Lead Fumes let's settle this.

[DeanV]

Substance	Melting Point Temperature - t - (oC)	Latent Heat of Melting - Lf - (kJ/kg)	Boiling Point - Vaporization - Temperature - t - (oC)	Latent Heat of Evaporation - Lv - (kJ/kg)
Aluminum	659	399	2327	10530
Brass	930
Cobalt	1480		2900
Copper	1083	207	2595	4730
Ethyl alcohol	-114	108	78.3	855
Gold	1063	64	2600	1577
Graphite			3500
Hydrogen	-259	58.0	-253	455
Lead	328	23	1750	859
Manganese	1260		2150
Magnesium	650		1110
Mercury	-38.8	11	357	295
Molybdenum	2620		5560
Nickel	1455		2730
Nitrogen	-210	25.7	-196	200
Oxygen	-219	13.9	-183	213
Silver	962	111	1950	2356
Titanium	1700		3260
Tungsten	3370		5930

[DeanV]

The environmentalist would like you to believe that lead vaporizes, so you can inhale it, as a means to legislate shooting out of existence. As you can see from the values from a material engineering reference, lead doesn't vaporize until 1750 degrees centigrade. Doesn't happen when shooting or melting lead to cast bullets. And the hydrochloric acid in your stomach or that of any animal is not concentrated enough to dissolve, digest, lead. It's a big lie that environmentalists have told everyone for years and scientific evidence has refuted this many times, but legislators and EPA officials continue to ignore reality. If you don't study physics and material science and only read Sierra Club literature for your knowledge base you will buy anything fed to you.

[Dusty Bannister]

Most of us deal with scrap lead. That would not necessarily have the same risks as pure lead would it?

[JSnover]

Most of us deal with scrap lead. That would not necessarily have the same risks as pure lead would it?

Consider them the same for health risk analysis purposes. Pure lead is just lead. Scrap could be lead plus anything else and there are worse things than pure lead. Melt all of it a reasonable temperature, avoid dust, wash up afterwards, etc. Wear gloves and a mask if you choose.

[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.

[NSB]

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.

This is exactly right. I supervised a very, very large operation where I had 37 tube mills running 24 hours a day and each machine had a 3600 lb pot running at high speed. You can get lead from these pots due to the material in the pot that isn't lead carrying small particles into the air. It is true that most lead poisoning is from ingestion....smoking and eating at the machine without washing your hands. You can believe anything you want but the people who get high lead levels are the ones who don't close the door to the solder pot and breath the fumes, smoke while handling lead and running the machine, and the real idiots are the ones who heat their lunch up on top of the solder pot. Forget about discussing the boiling point of lead. That has nothing to do with getting high levels in your blood tests. It's all hygiene and breathing in fumes off the pot. One other cause of high lead levels is shooting indoors with improper ventilation.

[FISH4BUGS]

I cast for sub machine guns in 380, 9mm and 45. I cast by the thousands in the casting and reloading man cave. I cast indoors with no ventilation in the winter and open doors with cross ventilation in the summer.
I get my lead level checked every year during my annual physical. Nothing shows up.
Lead must vaporize before you can inhale the lead vapor. That happens at about 1200 degrees. My Lee 20 lb pot won't EVER get it that hot.
Smelting, on the other hand, is a stinky, smelly, smokey and crappy process. I do that OUTSIDE. You could inhale some pretty lousy stuff in THAT process so be careful.
Where you get lead into your system is through your mouth and fingers. After casting or smelting, don't touch anything until you wash your hands. Don't smoke while playing with lead. Well....don't smoke anyway. Don't eat anything until you wash your hands thoroughly.
Don't I sound like your mother?

[GWM]

Pure lead is just lead. Scrap could be lead plus anything else and there are worse things than pure lead.

Yes I would be more worried about contaminations of zinc, mercury or cadmium in case of both fumes and dust. And who knows what else.

[David2011]

Nothing is every settled on this board.

My exact thought when I saw the title.

As others have posted, I'm far more concerned about the dust associated with shot and shot bags and tumbler dust than lead vaporizing. I keep shot in its canvas bag inside a plastic bag to contain the dust.

David

[mdi]

Lead must boil to produce fumes. Lead isn't boiling at casting temperatures. That's all I know, and all I care to know about it

. Agree. "Lead Fumes" are different than "Casting Fumes". Casting fumes are smoke from fluxing, and stuff burning off in the melt. I've only been casting bullets for mebbe 17 years but have been making sinkers as long as I can remember, and never stand over the pot doing deep breathing exercises so smoke from melting lead does not bother me. But, I do use common sense and have a fan nearby blowing smoke away from me...

[waco]

I've been casting and reloading since 1999. I have had the Doc check lead levels in my blood twice over the past five years. They are so low they do not even register. Don't inhale tumbler dust, lick your fingers, or suck on lead. You will be fine.

[Mal Paso]

That does it. I'm getting one of those heated oil air fresheners and fill it full of Boolits so I can have the aroma of lead wafting through the house.

[cbashooter]

Two people I know who were casters only got high lead levels from poorly ventilation indoor ranges at gun companies they worked for.

[Newboy]

Most of you here haven't paid attention to the chart posted earlier.
If you notice, lead will have a certain vapor pressure, even in solid form. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE VAPORIZED! Also, notice that the vapor pressure increases by A FACTOR OF TEN WITH EACH 50' OF TEMPERATURE.
Now, a vapor pressure of
10 E-7 at 600' is not something I worry about, because we are looking at maybe 2 ppm at 600'. But that (approximated) means 20 ppm at 650', and 200ppm at 700'.
Still doesn't worry me ... not dead yet (after 50 years).
Like the man said, the fumes off of the initial melt, with all the garbage in it, is probably much worse.

[kevin]

I'm surprised that there's been no mention of something like this on this thread yet(i have yet to thoroughly explore the other exposer related threads yet fyi). But here goes my dad cast'ed and handled lead for a good third to half of his life like his father before him. In what i would call a very old school fashion(just like how grandpa did it), casting indoors, no ventilation fans, handling bullets and scrap lead bare handed, reloading bare handed ect. Then at the age of 60 he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma also know as bone cancer. Also known as a type of cancer caused by long term exposure to heavy metals. After 5 years of on again off again with the disease he finally died from it.

I'd like to think that i do things very much differently from the way that Dad and Grandpa did it(when it comes to my lead handling that is). But sometimes i really wonder if its worth the risk. Why am i so hopelessly addicted to these darn shooting sports(whoooooooo!!!)??? I often think that a smarter person(especially one with the familial history that i have)would quit this lead exposure nonsense and sell all the guns and the reloading equipment and find something healthier(but knowing that i was exposed to lead as a child i am now able to deduce that as an adult i likely have a reduced IQ and am therefore to stupid to do so).

trying to lighten the mood at the end there HAHA

But seriously on his death bed My Father told me that it was not worth it..

[kevin]

Oh and PS Gramps died from cancer to. He was also an avid lead handler. God i am such a downer!

[popper]

multiple myeloma High white cell count that attacks organs. Lead is NOT a carcinogen. Lead in the body It interferes with calcium (muscle/nerve problems), attaches to red blood cells (retained in bones where blood cells are manufactured (anemia) and interferes with vitamin D uses in the body. Chelation with vitamin C works but large doses interfere with the bowels so it is usually given intravenously. IIRC, 7500 lead smelter/foundry workers were found to have a higher death rate (per capita) but no comparison with other similar workers or miners. Basically, no root cause. Basic hygiene (nitrile gloves if you want) washing & dust masks solve the problem.

[longbow]

I have said it many times, when I see these threads, there is certainly no shame in handling lead carefully but as has been said above there are no lead vapors produced at the temperatures we cast at and lead is not a carcinogen.

Handling lead bare handed is not dangerous as lead cannot be absorbed through the skin however, handling lead then eating or smoking without washing can certainly introduce lead into your body through your mouth. Lead oxides form on any lead exposed to air and those oxides can be picked up on your hands then transferred to your mouth. Use some common sense here!

Also, while there are no lead vapours produced at the temperatures we cast at, there is dross which is lead oxide and you can inhale fine lead oxides if the dust is stirred up or disturbed by scooping it off the melt so again, use some common sense and be careful you don't create a mini dust storm and go breathing it.

I usually cast outside simply because I don't want spilled lead in the house... and a propane stove running in the house for several hours. When I learned to cast though I was using an old natural gas hot plate in my parent's basement with no ventilation and in those day snot as much common sense about hygiene as I have commented on above. Even so my blood lead count has never been high.

To top it off I have spent a good deal of the last 30+ years of work in and around a very large lead smelter and refinery. In fact I am back working there again for a few months. The smelter is over 100 years old and not modern by any means. There are open and ventilated pots of molten lead in the plant every day but there are few respirator mandatory areas. I normally do not wear my respirator unless there is visible smoke or dust in the air and I often work around the pots. There are 5 or 6 pots that hold over 235 tons of molten lead, one that holds 70 tons and couple of other small pots along with open launders with molten lead flowing.

It is unusual for operators and tradesmen to get leaded, it happens but is unusual. If operators can work 12 hours a day 4 days on and 4 days off in those conditions without getting leaded then someone who occasionally casts boolits (do you cast daily, once a week, once a month?) has to be very sloppy in handling lead and dross to get a high blood lead count.

Longbow

[JWFilips]

Age 50 &+ Don't worry you won't die of anything Lead related unless it is shot at you!....Cast away and enjoy life! You will have much bigger hurdles!

[Leadmelter]

What about lead in the primers? I forgot the chemical name but it contributes to the lead intake more than casting. Lead Phytate?
Leadmelter
MI