Hi all,  Pete Woodworth's posting about the hazards/dangers of lead and
lead oxide caused me to go searching the Internet.  While I found
plenty of information about the dangers of lead, I was not able to find
any information about the dangers of lead oxide.

What is interesting is that there are so many kinds of lead oxide.
Here's the list of lead oxides: PbO, PbO2, Pb2O3, Pb3O4.

So, my first question is: Which oxide is formed by the air that
passes over the inside of a lead tube, e.g., tracker bar tubing?

My next question: Is lead oxide poisonous?

And lastly, an observation: Either I've been really, really lucky or
lead oxide isn't very dangerous.  I've handled hundreds of pounds of
deteriorated lead tracker bar tubing with my bare hands, and inhaled
who knows how much lead oxide dust while replacing that old tubing.

Now I'm not saying there aren't any problems with lead oxide because
I don't know, but if there are serious problems, they haven't caused me
any problems ... other than the fact that I write to the MMD too often,
still have all my senses intact, and have outlived many of my friends
who worked with 'safe' materials all their lives.  (Then again, I might
be crazy as a loon and don't even know it.  ;-)

Musically,

John A. Tuttle