Hello, does anyone know how to test if paint is lead based or safe? I have this vintage egg weighing machine and I would really like to clean it up and use it. I thought it would be fun to let the kids use it to try and encourage them into baking and cooking, and get them out of zombie xbox mode.

But a friend of mine mentioned to me, that if it is really old, it may actually have lead based paint on it. I don't really want to let my kids play with it, if it has lead based paint on it.

Is there a simple way I can test the paint to determine if it is safe?

I remember when I was a kid and my gran used to get me and my brother really excited about baking. And we would spend ages making caked and biscuits and all sorts of little treats, and then decorating them. And then the best part, eating them. It was such a wonderful and simple time. There are so many distractions for kids now-a-days, it would be amazing to turn everything off, at least once a week, and learn something practical.

Plus I think it would give us some nice quite time to chat.

But I don't really want to use this vintage egg weigher if it is covered in lead-based paint. So if you have any experience of this sort of stuff. Or know if there is something I can get to test the paint out, I would really appreciate some advice.

I suppose it is probably better to be safe that sorry. These older kitchen gadgets are so cool looking and very cleverly designed, so it would be fun to use them. I have one of those old hand-powered whisks somewhere. With the crank handle. It's such a beautiful tool. I remember using it with my gran, would fun to use it with my kids.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any tips.