Originally Posted by
tazman
It isn't lead fumes you need to concern yourself with. It is lead dust. When in liquid form(melted) it can release lead dust particles into the air. Yes, I know lead is heavy, but if the particles are small they can easily be carried by air currents. Lead also will rub/scrape off solid chunks quite readily when in soft form.
You can also get lead particles on your fingers from handling lead boolits or ingots.
As long as you don't eat or drink while casting or smelting and wash your hands before you do, you should be fine.
I worked with lead as a heat treating medium for over 40 years at my factory job. As long as you follow the rules about keeping possibly contaminated surfaces away from your mouth or nose, you won't have a problem. In that 40 years we only had 2 people who got high lead level tests. Both were smokers who didn't wash their hands before they smoked. They handled their cigarettes by the filters and then put the filters in their mouth. One of them had to be removed from the job because his level got too high. He smoked over a pack a day at work.