tumbling marbles with rock

If you are a serious rock person you should have lost your marbles already.

like others said - no problem. But glass does grind down quickly, so don't spend more on marbles than on ceramic.

I picked up mine at the dollar store today. 50 marbles for a buck. Hopefully, by the time this batch is finished, my rough tumble will catch up.

John, I have probably lost my marbles several times over by now. But, at least its usually over something I like.

bob

Would you please quote a source for this? IIRC items manufactured and or sold in North America as children's play items cannot contain lead.

The marbles you get at discount stores are clear with inserts, they are not colored with oxides. Unless you are referring to the colored swirls inside?

Eileen

ROFL!

And those are the marbles I was talking about earlier. The clear ones

Mark,

I can certainly see your point, however I do have to question the validity in regards to the material we put in our tumblers all the time. People tumble beach glass, slag -- which, IMO, is far more likely to contain lead -- and many rocks that contain those very toxic metals that you list as possibly being in marbles. In addition, many rocks contain copper (malachite, turquoise and other derivatives).

Insofar as lead in marbles applies, no one is breathing the dust or handling wet slurry (I should hope not, ICK!) with their bare hands. Ergo, skin contact is minimal or non-existent.

The real concern, I should think, would be more in line with the disposal of the slurry.

Eileen

I dispose of my slurry in a low spot of my backyard. My backyard is very visible to both neighbors and the well travelled county road. I don't think most people really notice. I am dumping out a 3# barrel worth of slurry and rinsing out the barrel with the hose's sprayer attachment. One of my neighbors saw me dumping out the slurry one day and he did look a little shocked, but he got over it really quick when I started talking with him as I worked.

Where do you plan to move after retirement? I wouldn't want to give up the fishing in Alaska! I was in Ketchikan over Labor Day and went out for 4-5 hours. We caught 5 silvers. We likely could have won the local Coho derby with the one fish.

Randy

Yes Eileen, I know what's in the stuff we tumble all the time. I generally only run simple silicates with low content of toxins. But I would be concerned if I were tumbling minerals with subdstantial content of toxic metals, just the same. Very few common minerals that we tumble contain significant amounts of highly toxic metals. Copper and nickel are the least of our worries. Lots of us have small children in the household and there is a corollary to Murphy's law that if there is something they shouldn't get into, they will. Dumping lead containing glass slurry onto the lawn is no different than dumping lead paint dust onto the lawn. If you have a stream in the backyard as I do, there is concern about fouling the watershed as well. I am more concerned about kids, pets and very careless adults who may not realize there is a risk. You don't have to create dry dust to have a problem. If you do, silicosis is a bigger inhalant threat. Another point to make is that minerals containing toxic metals usually (not always, of course) contain low concentrations. Glass can be 30% or more lead oxide. I just want tio emphasize we need to avoid creating greater hazards than those that may already exist. The EPA and OSHA have regulations regarding safe handling and disposal of many of these materials for a reason- they are proven hazards. How much of a hazard? I won't risk my family's safety to find out.
Mark H.

Me again- is everybody having fun? Whether theere is a toxic hazard depends on how something is presented to the body. Chroomates are sold in health food stores (not really sure why) but if they are inhaled, they are a lung cancer hazard. Lead in table wares or marbles is not a serious threat, under usual circumstances, when bound in the glass, and a limited area for contact is presented by the surface area of the marble or other object. Surface lead may leach out over time, but in very small amounts. If you store wine in leaded decanters, or serve orange juice or other acidic food in a lead glazed ceramic container, you may have a serious hazard. When you grind up the glass into microscopic particles you increase the surface available to leach out lead or other toxic materials (like the cadmium that may be the colorant used to color yellow swirls in marbles) by millions of times. The very low level exposure that may have been present is turned into a high level acute exposure that exceeds the body's tolerances. I read from time to time of items imported from abroad (usually Chinese) that slip in unregulated and undiscovered- like arsenic in feather dusters, the infamous baby formula and pet food scandals, and adulterants including veterinary narcotics and banned pesticides that have been found in food supplements from Asian manufacturers. By law, supplements are not under FDA jurisdiction. A hopeful note- the former chief of China's nearest equivalent to our FDA was executed for accepting bribes in the wake of the pet food scandal.