Tooth Pacte Tubes - A Business Secret

Mike and i asked our neighbors if they'd save their tooth pacte tubes for us with puzzled looks. We had selected a site next to her washing machine as the place we would stock pile our raw materials. In those days, tooth paste did not come in plastic tubes. The tubes were made of lead. So once the paint was burned off, the tubes were dropped in the small steel pot, melted until they became liquid. And with my mam's pot holders, we were pouring the lead through a small hole in the top of the milk cartins. Some asked us what we were doing, to which we replied, "It's a business secret"