Has anyone used vintage 1950's 1960's pigment to paint?

I am curious if anyone has mixed and painted with vintage powder pigment? You know, the not-so-environmentally-friendly stuff. Arsenic and Lead and Cad oh my!

I found a cache of pigment powders in glass jars, sealed (locked) in an old trunk, in a (where else?) old barn. There was quite a bit of 1940's, 1950's and early 1960's ephemra also in the trunk. Most of it had to do with metal finishing, electroplating...I'm assuming the pigment to be from the same era.

I've calculated the total NET weight (without the jars) to be approx. 5,267 grams/186 ounces/11.6 pounds.

Thousands of people did, fifty to seventy years ago. And, they all died eventually. You could use the mind set they had and use the pigments without a care in the world and die at 68 after a lifetime of smoking unfiltered Chesterfields and eating bacon and eggs for breakfast every day. Or be all modern and dispose of it at the next toxic waste day and go have some arugula salad and bottled water.

I would use them if I had a use for them, like painting something that was not going inside the house. Wear rubber gloves and apply sensible safety precautions. Or, get rid of them and buy paint from the hardware store.

I would use them if I had a use for them, like painting something that was not going inside the house.

You mean like a car?

I suspect they might be some sort of artist's pigments or some other specialty product. Pre mixed paint, for cars, has been available, nearly, forever

Even lead paint is harmless once dry unless you eat it. This is why they don't use it inside houses, in case the rug rats chew the paint off the bannister.

What were you planning on doing with the stuff?

Lead poisoning was first known about in Roman times. That said, all of the current crop of seniors grew up chewing on toys painted with lead paint, playing with lead soldiers, heating and pouring lead sinkers and or bullets, and living in houses clad in asbestos shingles, painted with lead paint inside and out, and playing on floors covered with vinyl asbestos tile. Cars deposited vast quantities of lead along the roadways and gas station attendants were exposed to fumes day in and day out.

It's a miracle any of us survived.

Just my two cents.

It is curious that not a word was said about lead poisoning from leaded gas until AFTER they stopped making it. Which was to save poisoning the catalytic converters not people. For 50 years it was safe then all of a sudden it wasn't. Very strange.

It is curious that not a word was said about lead poisoning from leaded gas until AFTER they stopped making it. Which was to save poisoning the catalytic converters not people. For 50 years it was safe then all of a sudden it wasn't. Very strange.

Oh it's safe don't you know. Piston airplanes still use leaded fuel as they are flying over your house dumping their exhaust on you.

I'm not sure if I'll use some or sell them at some point. I think 58mustang had the right idea about them being more useful in the art world.

The paints in question are probably safer than what we are using today!

I think one must pay an indulgence to state and local authorities to use them. Then its OK.

Bernie

If you know how to safely handle these chemicals, fine. If you don't , don't mess with them. The "we used to use them all the time" comments don't really demonstrate current awareness. Neither does "eek, eek, it's lead." Using 1,1,1 trichloroethane to clean the paint off your hands before eating your sandwhich used to be standard practice, too - doesn't make it a good idea.

I think one must pay an indulgence to state and local authorities to use them. Then its OK.

Bernie

Anyone with a 1977 or earlier automobile with original paint, please report to the blast furnaces...nothing to see here...move along...move along...

All the hazardous chemicals out gassed from the manufacture and painting of my 1960's and older cars were incinerated in surface nuclear tests in the 1970's and 1980's. Moving from kiloton to megaton devices helped quite a bit.

Lacking access to the countries recently exercising the nuclear devices, a municipal police department should be able to include them with the annual package to the high temperature incinerator. They usually put in the year's collection of drugs, handguns (yep 3500 degrees melts them), and other nasty little items. If you find a live hand grenade between the floor joints in your cellar, that can go, too.

LMAO! That's great!