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??
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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??
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
i have some lead cable sheathing from old telephone cable when they tore it down years ago.
The local recycler in our area sells soft lead fo $.50/pound. Hard to beat that price. You can also buy it at Bass Pro, Cabelas, Gander Mt., etc. but its $20 for 10 pounds.
That is where I got most of my lead. Find a friend at the phone company.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxter1
I can't remember the exact reason,but I've read that old battery plates are very dangerous to use.Stay away from them.
Ive been fortunate enough to aquire about 120lbs that people have given me. From racecar weights to homemade anchor somebody give me, to wheel weights, flashing, old tackle, and some coiled up something or another.
I am sitting on about 200 pounds myself.....I stumbled across five bricks that weighed 27pounds each. This is a future retirement project for me...making jigs and egg sinkers. Now watch them change the law where you can't use lead any longer in the lakes.
Don't use battery lead. Not enough to make it worth the risk. Acid and other dangerous chemicals. It is also illegal to disassemble a battery unless you have a remanufacturer's license.
Just call a local plumbing supply store. They usually sell it in 1 pound ingots. Mail order is expensive due to shipping costs. This is by far the best way that I found unless someone has some for free to give you. Tire wheel weights often contain other metals other than lead and can be a real pain to work with. Those that use them just don't know what it is like to use purer lead.
Wheel weights (watch out for the wheel weights with the glue stick on's on them they're a pain in the butt), salvage yards anywhere you think you can find it. I've found some big 8 oz sinkers with the heads broken off while wading one time, was enough for about 60 1/8 oz jig heads per 8 oz sinker. Check out shooting clubs, muzzle loader groups (they pour pure). You may even come up with a big score of it. Lot's of folks having trouble finding lead right now with the prices. I've always had lots so never had to worry.
Wheelweights work fine in some molds down to 1/16 oz and in others not so good. I try pouring it anyways when I don't want to use my pure stuff. I've found that I get plenty of full heads with barbs and if the whole collar doesn't fill NO PROBLEM use a pair of gate shears and cut the piece of collar off and you have a ball head jig without collar. This way you can make your mold work by making two different styles of heads for you. I have a log made out for each of my molds that tells me the best style of lead or mix and I use it. This has been through trial and error and now I've got it down.
If all you can come up with is wheel weights and just a little pure lead mix them and you should be able to pour small heads just fine. If you're using a ladle to pour the lead in make sure to file a small groove in the pour spout of the ladel so you get a really fine stream and you shouldn't have any problems pouring your smaller size jig heads. I've poured a mix of 2 lbs wheel weights to 1/2 to 1 lb pure lead and poured heads down to 1/32 oz in my pony head mold so it will work.
First and foremost with pouring lead BE SAFE!!!!!!!! I dont' care how hot it is outside when you're smelting dirty lead or in-side your shop pouring your jigs, wear long pants and long sleeves, I even wear an old Dickie's coat over my t-shirt. Heavy gloves are a MUST!!! If you don't have shop glass's GET THEM AND WEAR THEM!!!!! some guys I know that pour wear full grinding face shields. Don't get water anywhere near your melting set up, if water comes in contact with the molten lead it will SPLATTER BIG TIME!! Don't let the kids around you when you pour!!!
As others have said, DON"T USE lead plates from batteries, it isn't worth the trouble.
Sorry I went off on a rant but when I was a teenager making my sinkers and jigs I got several lead splatters after my younger brother walked by me and splashed some water which went in the mold I was using. The resultant splatter got me in several places on the face where at 46 I still don't get any hair growth and one very small splatter that got me in the left eye in the white part. If I can save someone any injurie I'll preach all day!!!!!!
Have fun, be safe and make a bunch of jigs for yourself!!!! If you have questions lots of us here on the board have been pouring for alot of years ask and one of us will help you out.
Again sorry for being long winded.
Fatman
Good info Fatman, can't be to careful with the molten stuff.
teenage story = melting tire weights down in a cast iron deep dutch oven with a handle on stove in kitchen (before anyone knew about lead vapors) to make dive weights. Kept adding weights till I thought I had enough. Didn't think about how much the pot weighed or how hot the handle would get. Had set up sand molds in the backyard. Picked up the pot and headed to the kitchen door, weighed so much that both hands were required to hold it, which left no hands to open the door. Heat set in about that time through the 4 or 5 pot holders I was sure would do the job. Stove was too far to return to, couldn't open the door, only choice was to set the pot down on the floor in front of the back door on Mom's brand new linoleum kitchen floor. Melted through in a second and started to smoke. Knew enough not to throw water on it. Opened the door and pried the pot out of the flooring and set it on the patio, which then left molted linoleum on the new green concrete patio. Not my finest moment.
I now take all the same precautions you mentioned. Maybe this story will prevent some one else from having to work almost all of a teenage summer to replace a new kitchen floor. 41 years ago, and I can still close my eyes and remember the smell of melting linoleum flooring.
boatstall
Yep and I fish the Hatteras surf 3 times a year and go through MANY 8oz and 10oz pyramids drum fishing. That chews up a lot of lead.Quote:
Originally Posted by poppop
I use TRUCK TIRE WEIGHTS from 18 wheelers and UPS trucks. Some we as much as 16 ounces. My buddy gave me about 500 pounds worth YEARS ago, of which I have about 300 pounds left, and we pour all of our own 2oz bank sinkers for catfish jugging as well as using on the coast in saltwater. I'm sure they would work for jig heads.
And I concur that water and molten lead are like gas and fire. Don't let the 2 ever meet!!! If they do dive away from the exploding sound cause molten lead goes everywhere and is very hot on the skin not to mention if it hits your eyeball, it's a wrap!!!
The prices of scrap lead is getting crazy!!!!!!!!!!!! You can go to a scrap yard and buy it for 60 or 70 cents a pound maby! I guess since there using all of that lead based pant for the kids toys now adays its all going over seas!! I sell bulk bags of clean lead already poured up for $7.95 but it could go up any day! Check out grizzlyjig.com or pm me and for more info.
check with someone that makes lead bullets. they may sell u their scrap
find you a buddy at the phone company,(most often a cable splicer),if they have a lot of older underground cable most of it will have lead sleeving at the manhole splice's, and they replace it with a different type of closure. most often just discard the old lead sleeve,,,some weigh as much as 30 to 40 lbs apiece... just another idea of a source of lead,,fuzzy
Now bearclaw gave you the best tip offered you in this thread. They have to replace that lead every so often and if you can find out who the hospital uses for that change out you should be able to get all you need for free.Quote:
Originally Posted by bearclaw
I know a guy that used this kind of lead for most of his pouring until he quit. I just have not passed this tip along except in private until now.
Skip
They don't always make good pours with jigheads though, as they don't use pure lead, they add several metals to strengthen the bullet. It still works, but it's considered hard lead.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappie feathers
There be a place right close to you that processes a lot of lead at Holly Springs, Ms. Can't remember name, but I put it on the site once. I bought 2700lb from them at one time in 60lb. bricks. Used it in flotation tests on our boats at Triton. Best I can remember i found it through Google.
Before buying ALOT of lead check the lead laws for your state!!! Vermont came out with new laws last year that anything under 1/2 oz. had to be non-lead - exceptions to this rule were lead core line, believe it or not weighted flies and JIGS. And now they're looking at outlawing the jigs too:eek:
Now states around us have more strict rules and it gets to be a pain in the butt to have several different box's, so I've scoped out what it's going to cost to switch over to non-lead, I'm looking at a mix of 70% bismuth/ 30% tin which will work in my Lee Production Pots and in my DO-It molds. Now this only weighs about 85% of a lead jig.
Don't complain about paying 60 to 70 cents or more a pound, for me to switch completely over to non lead to start will be $255.00 for a
15 lb. block of the 70/30 right now, that's not gonna go far. Believe me at one time I had about 4,000 lbs of lead in my garage.
So make sure to check your law's and nearby states that you fish in for theirs, it's not worth a big fine!!!
Fatman
I used to install xray equipment in hospitals. The older xray tables had as much as 250 pounds of pure lead used for counterweighting. Law doesn't allow that now. Cancer treatment ( Linacs) have huge amlounts of lead in their walls. As far as wheeel weights go the nasty stick ons are made of softer lead. (less alloy added). I use wheel weights all the time and they work for me.
too bad you didnt live closer- i have 100's of pounds left over from the racecar days.....soft clean perfect lead ! you can buy nice blocks off ebay too -Quote:
Originally Posted by luvjign