Where do y'all buy your lead?

[luvjign]

Where do you fellas get your lead for pouring jigs? Some folks say they use (free) wheel weights, but from what I've read, most say it's too hard for pouring jigs??

[jlaughlin72]

I have never used tire weights to pour any jigheads. I have a friend that would use them to pour bottom sinkers though... What I did was talked to a local roofing contractor about the excess lead they cut off of the lead jackets above the vent pipes when they do new roofs, most housed down here have three or four vents on them so it dont take long to get a good mess of lead. I haven't talked to him in a few weeks but last time I did he told me that he had about 75 pounds of lead for me at his house.

[luvjign]

Unless I'm figuring wrong, 75 lbs. of lead could make about 9,600 1/8 oz. jigs!!!! That should do me a while. Just curious where the soft lead can be bought? I looked around on Grizzly Jig, but may have overlooked it. I've seen the pots and molds at their store, but didn't pay attention at the time if they sold the raw lead. Just was thinking about buying a mold and pot for a certain 1/8 oz. & 1/4 oz. jig that would suit my needs. It has both sizes in the same mold. I've been buying the heads at a real cheap price, but would be more satisfied if I could make them myself.

[bearclaw]

The softest and best pouring that I have ever had was sheet lead the was on sheetrock that was being put up in a xray room in a hospitital.

[poppop]

I have picked up some lead from tire shops that I melt down into about 4 pound ingots. I agree with bearclaw, I have a friend who ended up with about a thousand pounds of the lead from an old xray room in a hospital they were renovating. It comes in sheets that you can cut with a razor knife, then fold and break it. Lead of all kinds is getting really hard to find, since the scrap metal business is booming. A lot of the tire shops are reusing the lead when they can due to the quadrupling price of tire weights.

[Pomoxist]

I buy used tackleboxes, preferably full of gear, and a catfisherman's box might have several pounds of lead sinkers. One box I bought for cheap had a jar of maybe 400 splitshot sinkers of the kind I don't fish with, which will make about as many jighheads. Haven't tried the following (maybe someone can comment): car battery plates, and old lead plumbing pipe and fittings...and Chinese-made kiddie toys?

[jigsbydirk]

You can buy sheet lead and lead jacks (flashings) from roofing material supply houses. It is pure lead, very soft. I am a roofer so I just keep the extra and it is good stuff.

[jimfish]

Been using tire weights for years cant tell the diff. its a jig that your gonna paint and snag on a log any how. And if you aint loosing jigs you aint fishing in the right spot.

[ejones1961]

you could possibly find some soft lead at a scrap yard. Lots of people are in the business of selling scrap metal nowadays. You may have to check with a few to find some. But the price should be good.

[luvjign]

Thanks for the info, guys. And thanks for the phone call, Mr. Jim. Like I said, I don't know why I didn't call you about this. It's just somethin I was lookin to get into based on how much all the necessities are gonna cost.