Lead?

[east tx skier]

Don't worry, I didn't take it as anything but good natured.

Very lucky. The cost of getting lead shipped is motivation to DIY.

[ag4ever]

I assume you went to an indoor shooting range?

Around here in Texas most are outdoor, and the lead is part of the earth.

[east tx skier]

Yes, indoor. Went to a couple of gun shops as well. Didn't think about it being of the earth.

[texasfletch]

Pop Bags are the way to go - http://www.pop-products.com

they are 40lbs each and really easy to move around the boat when needed....

I bought 520 lbs of pop bags for my 05 SANTE 210(13 bags). It's a pretty well known fact that pretty much every wake boat out there needs more weight in the nose...especially 210's. I put all the bags in the nose. The bags are made of vinyl and have durable handles. Each one is filled with small steel shot pellets, and that makes them easy to mold into tight spaces in your boat. When we empty the stock ballast and get ready to load the boat on the trailer....we move most of the pop-bags to the area just in front of the back seat....so most of the weight is over the trailer axles...

[Christopher-W.-Becker]

Guys,

When exposed to moisture lead oxidises and froms a white coating that is not always readily visilble. The oxide is the most hazardous form of the lead as it is readily dispersable and ingestible. The hazard from the lead itself is easily avoided with soap and water washing. So take caution to paint your lead or contain it in heavy plastic to prevent the oxide from forming and if it forms (which it will on lead shot) keep it from going anyplace. This is especially true if children might be exposed to lead or lead oxide.

Also, lead is not a pure substance and has a few nasty heavy metals as impurities (the bigest being arsenic). Some of the heavy metal impurities are released when the lead is melted. So make sure you melt lead in a well ventilated area.

Not trying to be a stick in the mud, but a little caution up front is worth it.

I work at a facility which handles lead routinely (yes we get blood drawn for lead routinely) and it is not bad with a little precautions.

P.S. If you do melt it, it will easily come out of the forms if you carbon coat your forms. This can be done by starving the oxygen from a propone or acetalyne torch.

[ag4ever]

Guys,

When exposed to moisture lead oxidises and froms a white coating that is not always readily visilble. The oxide is the most hazardous form of the lead as it is readily dispersable and ingestible. The hazard from the lead itself is easily avoided with soap and water washing. So take caution to paint your lead or contain it in heavy plastic to prevent the oxide from forming and if it forms (which it will on lead shot) keep it from going anyplace. This is especially true if children might be exposed to lead or lead oxide.

Also, lead is not a pure substance and has a few nasty heavy metals as impurities (the bigest being arsenic). Some of the heavy metal impurities are released when the lead is melted. So make sure you melt lead in a well ventilated area.

Not trying to be a stick in the mud, but a little caution up front is worth it.

I work at a facility which handles lead routinely (yes we get blood drawn for lead routinely) and it is not bad with a little precautions.

P.S. If you do melt it, it will easily come out of the forms if you carbon coat your forms. This can be done by starving the oxygen from a propone or acetalyne torch.

Very good points. I did melt quite a bit of lead, but was not overly concerned as I took many precautions. I believe that if you think you need a flimsy white dust mask, you might as well be using a resperator of some sort. I have the type that uses replacable canister filters that have different uses. The most common one I use is the carbon filter which filters most VOCs out of the air. i use this when I am sanding fiberglass and when painting. I also used it while melting the lead. I also was careful that I melted it on a day with a little bit of wind (not a lot but enough to ensure the fumes did not stay around me all the time).

I wish I had known about the carbonizing of the forms, as it would have helped me a bunch. As it turned out, I just useds disposable forms which bacame part of the encapsulation mechanism.

As I have been around a bunch of lead installations for medical rooms, this is not something to be taken lightly. Becareful and you can do it safely. Don't be careful and you can cause much damage to your nervous system.