pour your own lead heads

warning! screw up fast and get burned really bad, screw up slow and get poisoned. do this right and you save a ton of money.

i make 2.5 pound lead balls, bannana weights, regular sinkers and torpedo weights. and i make lots of stuff for friends. i still didn't have a good 4 ounce swim bait head. i meet this guy named doug mooney. he's the guy that owns a machine shop called "intool" and he made the rsk loading tool. he also makes swim bait heads. i bought one and now my arsenal is complete.

ever think about trying this? here's how. first, set up some way to melt lead. i spent $15 at the goodwill store and bought a small electric hotplate, a cheap aluminum pot and a stainless steel ladle. i wrapped tin foil around the base of the pot to hold the heat in. works better this way....



open up one of doug's molds and place a hook inside....



clamp it together with something, anything....



pour the lead into the mold....



open up the mold....



pop out the head and snip off the excess....



and toss them in a small pile to cool. this was a half hour to set up, an hour's worth of work and a half hour to clean up..



don't breath the fumes, don't get burned and don't leave a mess. here's a link to the hilt's site and safety information....

http://www.hiltsmolds.com/MoldInstructions.htm

most of the hilts molds are $40. i bought a mold from doug for $30. his work # is 408-727-7575. he says he will make more if you ask, and he is also going to make me a 6 ounce mold next.

Casting your own stuff is definitely the way to go.  I have a lee production pot, and that's a really nice setup. The bottom spigot prevents slag from becoming an issue when pouring, and you're never moving ladels/whatnot full of hot lead.

I've heard tha aluminum pans can alloy/melt with the lead over time, eventually resulting in a hazardous rupture.  Be careful.

Erik had a good post on safety equipment that should followed when pouring your own jigs.  It kind of scared me from pouring my own at this point.  I have a 6 oz Diamond jig mold that I'm too afraid to use...

Alan those are nice jigs, though.  If I ever pursue this, $30 for a 4 oz jig head mold sounds like a good deal.

For $35 plus shipping you can get Do-it molds in a variety of shapes and sizes... most of these are multi cavity molds with each cavity being a different size...

http://www.do-itmolds.com/products/jigmolds_i.php?UID=2005090611422265.209.251.77

As for safety... it can certainly be done safely, no reason to be scared... but there are definitely things you should know and understand about lead in order to be successful and safe.  I'll see if I can dig up that old post... not sure if it was on this board...  

Erik

Nice.  Those jig heads can be expensive.  Seriously 4 oz!?  Isn't that too much? I could see 2 or 3, but 4?  I would think you would lose the action of the plastic if you use too much weight.

as for creating a 6 oz diamond jig, that is something I would be interested in.

Thanks for the pics.  Well done.

We often use 6 and 8 oz leadheads, especially if the wind is blowing and we are fishing deep.

Doubt that you lose any lure action.  Of course, you need to use larger plastics with the larger leadheads.

Think big fish and hold on tight!
John

My main mold is a 3 and 4 oz spear jig mold.  The tail flops behind a 2lb salmon ball just as well as it does behind a 1oz head.  I partially fill the mold to produce ~2oz jigs with flat noses, so I get a nice variety of sizes out of the thing.  

I've also cast my own plaster molds for smaller leadheads and diamond jigs, but the plaster absorbs moisture from the air and needs to be cooked off to produce castings without steam bubbles.  I even cast 5 4lb dive weights with a plaster mold.

Where's a good source for cheap lead?

That mold is good.

I bought some in that mold, listed as 3.5 oz from Fisherman's Warehouse.

Caught this ling on saturday with it (big 7" fishtrap on there).





fisherman's warehouse has a lot of stuff, but it's interesting how all the heavy shad heads are always out of stock.

This sounds really cool. I might buy the 6 OZ diamond bar mold...where can I get cheap lead? And would an MSR camping stove get hot enough to melt lead?
 Thanks,
 Andrew

Lead can be gotten from various sources, I peek at craigslist once and a while, got 100lbs for $10 a year ago.  You can also try metal recycling places, but it's more there.  I think I got a 60lb ingot of pure lead for $35 at
Alco Iron & Metal Co
(510) 562-1107
2350 Davis St
San Leandro, CA 94577

They may have cheaper grade lead too, but it was in 100+lb bricks the size of cinderblocks.  As it was I had to use an air chisel to chop the 60lb ingot into pieces that'd fit in my production pot - it was ~4"x5"x20".  Without appropriate powertools, the best bet would be to melt it down in a propane turkey fryier or similar, and cast it into 2lb ingots that can be used later.  A big setup like that would probably be the way to go for salmon balls too.

The little electric melters have a problem when reheating in that the valve will be stuck open a crack due to expansion/contraction and the very first lead that melts will start leaking out.  Keep an eye on it and just give the valveshaft a tap and it will stop - otherwise it can dribble a fair sized puddle of lead before it comes free and stops on it's own.  Ideally these things should be operated clamped onto a disposable wooden surface that has a lip to prevent spills and lead bits from getting on the ground.

funny, I pour my own jigs too, but since I do the majority of my fishing in 3-10 feet of water I tend to pour 1/4-1/2 shad heads. Mostly I use a 3/8 oz head with an oversized hook

If I go down river to 30-50 feet with tide ripping out I need 1.5-2 oz to bounce bottom.

Move to Maine and fish shallow

I get most of my lead from a mason buddy that keeps the scrap flashing.

check out the new six ounce shad head on top, compared to the 4 ounce on bottom.  

THAT IS SWEET