Lead weights

[Snape]

Melting down lead to make your leads is great but do it outside on a primus stove in an old pan.
Lead fumes are seriously toxic!

[Kevanf1]

Melting down lead to make your leads is great but do it outside on a primus stove in an old pan.
Lead fumes are seriously toxic!

Oh yes. Very sound advice, Snape. Though, in the dim and distant past I have melted lead indoors it has never been in a domestic environment. When I first left school I was an apprentice plumber. One of my jobs was lead welding. For some reason I could just do it and very neatly if I say so myself from the first attempt. I also did a few jobs which necessitated melting a crucible of lead to pour into a cast iron joint over tarred caulking. See how often that is done today :think: I have sea leads in the past but again, this was always done outside in fresh air and one should never even look over the pot. Not just because of fumes but if pocket of moisture suddenly gets heated from molten lead it will escape in an explosive manner. I have seen this and it is frightening.

Now, the moulds. I have found some very favourably priced ones on eBay. Trouble is you can make about 6 or 7 drilled bullets all of one size. Or the more expensive ones allow you to do 3 in the very sizes I want. There is a combo version but they go both too big and illegally small So I shall go for the 3 in one type in the bullets. The flat inline pear leads I can only get in one size at a time. So I shall opt for the 1.5 ounce. Pity they don't do an ounce size though.

Why inline leads? Both bullets and pears... I have plenty of bomb type leads. I don't actually like using them as I feel they are more prone to tangling even with swivels. I have honestly never had an inline lead of any sort tangle up on me.

[Leveller]

Hiya K, I've made lots of lead weights, I basically wanted anything that didn't look like every body else's lead, most leads are aerodynamic as they had to be cast out a fair way, this isn't an issue for me as I'm casting a centrepin , so I wanted a lead that would grip in the swims where I fished, if I'm after barbel on the river dove, then I have I good idea of the gravel size in the barbel swims, therefore I made leads with nobly bits the same size as the gravel , this makes them grip better in the gravel, especially if they are flat, to camouflage them a little I used to glue or line the moulds with sand and gravel from the swims, you can get a better lasting effect by heating the leads up, untill they start to dull, at that point the lead is almost liquid, then get a appropriate plastic bag, (Harrods green is good for lillies and weed, carefully wrap the bag on the lead, it's better to hold the lead with plyers or something similar.

The mould is easy, rather than buying them make a one piece mould from any building plaster just make sure it's dry before you pour molten lead into it. An easy way would be to make plasticine shapes, place them on a flat surface, mix plaster and pour over shapes, when the plaster is set, remove plasticine and dry the mould. Cut in a groove for you swivel or wire. Make sure the tayper all angles the same way so that the leads come out of the mould, if you make the mould big enough you can make say ten at a time
That is plenty for one pouring,
One word of warning WEAR GLOVES AND HOLD EVERYTHING AT ARMS LENGTH lead splashes really really hurt!

[AshbyCut]

I recall incurring the wrath of the then SWMBO in around 1978 ... using her good iron frying pan in the kitchen to melt lead to make weights to fit to my racing kart (I was a slim young thing in those days). Perhaps that was a contributory factor to her becoming "the then SWMBO" ???

[RyanBurns]

I make ;leads all the time. it is fairly straightforward. i have moulds that make flat pear leads from 1.2oz upto 2.5 0z. and another which makes the more streamlined leads in 1.5 to 4oz. i think you can make them inline by putting as stainless steel skewer in the moulds before pouring the lead in, although i personally have never tried this.
I never heat the mould up first and never have any problems. you can turn the leads out of the moulds as soon as you have finished pouring.
Just be careful, always wear gloves and glasses and it is easy. My lead moulds are one of the best things i have ever bought and save loads of money every season!
Ryan

[Kevanf1]

I've pondered making some moulds out of plaster. I might give it a try... I do know a guy who will make me some out of aluminium. He works at a local casting company so certainly has the resources to do a good job. If I had a milling machine I'd have a go myself with a block of aluminium.

[Leveller]

Kev your from staffs the same as me, theirs more out of work mould makers, case makers, pattern makers, than I care to count, of you get stuck, I would imagine theirs lots of locals who could help out.
I actually have proper shop bought lead mould but they are the same shape as everybody else's leads, that's why I prefer to make my own mould out of plaster, ,ten in a mould, even if the mould last three runnings it's thirty leads! Plenty