Where is the best place to buy lead for jig making? something like a brick of it. I have been having trouble finding it in a large quantity
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Where is the best place to buy lead for jig making? something like a brick of it. I have been having trouble finding it in a large quantity
One source for free lead was where I used to work. Electrical generation plant . Turbines have to be maintained and inspected on a regular basis. There is a lead seal that is removed. I forget how often they are replaced but just one would keep you in lead for a long time. It is 100% pure lead also.
It is used as a safety seal and has to melt at a certain temperature. The turbines where I worked were old 115 megawatt , small by todays standards. I can only imagine how much lead is in one of the bigger ones.
I was assigned to maint. dept during one of these outages and seen 5 gallon buckets of lead. Upon inquiry about it I was told to take as much of it as I wanted. Cheaper than having someone haul it away. As I muzzleloaded and cast jigs and sinkers at the time I took all I would ever need.
has anyone tried using the lead out of old car batteries???
Not worth the effort and not good for your health.Quote:
Originally Posted by PBUG2009
I tried that a few years back, never will do it again.
Pete
I buy mine online:Quote:
Originally Posted by slabslayer
Casting Bullet Alloys from Rotometals
They have free shipping if you buy enough, but shipping isn't that bad on smaller quantities... it saves a lot of time and gas money running around town looking for it
I started out using the pure lead, but my jigs weren't durable enough so I switched to the Hardball mix... good stuff!
I wouldn't do that, I'm pretty sure melting would give off some noxious fumes.Quote:
Originally Posted by PBUG2009
I think most all plumbing suppliers will have ingots for sale.
If you think you may want a larger amount, stop by a large junk yard. They will have ,or will save, some soft stuff for you at slightly over market price.
Do not use battery lead. That should be done only in a recycling business.
Illinoisgiller
Go to a salvage yard...they have a lead bin....and you can pretty much pick out what you want. I bought about 300 pounds of pure lead at one for $100, it came off a roof of a building.
ive just heard some old timers talking about it
Go to a tire shop. I purchased three 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights some years ago for $15. Works great, but you have to scoop out the clips with a spoon. Just discard in a beer can, I mean Pepsi can!
if ya know a roofer they can get lead sheeting faily cheap and its 100% pure plumers lead isnt pure and cost a good bit i think last i looked was 50 for 25 lb ebay isnt bad place to look ether
I understand that wheel weights are too hard for a good casting on smaller jigs. I have about 300lbs of it. I'm told that adding one ingot of hard to 2 ingots of soft is a good combo that gives a bit more durable product. I'm sure the old hands out here will straighten me out if I'm wrong.
you can back down to 50 50 of hard soft it wells well down to 1/32 if your doin anything smaller do like you said or just use pure i mean realy doin 1/100's not like your using alot of lead
Yea i have also heard that wheel weights were too hard. But the mixture of soft and hard lead sounds like a good idea
That is correct. Anything smaller than 1/32oz. needs to be a mix with pure lead. Works well for me since it is easier to purchase the smaller heads from Chuck and Deb.
The problem most people have when trying to pour small with hard lead is that they don't get their lead hot and molds hot enough first.
Like I said earlier, pure lead melts at 600*... when you start adding tin and antimony the temp goes up depending on the alloy. I pour my hard lead at between 750-800* maybe a little hotter. I judge the temp by the amount of flashing on the jig, if I'm getting a little flashing at the base of the jig around the hook the temp is just about right. If I get flashing (fins) at the mold joints I lower the temp a little.
If your furnace doesn't have a temp control you're limited to the type of material you can use and pure lead will give the best results.
What I don't like about wheel weights and scrap lead is (besides running around trying to find it) is that it is dirty and should be melted down, fluxed, and skimmed in a seperate pot from your pouring pot and poured into some sort of an ingot mold to cool and be used later. You also don't know exactly what type of material you getting... it could be pure lead, could be lead with volatile contaminants, it could me mostly antimony... ya just never know!
I'll take all the tire weights I can get!!!!!!!!!!!!! and have two independent shops in town that give them to me for free.
Another place is if you know somone who works in a hospital in nuclear medicine the stuff comes shipped in lead containers or find out if you can when they'll be re-doing the xray room. The walls are full of hugh sheets of lead and yes you can use it with no problems.
Another place to check is shipyards with old sailboats!!!!!!!! The keel weights are pure lead!!!!
Another place I get lead is from my brother in law when I go back home to visit. He and his brother and cousins are into Civil War re-enactment and they always seem to come up with hugh quantities of pure lead. Since it's stored in my BIL garage he lets me take a bunch they don't mind (although the wife gets peaved with all the weight in the ass end of the car:p:p)
I've been truly lucky in that I've never had to buy lead for my casting needs.
When you're molding and a mix is working really good in your mold mark what type of lead you're using in it on the handle or in a notebook and use that mix the next time you mold. Most of my molds I can get down to the really small sizes with tire weight. Others like my pony heads I have to use a 2-1 mix.
I have a container that only has tire weight lead, another with only pure and and a plastic coffee can that the 2-1 mix goes in.
For any that don't have a bottom pour pot with temp control spend the money and get a lead pot thermometer!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is one of the best investments you can make. Reason be: Now that may manufacturers are switching to Zinc tire weights if you dont' know the temp of your pot those zinc ones are gonna melt and contaminate your lead.
Fatman
Just a note:
Make sure that you "FLUX" .... This really helps to pour the hard stuff by cleaning it up.
JSC
Im kinda new to jig head making so everyones advice is much appreciated. One of the main problems i am having is that im only getting about half of my jigs to pour right . its mainly the middle 4 that do right. im making 1/16th jigs. Any suggestions as to why this is happening? Also my pot is one of those hot pots.,it does not have a thermometer
You should use pure lead in a Hot Pot and it sonds like you mold isn't hot enough maybe. Pour your mold 4 or 5 times without hooks to warm it up before adding hooks to the mold.
Flux your lead.
This is done with a piece of candle wax about the size of a green pea or a little bigger. When you lead has melted in the pot and is good and hot add the pea sized piece of wax and stir the lead with a wooden handle spoon scraping the sides and bottom... and bunch of junk will come to the top, this is oxidation and trash... skim that stuff off with your spoon. Now you should have nice clean lead to pour in your mold and it should work better.
If you get serious about pouring jigs, a bottom pour Lee melting pot is a great furnace, it has the temp control and is a lot easier to pour with and you'll get much better results!
thanks alot gcd. i just ordered 40lbs of pure and 10lbs of the hardball mix from rotometals. good prices they have. i had to get 100 dollars worth to get free shipping but this should be enough to last for years. do you have a certain pplace where you order supplies such as hooks, molds, etc. from? again thanks for the advice.
I order my hooks from Do-it because they have the red, chartreuse, and crawfish color Eagle Claw 570 and 575's at a good price... they also have a good selection of molds.
Do-it Molds: Jig, sinker & lure molds for pouring your own lead fishing tackle
I buy my powder paint at Chuck and Debs, good prices and great service!
chuckanddeb.com Fishing tackle
If there's anything else I can help with just gimme a holler.
Try Your Tire Dealers They Have Lead From The Tire Weights That's Where I Use To Get It.. No Longer Pour Any Thing
"Flux your lead.
This is done with a piece of candle wax about the size of a green pea or a little bigger. When you lead has melted in the pot and is good and hot add the pea sized piece of wax and stir the lead with a wooden handle spoon scraping the sides and bottom... and bunch of junk will come to the top, this is oxidation and trash... skim that stuff off with your spoon. Now you should have nice clean lead to pour in your mold and it should work better."
Added to this make sure that you IGNITE THE WAX ... it will flame up but this is the only way to get a real "Flux Job" .. yes the wax and stir with out flame helps but belive me it needs to burn and stir while burning ..
Hope that helps
JSC
slabslayer - I'm still waiting on my 1/32 oz. jig heads to shoot docks with....i have the crappie stingers to put on them, just need some heads!!!!!!
Slabslayer
Check w/ your dentist - if he hasn't gone to using digital for his xrays - he should have lead foils w/ his films.
I caught my dentist right at the time he was switching to digital - got 6-7 boxes of foils (10-12lbs each) for free.
The foils are inside the vynal wrapper - and there is paper - so you have to strip the foils out, but once you melt it, there is very little dirt, although I flux anyway.
I've read on another forum that this soft lead - I don't know - when I drop my ingots (made with a old muffin tin) on the floor (concrete), they go 'klink', which suggests it is hard lead - as ingots I've made from wheel weights also go klink, while those I've made from known soft lead go 'klunk'.
Either way - its lead and I can pour with it.
UG
My son does some replacement window work and says he thinks in the older windows the sash weights are pure lead. He is bring me some this week so I'll see. Pop
dang slabslayer i show you the best spots and show you how to catch em, and now you want jigs.... well i guess i can spare a few for you and crappiesnack
Very interesting thread, enjoy the inputs from everybody........learned a lot
I've thought about pouring my own heads as well. I have access to all kinds of lead at work as were battery components manufacturer.