For years I cleaned leaded glass, lead panes, cut-ups - whichever you prefer to call them.
My only real concern was that annoying feature where the milky gray-white substance could smear over the glass. I used wfp gently on the outside and careful use of a scrim or microfibre cloth indoors, sometimes dry, sometimes wet.
For some reason I didn’t join the dots. The framing is made from lead. Lead is poisonous and it does not leave your body - just accumulates and makes more damage in time. The milky-white-gray is lead residue.
I am not an pro on chemical exposures but skin contact with lead could be worse than breathing some lead fumes - because the concentration in a solid should be higher than a gas.
@Infinity I hope you’re correct. This year or the next I was going to get a special type of blood testing from Randox and I’ll quiz them on whether they can notice significant lead exposure.
Doubt I’m in any danger and I know we are exposed to tiny doses of elements all the time - what bugs me is that I should have thought of this before - I know not to stand next to engines breathing petrol fumes and I have Lead Check kits for paint - but rubbing skin over something that may not be sealed? Brain gave that a pass.
Daily practice is now to use disposable gloves no matter the work
I think one would need a lot of exposure to that kind of element? How often do you touch leaded glass framing?
The real danger is in the dust and fumes of lead solder.
Not often - cleaning lead frames two, three times a month.
Guessing some of us have routes with more panes and more often - like me don’t think to wear gloves.
The concern against dust and fumes is right - but your link says that the gray-white residue is lead oxidization. When using water on leaded panes we can conclude it is making a solution of oxidized lead for skin to absorb. I searched for information on lead skin absorption - not sure what to make of the results - some said dangerous and others said not.
