The use & cost of lead

[iwccc]

Thanks Stanmapstone,   I am not sure what all these terms mean.  I guess it is different types of lead.
I appreciate your help

[iwccc]

Thanks Cati,  I am glad that we have now worked out the danger of lead.   I guess the softness and easy cutting of lead made it an easy target for stealing.  The price seems to be good for resale.  No wonder it was a common thing for theft.  Thanks again

[youngtug]

Red and white lead  come in powder form. Red lead is lead oxide, white lead is lead carbonate. Both have many  uses. Litharge is also  a lead oxide. Black lead I think is another name for graphite, so not lead. Apart from graphite the others are highly poisonous and being in powder form dagerous to use.
When I was an apprentice we used red lead mixed with oil to make a thin paste which was used as a marker for bedding in metal surfaces but it as uses in pottery and glass making. White lead was used in paint and face makeup. 

[youngtug]

It was not until 1986 that lead solder was banned from being used on potable water supply pipes. If you had a heavy handed  plumber then there could be a large area of the inside of the pipe coated with lead solder. If every joint was the same you might as well have a lead pipe

[Flattybasher9]

You also get Low Background Lead, Antimony Lead, Lead Came etc.
The price at present is about £1.00 per kilo. (I but several kilos per year for making fishing weights.)
When stolen, it is very easliy disguised due to it's low melting point, so it can be very hard to prove where it came from.

Malky

[youngtug]

Use smart water;https://www.ecclesiastical.com/churchmatters/churchguidance/churchsecurity/smartwater/general-information-faqs/index.aspx

[youngtug]

Roofing lead and lead flashing lead comes in several thicknesses [numbered] You buy it by the square foot. or metric equivalent.
A table of thicknesses and weights; http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/construction/plumbing/Plumbing-Estimates-Contracts/Estimating-Sheet-Lead-Work.html

[Viktoria]

As an evacuee in Shropshire I lived in a lead mining village,the waste was all around us.
We actually played with the creamy white waste left after the ore was washed and ground( then smelted.) It made lovely mud pies.
Our food was grown in heavily contaminated soil as the fumes from the smelthouse blew all over the place when t he mine was still in production       
The cottage where I lived had the highest rate of contamination in the garden soil but we had lovely vegetables and fruit. We had no idea at the time.
Our drinking water came from "The level",a galvanised pipe running straight out of the mine adit.
It was "filtered through sand and charcoal and was icy cold and lovely,all through the year.
We carried it in buckets on a yoke over our shoulders,like a milk maid.
Tests done in the late 1950`s proved the very high level of contamination and it was banned, a big grille put cross the adit and it was chlorinated water from somewhere else. All the village mourned the lovely fresh taste.
The village had a good proportion of people who could be termed very intelligent,some good sensible practical people and only one young woman that I can recall who had some special needs.
Teachers ,nurses, osteopaths,builders Head teachers,,musicisns,farmers and University lecturers.A general cross section of careers.
My hypothyroidism seemingly is linked to the lead I came in contact with in my childhood.
How we survived I don`t know--.
I had a lovely childhood, lead waste and all.
My garden has lots of lovely stones,barytes and some galena pieces.All from the waste site near the crushing floor, some perhaps taken out by my G.Grandfather,a shot blaster.Circa 1866-1885
after which production slowed down somewhat.
We played on the mine site,jumped on the cage suspended over the shaft on a rusting cable(I shudder now )messed about on the little saddle tank engine,changed the points and danced on the crushing floor and slid down the rusty jigger grille which sorted the size of ore.
We hung from the hook on the crane whilst the big boys wound up the big hook up again on a rusting cable.
The mine had stopped production in the early 1900s.
It is a miracle we are still here to tell the tale.
Viktoria.

[Rena]

As you are specifically enquiring about the 1700-1800s, I think your answer could have something to do with firearms for war and hunting.  Every so often owners of antique blunderbuses, rifles and pistols will appear on antique roadshows and one of the gadgets shown is often a small portable mould for making leadshot/bullets by pouring molten lead into it.

Historically lead was used to make drinking cups which was overtaken by pewter when it was realised lead affected the brain, bones and all other organs of the body.  Unfortunately it was only a few decades ago that it was realised that ordinary household paint was having an adverse affect on children due to its content of lead.