# Lead-Lined Oak Box



## Jdurg (Sep 7, 2008)

Okay, before there is a huge freak-out about the thread, I figure I'll give some background information. :laughing:

By nature, I'm a chemist. I have a degree in Forensic Chemistry and have always been intrigued by the subject. (First got into it watching a Mr. Wizard episode where he took apart fireworks and explained how they work and where the color comes from. Rest in Piece Mr. Wizard).

The part about chemistry that interested me the most were the individual elements. The basic building blocks of EVERYTHING in the universe. With the proper combination of these elements, everything in existance can be made. So they always intrigued me.

Growing up, I would occasionally come across elements in their pure form. Copper, Lead, Gold, Silver, Platinum, etc. are commonly encountered by us. In chemistry class, we'd be introduced to other elements via demonstrations or labs, but they were, and still are, typically glossed over.

In college, I came across a website by Theodore Gray titled "The Wooden Periodic Table Table." Not only is the woodworking on that table tremendous, but it also contained samples of nearly every element in their pure form. I wasn't yet into woodworking, but thought that it would be neat to collect elements in their pure form.

Over the years, I obtained samples of every element you can possibly get a sample of. It is AMAZING seeing some of these things in their pure form that you would typically only read about on the periodic table but never actually see. I made quite a few good friends through this hobby, one of which is one of the main sellers of pure element samples in the world.

My collection includes pure samples of every stable element on the table, and a couple of non-stable elements. (I have a pure sample of Uranium and Thorium metal, and items containing some amount of Radium, Promethium, and Americium).

I also have many allotropes of elements that exhibit allotropy. (Carbon, Selenium, Tin, Phosphorus). In addition, I have a sample of each isotope of Hydrogen. (Protium, Deuterium, and Tritium). I have been published in a few textbooks and a couple of articles in Scientifc American and the London Financial Times. So that is something I'm kind of proud of. :smile:

Having the pure elements in like having a collection of guns. If stored properly and given the proper respect, they are no danger to anyone. If stored improperly or treated carelessly, then yes, they could be dangerous.

Two of my most prized samples are my lumps of Depleted Uranium Metal (Uranium with nearly all of it being the U-238 isotope and very little U-235) and a sample of 1mm thick Thorium foil completely free of oxidation.

The half-lives of these metals approach the age of the earth, so their actitivity (number of decays per second) is not all that high. Still, it is radioactive so it needs to be properly stored.

This project will be the construction of a wooden oak box with proper lead lining. I'm working with oak because I like the look of it (I built my poker table out of it) and the ready availability of it.

The box will be about 8" on each side, and about 6" tall. I'm still working on the details of the look and the construction, but figured I'd start the thread now since I've gotten the sheets of Lead attached to the bottom. This box is going to be heavy! :smile:

On the top, I will have a raised surface were I will route out the classic radiation symbol and stain the box very dark, with the radiation symbol stained a much lighter color. There probably won't be many pictures early on as I work out design ideas and construction techniques, but figured I'd start it anyway.

Feel free to give ideas or comments. Right now I'm like a sponge. If you want to ask questions about the element samples, feel free to do so as well. I love talking about them. :smile:


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Pictures, man, pictures! :smile:

John


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## Jdurg (Sep 7, 2008)

Well, there are no pictures of the box yet since I only have the bottom covered with some lead sheet, and I just cut the four sides. (God bless laser guided miter saws!).

I can post some photos of my elements. Some of these are pretty old and have been upgraded with better photos and better samples, but it's a quick little glimpse into my samples.


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## Lucas54 (Aug 21, 2008)

You do, of course, realize that you are now being monitored by a whole array of initials right?


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## smitty1967 (Feb 24, 2008)

Jdurg said:


> (I built my poker table out of it)


Justin: 

I think you've just eliminated _any_ potential poker games....ain't no way, no how anyone's going to want to play poker with you. If you can recite the atomic weight of depleted uranium, I'm quite certain you're already quite accomplished at counting cards, right? :thumbsup:

No, seriously....I'm just pulling your chain. Can't wait to see the box and the logo. The only suggestion I have is that you practice your raised relief for the lid on a cheap scrap, then make a template in hardboard. That'd be the way to go, methinks....

good luck, and get us some pics when you can
smitty


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## Jdurg (Sep 7, 2008)

Lucas54 said:


> You do, of course, realize that you are now being monitored by a whole array of initials right?


No need to worry. I'm already very familiar with all the laws and have actually been in contact with the NRC on many occassions to ensure that I'm doing nothing wrong. Just for my own sanity, of course. :smile:


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

cool pictures. I saw a show awhile back with a gentleman that had a bizarrre collection of all sorts of things and he too had many different elements in their pure form. It did make for an interesting display. Pretty sure most were in some type of lead lined boxes but I don't remember what they looked like.

How hard is it to come by those sorts of things?

I'll bet they make interesting conversation starters at a dinner party! :laughing:

John


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## Jdurg (Sep 7, 2008)

Hehe. It's actually pretty easy to find the elements if you look for them. I thought it would be much harder, but since the popularity of this hobby has increased over the past four or five years, the availability of the samples has become much higher. Unitednuclear.com and Metallium.net are two sites that have a huge array of samples for sale.

I have a periodic table made up of the photos of my sample hanging on the wall of my office at work. I get a lot of amazed looks and curious folk wanting to get closer looks at the samples of elements they had heard of, but never seen.


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## smitty1967 (Feb 24, 2008)

Justin: another question, since you seem to be the resident authority...

While on vacation in Utah in 2005, we ventured up a forest service trail within Capital Reef National Park. Off the unbeaten path, we found a small cave, and the plackard stated that raw uranium used to be harvested from those mines. I seem to recall it was once used as a headache remedy...this ring a bell?

(pssst...guys....I think we found someone who can help us with our kids' chemistry homework!)

regards,
smitty


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## Jdurg (Sep 7, 2008)

Uranium was never used as a headache remedy. Back in the early 1900's and late 1800's, when radioactivity was first discovered, a lot of companies foolishly tried to profit off of this new "discovery" and tried to claim that radiation was very good for you and that everybody should be exposed to it. This was more due to ignorance on the part of the scammers than it was ill itent. They used to sell varous waters which were infused with radioactive ore, and a lot of scammers would just sell plain water with nothing in it since radiation detection wasn't commonly available at the time. As a result of all the non-radioactive, radioactive water (which ironically was MUCH safer than the truly radioactive stuff), the FDA came about as a way to make sure that anything sold as "radioactive" was actually radioactive.

Many of these radiation infusing products used to run distilled water through masses of uranium ore which would then leach some of the radioactive particles into the water. The customer would then drink the water, and ingest this radioactive material. This is how a lot of people developed various cancers and toxicities as the radioactive elements themselves are quite chemically toxic, not to mention radiologically toxic.

The Uranium and Thorium that is present in bulk quantities in this ore are generally alpha emitters with weak gamma emission as well. Alpha particles are just the nucleus of a helium atom, have a great deal of mass and are easily stopped. (A few cm of air will stop alpha particles). So outside of the body, they really do no harm. If you ingest it, then the alpha particles can hit the critical parts of your cell structure and lead to some nasty damage. 

With regards to the cave you saw, I truly hope that you did not go into that cave. When uranium ore mining was going on, they had many fans and air ventilation systems to remove the dust and stale air from those caves. In abandoned caves, the air has not been removed and the radon gas that is emitted during the decay series of Uranium and Thorium will collect inside those caves. As a result, the dangers of a uranium ore cave are intensely high. 

Pure uranium and thorium metal are actually qutie safe. The half-lives of those elements are so large that in our lifetimes there will be no noticeable accumulation of daughter products. These daughter products (polonium, radium, radon, actinium, etc.) are very radiologically active and pose a great deal of harm to human health. They do not exist in refined, pure metals like Uranium or Thorium, but they do exist in their natural abundance in uranium ores and caves containing these deposits.


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