[Jewelry making - Article 00634] - Re: [Orchid] Lead-free jewelry components

[Ian W. Wright]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

>     resource to purchase lead-free brass parts from to use in fashion
>     jewelry. The guidelines we are trying to comply with require that
>     each component used in our jewelry items must have less than
>     6/10ths of 1% of lead. 

    Is this for real or is it just a rampant case of corporate
    silliness???? 

    For thousands of years millions of very intelligent people have
    striven and experimented at great length to find the ideal
    composition of metal alloys for every purpose. Now, just because some
    faceless diplomat has generically said 'lead is bad for you' do we
    really have to automatically try to exclude it from everything we may
    possibly come into contact with? If its really so bad for us, why is
    it that, over the last 100 years or so, when the bulk of the western
    population (in cities at least) have been exposed to ever increasing
    levels of atmospheric lead pollution from vehicle fumes and industry
    and, for a good proportion of that time, have been drinking water
    which has been supplied through lead pipes - the overall health of
    these people has improved leading to longer lives and their
    intelligence has also risen? Lead is specifically included in brass
    alloys for one purpose only - to control the metal's grain size and
    make it more malleable. Without it, brass is only fit for rough
    castings and, in the presence of ammonia fumes, the solvents in some
    cosmetics or cats pee, is quite likely to turn literally to dust.
    This is a problem I encounter quite often in antique clocks which
    were traditionally cleaned every few years in a soap and ammonia
    solution - whole sections of the cast brass gear wheels simply
    crumble away. Lead added to the brass binds the grains together and
    allows the metal to flow whether it is being forged, turned or
    engraved. Without it the tool chatters and skips over the surface or,
    in the case of forged parts, the brass becomes brittle and easily
    breaks. I came across a very similar problem a couple of years ago
    when I went to order a new stock of free-cutting tool steel. I asked
    for my normal type only to be told 'Oh, you can't have that - they've
    stopped making it because it contained Selenium which is poisonous'.
    Yes. I know it contained Selenium - that was what made it so
    beautiful to work with but at a level of something like 1/5th of 1
    percent I doubt that I would be struck down by the amount that
    managed to penetrate the muck which usually covers my hands in the
    workshop or by any fumes which happened to be able to penetrate the
    fog of cutting oil fumes between me and the bit of 1/8in steel bar in
    the chuck!! So, what alternative product was I offered? 'The only
    free cutting tool steel we're allowed to supply now is this LEADED
    steel'!!! Its about as free-cutting as a rusty old nail - absolute
    rubbish... 

    I know someone is going to jump up and down and say 'ah, but what
    about the people who have to make the steel or brass' etc. etc. Well
    the manufacturers of these base products are in a position to protect
    their workers and should do so - I know they don't and that they just
    stop making the stuff which is why almost all the world's brass is
    now made in India. The western manufacturers weren't prepared to
    tackle the problem of Zinc fumes and so world production was allowed
    to migrate to India where the health of their young workers was not
    considered of such importance. I suppose that when India decides to
    improve its worker health standards production will move to some
    other country down the chain... Its not as though leaving the tiny
    bit of Selenium out of my steel did much for the world's Selenium
    production as tons of the stuff is still routinely used in
    electronics etc. As you can tell though - even a couple of years on,
    it had a deleterious effect on my mental well being. Sorry for the
    long rant - had to get it out of my system - I'll go and turn an
    ivory knob for a brass latch I've just made out of CZ120!! 

Best wishes,
Ian

Ian W. Wright
SHEFFIELD UK
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________