Pencil "plumbago" (Latin for "lead ore"). Because the pencil core is still referred to as "lead", or a "lead", many people have the misconception that the graphite in the pencil is lead, and the black core of pencils is still referred to as "lead", even though it never contained the element lead. The words for pencil in German ("bleistift"), Irish ("peann luaidhe"), Arabic (قلم رصاص "qalam raṣāṣ"), and some other languages literally mean "lead pen". The value of graphite would soon be realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for cannonballs; the mines were
Lead burning lines around the gums, a simple indicator for heavy metal poisoning, and by regular urine testing. Lead burning Lead burning is a welding process used to join lead sheet. It is a manual process carried out by gas welding, usually oxy-acetylene. Lead burning is carried out for roofing work in sheet lead, or for the formation of custom-made rainwater goods, gutters, downspouts and decorative hoppers. Decorative leadworking may also use lead burning, particularly where a waterproof joint is required as for planters. Lead burning is thus part of traditional plumber's work, in its original sense of a worker in lead