The more I think about this the more puzzled I become.

Does anyone know whether shellac seals lead in?

Has anyone found any asbestos in any machine they've worked on?

I understand from looking at the website that the person who created it tested vintage electrical cords on appliances such as a Rival slow cooker and found lead in the wires. That was news to me. I have one of those.

1.14, I do not know about machines and shellac. I do know that when I was a director of a preschool housed in a 1950/60s school building, asbestos was in the floor tiles. I was informed by the county health inspector to simply keep the floors well waxed to seal in the tiny microscopic threads/dust particles of the asbestos in the tile and not in the air. Our custodian was told the same thing when he went to asbestos training. I would think that shellac would do the same.

I think the point is whether or not it matters. There are minute particles of many things in the air we breath and objects touch and have been around our whole lives. I can't be bothered to worry about every little thing that might contain something toxic. Also many people eat food that's not good (in my opinion), take things that I consider harmful and never think about that so how much am I going to worry about some tiny amount of a substance that's in an old sewing machine that I use sporadically. As I said, if you don't lick it, you're fine.

As I understand the dangers of lead and asbestos, it is that ingesting it or inhaling the dust/residue may lead to health issues. The inert element itself is not a danger.

Easy solutions to asbestos tiles: keep waxed. Lead paint: paint over.

If wax can seal in lead, so can shellac. But yes, the old cast iron machines were japanned, baked, decalled, shellaced.

My siblings and I played with mercury. One of those flat, square mercury maze toys had broken. It was great fun. We did touch it, but didn't bathe in it. We didn't eat or breath it, either. We"re all healthy, I am the youngest.

I did just learn my vintage 1932 flip side toaster may have asbestos-the divider panel the heating elements attach to is suspect. But darn, it makes such a nice toast!