[sammyg2]

This has peaked my interest.
Back in the day (in the 80's) we used to cast our own lead hammers.
Kinda like plastic dead blows but much more effective.

With use they'd get smaller and eventually fall apart so we'd cast new ones.
We'd use a large rosebud on an oxy-acet torch to heat up a crucible and pour it into a mold, and we did it inside the shop. I later wondered if that was a good idea or not.

The guys who work for me now asked if they could do the same thing, I said no way.
I wasn't going to let anyone get lead poisoning but they argued that it was safe.
I said if they could get written approval from our health and safety department I'd say OK, knowing full well that the health and safety department would have kittens and ban all lead in any form if they knew we used it and we'd all be out getting blood tested for lead poisoning.

See, where they work is probably the safest place they'll ever be. Statistically much safer than them being at home.
We haven't had a recordable injury at work in six months with close to 1000 employees and our recordable injury rate is historically under .06, yet in 6 months we've had one employee fatality, one loss of limb, one employee became a paraplegic and one became a quad. All away from work.

In the mechanical and machine shops I've run over the past 17 years we've had one recordable injury, a guy got a cut lip.
And we report everything. Get a cut finger or a bruised fingernail and don't report it? Termination.
Of all the things I brag about, that safety record is prolly one that makes me swell up the most. oops, got off track.