# How to ruin an anvil.



## Dhal22 (Apr 28, 2022)

Had me with my mouth open for a few seconds.


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		https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlysatisfying/comments/ue69d4


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## Allan (Apr 28, 2022)

Who knew red hot tungsten would melt lead? Looks kind of cool but I'm not sure what it demonstrates.


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## matthewsx (Apr 28, 2022)

Who knew you could make anvils out of lead....


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## Gaffer (Apr 28, 2022)

Lead's melting temp is just under 700* F. Even though the anvil has a lot of mass, it's no competition for tungsten's 6,000* F melting temp. I'm guessing to get tungsten to glow red, it will far exceed lead's ability to keep its shape.


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## matthewsx (Apr 28, 2022)

The internet is full of pointless videos, if it doesn't feature cats I'm not interested  

JOhn


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## Allan (Apr 28, 2022)

matthewsx said:


> Who knew you could make anvils out of lead....


Who knows why you would want to make an anvil out of lead? Lead is for bullet casting. A lot of projectiles in that anvil.


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## pontiac428 (Apr 28, 2022)

Lead's vaporization point is somewhere around 800C, IIRC.  The guy who did this probably got more than a lungful of vapor.  He should go get his blood lead level checked and sign up for a vasectomy while he's at it, because his future kids are gonna be knuckle-dragging trolls.


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## benmychree (Apr 28, 2022)

But they w





pontiac428 said:


> Lead's vaporization point is somewhere around 800C, IIRC.  The guy who did this probably got more than a lungful of vapor.  He should go get his blood lead level checked and sign up for a vasectomy while he's at it, because his future kids are gonna be knuckle-dragging trolls.


 But they would probably be quite good at making pointless videos!


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## benmychree (Apr 28, 2022)

I have worked around lead a lot over my 77 years without any protection, other than possibly gloves, perhaps 15 years ago I got to thinking about it and asked my MD for a lead test, we did it, and it came back without any indication of lead in my body, and my two girls are quite smart, to boot!


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## Aukai (Apr 28, 2022)

It's my understanding that tetra ethyl lead is the boogieman that gets you. Is that what was in lead paint?


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## WobblyHand (Apr 28, 2022)

Aukai said:


> It's my understanding that tetra ethyl lead is the boogieman that gets you. Is that what was in lead paint?


Tetra ethyl lead is in gasoline.  Lead carbonate, otherwise known as white lead was in lead paint.


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## mmcmdl (Apr 28, 2022)

After going to the doc the other week , I know for sure there's no lead in my pencil .


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## RJSakowski (Apr 28, 2022)

Aukai said:


> It's my understanding that tetra ethyl lead is the boogieman that gets you. Is that what was in lead paint?


Tetra ethyl lead was an additive to boost octane in gasoline.  It works because the first step in combustion is the creation of free radicals and tetra ethyl lead is about 40% dissociated into free radicals at room temperature.  However, those same free radicals are highly reactive with the human body.  Nasty stuff!


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## Gaffer (Apr 28, 2022)

mmcmdl said:


> After going to the doc the other week , I know for sure there's no lead in my pencil .


I wanted to work a lead-in-your-pencil joke into this discussion but couldn’t. Well done, sir!!


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## westerner (Apr 28, 2022)

Lead in your pencil joke-
My  last visit to ol' sawbones had this exchange-

He asked "how goes the Viagra bit?" Before I could answer, he followed up with "my prescription sure lasts longer than it used to".
I gotta admit, I like the guy...


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## Allan (Apr 28, 2022)

Here is the story on lead in gasoline. Scary stuff, indeed. 

I have been shooter and bullet caster for decades. I had my lead level checked about 5 years ago and my doc said it was very low. What I had likely came from lead in gasoline. You actually have to ingest it. Most commonly by swallowing it while eating or smoking with contaminated hands. Shooting in indoor ranges can also be bad juju if there is not very good ventilation. The RCMP range in Winnipeg had to shut down couple of years ago because it was so contaminated. Even storage rooms down the hall are full of it. That is why reloading manuals and component providers are always warning about not eating or smoking until one washes one's hands.

If the lead is hot enough to boil you would see it doing so. And ingesting superheated particles would be very painful I would think. I suppose they could linger in the air for a while too. A local radiator shop owner was checked every year for lead and he never showed any. Don't create, breathe or eat the dust and you should be fine.


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## Allan (Apr 28, 2022)

Sorry forgot the link to lead in gasoline:


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## gonzo (Apr 29, 2022)

The only lead around here  id in my arse


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## T Bredehoft (Apr 29, 2022)

That's what used to be in Gasoline.


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## FOMOGO (Apr 29, 2022)

I think that is what was used to be in gasoline. Tom beat me to it.


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## markba633csi (Apr 29, 2022)

Interesting- provocative- well seasoned


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## OCJohn (Apr 29, 2022)

That’s probably the most useful thing one can do with a lead anvil. Except maybe drop it on a coyote.


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## RJSakowski (Apr 29, 2022)

My Dad was an avid fisherman, fishing nearly every day in his later years.  He used to clinch his lead split shot with his teeth.  Growing up, we ate a lot of small game and we all inadvertently swallowed the occasional lead shot.  (BTW, arsenic is an alloying ingredient in lead shot)  My Dad lived to 95, dying from unrelated causes.  My Mom lived to 96.  I am pushing 78 and I cast my own lead fishing jigs and have spent many, many hours soldering with lead solder.  More than likely on of the two big C's will get me.


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## RJSakowski (Apr 29, 2022)

I cannot, for the life of me, think of a reason why I would want to cast a replica lead anvil.  But then, there seems to be a growing  population of individuals doing inane things to get two minutes of internet fame.


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## Provincial (Apr 29, 2022)

Allan said:


> Sorry forgot the link to lead in gasoline:


While the video was pretty interesting (I already knew about the history of tetraethyl lead), Snarky Boy let slip his zealotry by going after aviation gasoline at the end.  No mention that a low-lead version of avgas (ASTM D910) has been widely distributed for decades, or that the highest lead content version (115/145) was dropped by all but the military in the 1960's, or that the military dropped using aviation gasoline as soon as it was practical.  Nor did he mention that unleaded aviation gasoline has been under development to the point that it has an official specification: ASTM D7960,

The fact is that aviation gasoline is an extremely small percentage of motor fuels, and there are a number of issues that make it both unique and technically difficult to substitute for.
1) It has to be stable over a fairly long term, since airplanes often are inactive for months at a time.
2) I has to perform in a uniform manner at altitudes from below sea level to about 30,000 feet. 
3) It has to act as an agent for cooling the cylinders at high power settings.
4) It has to act in a predictable manner at very lean mixture settings.
5) It must be compatible with engines rated for octanes between 50 and 100 in order to be used in older engines.  Failure to do this would be a major hardship on people who operate older aircraft, including historic and collectable airplanes.
6) An unleaded version must be compatible with engines rated for 100/130 (the 130 is a rich mixture rating for takeoff) in order for these engines to remain in service.  This is why 100/130 (ASTM D910) is still available.
7) By law, aircraft used in commerce must use an approved avgas.

People all over the world rely on avgas-powered airplanes to link them to civilization.  Jet-fuel-powered aircraft are just to expensive to buy and operate now, and probably will never become inexpensive enough to fill this requirement.  Eventually, a viable unleaded avgas will become widely available, but it does no good to attack small airplanes and their owners over a improper perception that they are doing significant damage to the environment.

While this may seem to be an attack on the presenter, that is not the case.  I subscribe to Hanlon's Razor: "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."


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## graham-xrf (Apr 29, 2022)

@Provincial : Well said!
I was aware of Derek Muller's video. Following the warnings from @pontiac428  and @WobblyHand , if you had not posted the link, I would have. I think I am probably not sliding into dementia, but the neuralgia and stings in the feet just might be from nerve lining degradation from encounters with 60/40 tin + lead solder in electronics work.  It melts at 188C (370 °F), which is far below the vaporization at 800C , so I hope I am OK. Lead free solder is not much help. Tin is incredibly toxic, perhaps worse than lead. The problem with lead is that it mimics calcium, and can accumulate in you. Even very tiny amounts of lead have disproportionate bad effects.

The widespread lead poisoning from fuel additives is more concerning. Metals in general, except maybe gold and platinum, are toxic if they get into you in finely divided or dissolved form. In that form, maybe include gold and platinum. Copper is so very poisonous that bacteria and even virus cannot live in contact with it for more than a few minutes. The old brass door knobs and vertical bars for double doors in hospitals had a benefit, though probably not intentional by design.


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## Dhal22 (Apr 29, 2022)

RJSakowski said:


> I cannot, for the life of me, think of a reason why I would want to cast a replica lead anvil.  But then, there seems to be a growing  population of individuals doing inane things to get two minutes of internet fame.




Initially I did not realize it was lead.   Mostly due to what you said,  why?


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## Allan (Apr 30, 2022)

graham-xrf said:


> @Provincial : Well said!
> I was aware of Derek Muller's video. Following the warnings from @pontiac428  and @WobblyHand , if you had not posted the link, I would have. I think I am probably not sliding into dementia, but the neuralgia and stings in the feet just might be from nerve lining degradation from encounters with 60/40 tin + lead solder in electronics work.  It melts at 188C (370 °F), which is far below the vaporization at 800C , so I hope I am OK. Lead free solder is not much help. Tin is incredibly toxic, perhaps worse than lead. The problem with lead is that it mimics calcium, and can accumulate in you. Even very tiny amounts of lead have disproportionate bad effects.
> 
> The widespread lead poisoning from fuel additives is more concerning. Metals in general, except maybe gold and platinum, are toxic if they get into you in finely divided or dissolved form. In that form, maybe include gold and platinum. Copper is so very poisonous that bacteria and even virus cannot live in contact with it for more than a few minutes. The old brass door knobs and vertical bars for double doors in hospitals had a benefit, though probably not intentional by design.


You may want to check Vitamin B 12 levels for neurological problems as well. Some medical people claim that 40% of North Americans are low in VIt B12. I have been taking it in spray form for years. The conventional wisdom is that folate in our grains and cereals prevents what used to be called pernicious anemia. There is a good video by a nurse who was fired for telling people to take B12. Some amazing recoveries of peole on death' s door.


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## gjmontll (Apr 30, 2022)

Aukai said:


> It's my understanding that tetra ethyl lead is the boogieman that gets you. Is that what was in lead paint?


No, it was in leaded gasoline.


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## Provincial (Apr 30, 2022)

I remember clearly that the government told us that kids from poor neighborhoods were getting brain damage from eating lead based paint where they were living.  This was before unleaded gasoline was in wide use.  I suspect that airborne lead was the real culprit.  

The current official version is here: https://www.epa.gov/lead/learn-about-lead


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## Bi11Hudson (May 1, 2022)

If a kid is so stupid as to eat paint chips, they probably deserve what they get. The hot tungsten would probably melt mild steel, I know it would melt gray iron. As far as the government 'standards' are concerned, I do exactly opposite what they tell me to do. Seems to help my health somewhat, surely helps my attitude.

.


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## Allan (May 1, 2022)

Lead in any form is bad juju in the old bod. Matters not where it came from. I suspect that not a lot of kids were eating paint. Can't say I've ver seen it happen. I think it would take a lot of paint eating to get enough to seriously screw a person up. 

It would be interesting to see how population density affected the severity of lead poisoning. I'd wager that the inner city kids would be in worse shape than suburban kids who likely be worse than farm kids.


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## RJSakowski (May 2, 2022)

Another video about lead from back in the days before it was a villain.


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