This does seem to be one of those things where people have already made up their minds and are sticking to what they believe. (Including me, of course.)

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Ideally, through studies of people that have reached particular exposure levels against control groups who haven’t.

Although I’m interested in who these authorities who have stated “lead exposure in any amount is deleterious” actually are. Even in California, the prop 65 regulations (see 27 CCR § 25705) define lead as “Posing No Significant Risk” at an exposure level of lower than 15 micrograms orally per day. Maybe that limit is too low, I don’t claim to know - but I can claim thats certainly a higher exposure level than “any amount”.

As far as I can tell the current state is something along the lines of “companies doing risk analysis judge that slapping a sticker on at pennies-or-less per unit will cost less long term than proving in court whether or not the product contains any of the chemicals on the list and at exactly what level; especially given the list will change and presumably so will the regulations declaring levels”.

Edit: I now find myself wondering how that 15 microgram limit was codified and whether or not it’s at all related to the EPA limit for lead in drinking water being 15 micrograms/liter.

One thing that I sometimes find useful is to coil the solder around my finger a few times - tight enough that it stays put, but not enough to cut off my circulation - with 5-10cm protruding beyond the end of my finger. The solder becomes an extension of my finger, and I can control that bit of solder quite accurately without needing to grip it between two fingers - leaving more fingers free for holding the board, supporting components on the back, etc. Of course it's only good for one or two joints, but it's enough to get the component fixed into place.

I also use a rubber thimble to protect my fingers a bit from the heat when supporting components that are being soldered, as I am oversensitive to heat.

Maybe look at some BigClive videos on YouTube - for smaller boards he can hold the board and solder in the same hand with the iron in the other...

I did a video many years back showing soldering up one of a little project board I did for the Raspberry Pi that I sold at the time - the video got more views than I expected - it's an overly long/rambling video, but here is a cut to the chase:

https://youtu.be/K5zrgEDsxSQ?t=1278

my secret weapon/third hand is blue tack ...

-Gordon

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--
Gordon Henderson.
See my Ruby 6502 and 65816 SBC projects here: https://projects.drogon.net/ruby/

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I did try the guitar at one point, but not enough for it to stop being painful both on the fingertips and on the joints, having to maintain such awkward hand shapes!

I've always thought the double bass is a lovely instrument though, if you have enough space to keep it!