melissam707

https://tamararubin.com/2021/04/is-y...he-gold-paint/ Is this article really true? I know some of the foot pedals has asbestos in them, but what about the machines themselves?

cashs_mom

I'm not going to worry about it. As long as you don't lick the machine, you'll probably be fine.

quiltingcandy

I agree with Patrice - don't kiss your machine or the cabinet. I am not going to give up my 1950 15-91, or my 1947 Featherweight, or my 1925 Damascus over the fear of lead poisoning. So far all of my bloodwork over the years have never shown it to be an issue, nor with my mother, or my grandmother. I believe the chemicals in the fabric are far more hazardous to us than the machine.

AlZilla

Who knows what sort of environment that machine was in that might have exposed it to all that lead?

I'd hate to know the lead levels on the bench where I cast lead.

Onebyone

Did you know all painted dishes before 1970 have lead in the paint? How many eat on those? Corning Ware suggests using painted casserole dishes for decoration. Corelle ware the same if any design before 1970. Gold trim dishes have lead. Lead crystal? Interesting articles about decorated dishes. The wheat design Corelle has the highest level of lead of all the Corelle designs.

bkay

Asbestos was once thought to be inert. Apparently it is a carcinogen. The people who suffer from exposure are the ones who breathe it. My uncle, who was a "seabee" in WWII, had the disease caused by exposure to asbestos. As I understand it, you have to be exposed to it either in construction or production to develop problems.

Our offices,stores, schools and homes were once floored with vinyl/asbestos tile. However the ones effected by the asbestos were the ones manufacturing the tile, not all the people walking on the tile or the ones installing it.

My suggestion is not to look for problems. I'm old enough to have been exposed to lead paint, asbestos tile and a myriad of other things we didn't know were bad. I'm pretty healthy. If it really bothers you, get rid of the machines. Otherwise, quit worrying.

My uncle lived to be 84.

bkay

rjwilder

Yes it is true, years ago lead was in everything and so was asbestos. Many firefighters were exposed to asbestos, and many of the old historic houses still have asbestos in them. The crib most of us slept in and chewed on had lead paint. My mom and dad get up with it also, they both lived into their late 90's. Enjoy your machine!

Peckish

I read the post. Don't you think it's interesting that she never actually tested the sewing machine to see if it had lead at all?
"Likely"
"While I don’t know for sure, my educated guess is..."
"The Lead paint that is likely on the..."

You can get lead paint test kits at hardware stores. Just test it for pete's sake. (That was aimed at the author of the blog, not the OP.)

I'm probably salty because reading all those random italicized words was annoying and quite distracting. 😆

cashs_mom

I agree. It was a lot of unsubstantiated "evidence" from a random blogger with no expertise. Hard for me to take it seriously.

1.41

I am extremely puzzled by this article. Extremely.

I thought that the vintage black machines were all coated with shellac. If there was any lead in the decals or the japanning, I would have thought that the lead would have been well sealed in.

These old machines were not painted black, they were japanned. I don't know a thing about the japanning process other than it involved baking the machines in an oven after they were treated. I have no idea whether lead was used, but again, if the shellac coat is intact I'm wondering how anyone would be exposed to the lead. On the very old machines, some decorations were painted, but Singer moved to water-float decals in the early part of the last century and again, if there was any lead in the decals, they too would have been sealed in with shellac.

Is there asbestos in the machine? I can't see where any manufacturer would use asbestos except perhaps in parts related to the electricity. I believe I found at least one or two asbestos washers in a button foot pedal of a Singer 15, but that was easy to deal with. They were under the ceramic block and held fast by the screws that hold the block. I just put them back where I found them and screwed the foot pedal back together. They were in good shape, not deteriorated at all. The washers are about as sealed in as I thought they needed to be. If I was concerned, I would simply have disposed of them.

I haven't found any asbestos in the wiring harness of any machine I've worked on, nor in any light fixture nor in any motor I've taken apart.