Technical lead work

How do you get the lead to stick to the steel? Also how dangerous is it to work with lead.

 

lots of info available here & online - just search - like How to Lead With Gene Winfield on eastwood.com ----- https://garage.eastwood.com/techarticles/leading-gene-winfield/

 

You have to tin the metal first. Lot of good info out there on the web about leading. How dangerous is like asking how high is the sky. It depends on where and how you do it. Outside your shop with a breeze blowing probably not going to cause any harm, but in a tight enclosed space with old time lead (if you can find any) can do serious damage inhaling the fumes.

 

I have always wondered how the Auto-Makers leaded their quarter panels to the roof or rear seam. Old lead & wooden paddles, wax?

 

We used to lead the seams on new replacement front fenders on Chrysler Imperials that came from the factory with a visible seam showing with no special safety equipment . Now I'm 72 with no ill effects as far as I know know know.

 

Rolls Royce to this day brazes their sail planes and finishes them off using lead.

 

Respirator, safety glasses, and gloves. Keep kids and pets away from where you are working.

Paddle the lead as close to perfect as you can. File, don't sand the rest of the way.

The idea is to not get it into your body, where it can do harm.

Remember, luck is not a survival strategy.

I grew up in a house full of lead paint, with lead pipes, and went to a primary school with lead pipes. Both had well water that drew from the same aquifer below an EPA Brownfield contaminated site. I have numerous health issues, to this day, as a result.

 

I have heard it said if you want to learn to lead well wear sandals!

 

The secret to working with lead in any application is cleanliness and proper prep work. Coat the tin with flux and melt a little lead on small areas before scrubbing it on with steel wool. Look for imperfections Keep moving until the area you're working on is coated with lead. Then, carefully heat an area until just hot enough to melt the lead on in a plastic state. You don't want it too hot or it will run off. Wax your paddle and use it to shape the lead close to where you want it. Repeat. File off the high spots. Fill in the low spots until you can file it to the desired shape. That's not everything there is to it but it will give you a general idea. Cleanliness, careful heat control and patience. Use protective gear! Or just use Bondo and a dust mask.

 

On the line, '35 or '36 Fords getting the seams finished as the bodies were assembled.

 

Getting it to stick: you can use the old standard tinning solution (flux), but it's easier to use "tinning butter", a mix of flux and powdered lead. More expensive, but easier to use.
Danger? lead is a solid metal. Melting it does not vaporize it, at least if done correctly. More danger in breathing in the flux fumes. Vixen file the lead after applying it. Don 't sand or grind, that puts lead particles in the air, and breathing them in, ingesting it, or even getting it on your skin poses a danger. But large shavings from filing does not.

 

Correct. After you've dropped a few dollops of hot lead on bare feet you learn not to overheat the lead when getting ready to paddle.

 

Having a cigar in your face seems to help also, at least for some old timers.

 

Here's some lead work in sandals.

 

My dad worked in a shop that made Chrysler station wagon bodies in the late 50's. One of the jobs he had was to run lead on the sail panel seams. He had to have a weekly blood test to check for lead. He got pulled off that job a number of times due to high lead levels. Of course in those days they didn't wear any kind of PPE. We lost him at age 59 to leukemia. I can't say that lead was the cause, but it is listed as one of the causes of the disease. He also got a lot of exposure to lead and a lot of other chemicals in the gas and mechanic business. We'll never know the cause but I know I wear PPE now, including nitrile gloves when I'm dealing with chemicals, including oil. Trying to inculcate the same habits in my grandson. Remember, the largest organ in your body that is your skin. It is not impervious to chemicals. Some of us recall DMSO. This was an industrial solvent someone found could relieve pain by rubbing it on your skin. People started selling in in gas stations and party stores and it got popular. However, it didn't take long to discover that the stuff would carry anything mixed with it into the bloodstream, including bacteria and viruses, not to mention any other chemicals present. I stay away from lead and other stuff that has safer alternatives.
Wear your PPE guys. Remember that old saying, "the life you save may be your own." More importantly, set a good example for the young gearheads in your life.
Incidentally the building the above shop was in became a final assembly plant for Shelby Mustangs in the late 60's. Used to drive by and ogle long lines of them parked behind the fence. It later became a bumper stamping plant. It closed not long after two workers got inside a big bumper press to fix something and it cycled on them with fatal results.

 

I use the eastwood kit no problem

 

Shiny surface, free of rust.
Tinning butter and some heat, just enough to get it to flow, no more heat than that.
If there is a spot where the surface didn't tin, heat the area until the lead flows and then brush it with a wire brush while it is still 'wet'
I also use soldering acid on a flat surface, you don't want to get it into a seam
I use tallow on the paddles
If Henry had the modern fillers available today, he'd used them..... still needs a shiny surface free of rust

 

Chevrolet assembly line workers, lead levels were tested, regularly. Employee's would be swapped out, and sent to do another job, elsewhere, while things came back down to ' reasonable ' !

First things, first.. the metal MUST be clean, before tinning. Or you're just spinning your wheels. Gordon Forbes is the most amazing lead slinger, I've ever met.