LedHed:

I did pick thru the bucket of weights and pulled out all the stick-on weights (soft lead) - nearly 3# worth of those, but left the bucket, as I had picked up about 35# of weights from my mechanic last week (5 gal bucket about 1/4 full), and I still have a bunch of unmelted ww lead that I got from him last fall. The cost for the latest batch was $5 and to make some jigs and stuff for his kids (who fish)....

I don't have sinker molds yet, and my largest jig heads (in the molds) is 1 oz, so I think I am safe for awhile....although I do see a bottom bouncer and drop shot mold in my future at some point.

Fish 4 all:

I live in a rural area of a small county - just how small? - the biggest town in the county has a population of maybe 6K. This may have a bearing on the price I pay....

There are two scrap yards in my area - one about 5 miles away, the other about 20. The closer one will not sell any metal they take in - I asked. The further one does - I let my fingers do the walking to find that out.

Both yards buy scrap metal - ie old cars, farm machinery, wire, aluminum, etc. 3-4 years back, we burned the barn my property - we loaded up all the steel from it - nails, door hinges, conduit, any thing and everything - sold it - that's the kind of scrap yard I mean - they deal in salvaged metal.

I went to the 20 mile distant yard 2 weeks ago - after my phone call. It was still cold out (ice and snow), dug thru a 55 gal. barrel they keep the lead in - came away w/ 42# ($6.30) of mixed lead, some hard, some soft. Bunch of ice in the barrel, so I couldn't get all the way to the bottom. The owner told me to come back when it warmed up (barrel thawed out), and since it had, I went back yesterday, and dug.

The lead varies in origin - some was pipe and gasket seals from a sewer/water project in a nearby town - some (prev. trip) was small ingots of lead that I am betting were once wheel weights, one hunk yesterday was about 1" thick and about 10x14", one hunk was 1/4-3/8" thick sheet material of about 10 x 20".... I was mainly looking for soft lead - and it was there, so grab it while the grabbing was good.

And I can't complain about the price - as compared to folks selling it on ebay, etc.

UG