A couple of days ago, on the way to work, I stopped by a workshop to buy some lead. I was surprised to find it was very cheap. I bought a strip of sheet lead, 4 meters (12 feet) long, and 12 cm (5 inches) wide, and I paid only $35.
Lead is a heavy metal. The density is 11 kg per cubic meter, which is almost two times the density of iron. This means that a brick of lead is almost twice as heavy as a brick of iron of the same size.
Furthermore, lead is very soft, and easy to shape. The Romans knew this, 2000 years ago, and it literally killed them. They made water pipes, boiling pots and drinking cups of lead. However, they didn't know that lead is poisonous. Lead poisoning has been proposed as a major factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire.
You may wonder for what purpose I need the lead. I'm not using it in the kitchen.
We live in an area with snow and ice in the winter and frequent rainfall in the summer. I use the lead to cover critical points on the house to prevent water from coming into the construction. Because the lead is very soft, it's easy to cover corners and edges and joints of profiled mouldings.
I didn't invent this myself. This is the way they did it when our house was built 98 years ago. I just do it the same way.
There's always something to learn from the great craftsmen of the past >:)
Another handyman weekend is coming to an end. Nice and sunny, but chill. Next week I'm going north ... I'm going back to Alyosha
(That's my roll of sheet lead in the picture, and a tool to cut it. The tool is for cutting various types of metal, including iron and aluminium. I found that lead is so soft that I could cut it with regular paper sissors. That's what I used in the end, because of the better precision.)
Impressive that your house is ninety-eight years old. You just don't find that too often in the arguably adolescent United States.
ReplyDeleteYou've just given me a murder weapon, for my romance sci-fi!
ReplyDeleteChemical Fusion
I'm with Enid. I have a couple great ideas to use now. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGoing north, huh? You do like the cold.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd heard about lead and the Romans. Quite interesting.
Suze: We're living close to town center and close to our medieval cathedral, compared to which our house is almost new >:)
ReplyDeleteEnid and Stephen: Good luck with the planning of murders (in your books I presume) >:D
Helen: Yes, I'm going north, again. Right now there are some problems because my visa to Russia is delayed. If I get it tomorrow, I go the day after ... we'll see.
My house is only 20 years old, so quite a youngster in comparison. Have a good trip!
ReplyDeleteLiz: Thanks. Didn't get visa in time, so trip is postponed to next week or the week after >:)
ReplyDelete"Lead poisoning has been proposed as a major factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire." I didn't know this!
ReplyDeleteI think that is a great way to use lead.
Be careful with it.
Careful of those edges--isn't it quite sharp, even though it's soft? I love the idea of playing with it, though--I can see how the Romans were so easily seduced.
ReplyDeleteClarissa: I will, at least in real life >:)
ReplyDeleteHart: Lead is a nice metal for certain purposes. But it's important to remove the left-over pieces, to avoid that kids are playing with it.
there has to be another soft metal to use that's not so dangerous, no? but i suppose if you're careful it's fine, just no licking your fingers until you've washed up.
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