Making your own sinkers

[paz]

make my own too.....only ever use spoonies(the cheapest mould u can buy ) in the river, seems to stop em washing downstream.....cheap as chips,,one wok burner,,one home made melting pot on home made stand,,,holds about a kilo of lead,,sip rum,,tilt pot,,into cooling water slowly,,then start back to step one ..
paz

[onerabbit]

Cant be bothered to make river sinkers, but the deckie & I usually sit down for a drink & a moulding session about every 12 months or so, we only use 1.5 or 2 lb, so Its quite easy to go through a 20 litre drum of wheel weights.
Just make sure you have plenty of ventilation, lead fumes, along with the paint & road grunge on the wheel weights can leave you feeling quite crook if you suck it in for too long, flat lead is usually a lot cleaner, but harder to find cheap or free.

Muzz

[Scalem]

have never made nor seen any made how difficult is it and what do you need molds etc
can u buy moulds for specific sizes
cheers brian

Mate I presume you are asking me, so I will say making your own JH's is not hard at all, but a little slow because you can only modify the round sinker moulds at either end of a round one. But it is worth the effort. If anyone is interested I can post photo's.

Scalem

[bigbrian47]

scalem please post the pics i'm sure others would be interested as well
cheers brian

[Just_One_More_Cast]

I've had a few goes at making sinkers - mainly ball and beans. One problem we haven't been able to completely solve is how to easily make the holes for the line.

We put wire through the slots in the mold, but usually have a hell of a time getting it out again, usually bending the wire in the process so that we cant use it again (using bent wire REALLY makes it hard to get out). There must be an easy (and probably obvious) answer. Can someone enlighten me please?

[banshee]

Use a thin pushbike spoke and grease it every third or fourth time,also try and pull it out 4 or 5 seconds after you pour the lead,

[Freeeedom]

Agree - I used a thin kitchen metal skewer or a fine knitting needle and grease it between every pour
Cheers Freeeedom

[Just_One_More_Cast]

Thanks Banshee and Freeedom. Knew there would be a simple answer.

I think the wire we were trying to use was probably too thin. Also, probably let the lead set too much before removing

[ozrick]

In regards to making your own moulds ...aluminium melts around 700' (lead is around 300')......i have actually melted down cast alloy heads , gear boxes ect ..
what i used was an old camp oven on an open fire with lots of coals and a makeshift blower (an old vacume cleaner)........it takes a while to melt and you need plenty of coals


WARNING.....do not let water or any other liquid spill onto moultern metal or it will explode and go all over you

[Scalem]

scalem please post the pics i'm sure others would be interested as well
cheers brian

Brian,

I put another post in "Making your Own Jigheads" http://www.ausfish.com.au/cgi-ausfis...num=1142941063

Cheers!
Scalem

[onerabbit]

I've had a few goes at making sinkers - mainly ball and beans. One problem we haven't been able to completely solve is how to easily make the holes for the line.

We put wire through the slots in the mold, but usually have a hell of a time getting it out again, usually bending the wire in the process so that we cant use it again (using bent wire REALLY makes it hard to get out). There must be an easy (and probably obvious) answer. Can someone enlighten me please?

Whatever you use to make the hole, ( I used to use braising wire ), soap is a good & inexpensive lubricant , just rub the wire on it every 2-3 pours.

Muzz

[revs57]

I usually use soap too Muzz...with batery lead...be careful...not just the fumes, if there is any acid about it will spit like a mad snake

But its always a good excuse to get a few mates around and have a few beers and tell lies

Cheers

Rhys

[Just_One_More_Cast]

Thanks Muzz, another good tip. I've used grease before and soap sounds better - not as messy.

[lippa]

we use s/s bike spokes and use that cooking spray in a can for lube

[Gbanger]

dont know about you guys, but dont know how much drinking id get done around molten liquid lead...

anyone ever burned themselves?? im having flashbacks of terminator 2