm "supposedly" getting.

Just don't listen to those EPA dopes, they are scared of their own shadows. Lead is NOT absorbed through unbroken skin. Well almost none is, an environmental engineer stated that ONLY .006% of metallic lead is absorbed through the skin. Lead salts are an entirely different mater. Lead styphonate is what is in primer residue. It is MUCH more easily absorbed, dust from fired primers breathed in is the worst way to get lead in the blood.