[Clayart] Toxic Chems

[Paul Gerhold]

People tend to worry about the trivial shit because they can't deal with the real dangers. 

Paul

> On Aug 24, 2019, at 1:38 PM, Jim Brown <jbrown1000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Toxic this? Toxic that! " - David
> 
> I have never understood the, many times, hysteria about pottery and toxic
> chemicals.  If even a small part of what has been said by many were true I,
> and many, many others would have been dead in our early 30's or so.
> 
> Grandpa used lead based cone 04 glazes for years on part of the products he
> made and cone 6 - mostly Albany Slip - on the "older" type wares.  The lead
> based glazes were mixed in large - I believe #2 - tubs and many times this
> was stirred using our hands with the glaze going up past our elbows.  The
> glazed pieces were finished - mostly the bottoms given a quick wipe to take
> off what little glaze was on the waxed areas - and over the years the whole
> area where this was done was covered in red brown glaze dust.
> 
> The back of the shop was where the native clay was crushed into a fine
> powder then pugged and dust from that was everywhere - never heard of a
> respirator.
> 
> If I suffered any brain problems from the lead or other chems, I must have
> been the smartest person ever to have lived before the damage because I
> went on to become a Naval Officer and Pilot and for the first 75 years of
> my life had virtually no medical problems and the ones I have had since
> have nothing to do with either toxic chemicals or dust.
> 
> By the way, when the "big lead scare" came about and the government came
> around and tested all of Grandpa's glazes, they all passed without a
> problem so if formulated properly and burned properly lead glazes can be
> safe.  But Grandpa, like virtually everyone else due to the publicity,
> stopped using lead based glazes.
> 
> Just sayin'.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *                                    JIM BROWN*
> 
> *                             BROWN POTTERS*
> 
> *                  "Making handmade pottery . . . *
> 
> *                                                                  . . .
> since the 1700's" *
>                          *www.brownpotters.com
> <http://www.brownpotters.com>*
> *                        Don't call yourself a pilot until you have made*
> *                  a night landing, in bad weather, on a WWll class carrier*
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