Long story short: Thorium is slightly radioactive and could be harmful when you are sharpening the rod. Ceriated and lanthanated tungsten rods are better options.
I though it was an interesting piece of information to include in training too. @malcolmputer .
Meh, will be the best comment I can give on it. While that article says plenty about the radioactivity, it is the least of your problems when welding. I would surmise that unless you are using them all day everyday, the dust generated from doing some tig work at the space is not even worth the mention. To each their own!
And, to my understanding, and what seems like common sense, using is less problem then grinding.
Probably good to add to the training, though, just to help people not freak out when they discover it IS true…
Just saying it might be worse for…new folks who do more grinding…
Your point remains, however, as the casual newbie still should worry less about the radiation from that than the other hazards.
So I thought about it years back…tried lathenated and ceriated…I thought both sucked compared to Thoriated. I have heard good things about weldporn’s pink tungsten.
I’m more concerned about the carcinogens in grinding wheel dust and someone using brake cleaner before welding…