# Starting to pour lead



## Shoebag22 (Jun 17, 2004)

Gang...

I want to get into pouring some lead... 

I have some molds (thanks Frank)

I've been looking at the Lee pot IV...

holds about 10 pounds I think, and has a spout on the bottom... is that a good setup, or should I look into something else?


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## Heaver (Feb 7, 2001)

It is a good smelter for lead. It was really designed for pouring bullets and not doing long pours but I have poured 28oz mojo leadheads with mine one after another until the lead runs out in the pot with no problems.

Recently "Cobia Joe" Robbins and I got together and poured 200+ 8oz tongue sinkers using his new mold, and poured additional dozens of pyramid 8oz & 10oz sinkers. We now have enough sinkers to last us many seasons. 

Get soft lead and avoid tire weights for the best pours and detail on smaller jigs. Tire weight lead tends to harden too soon too quickly resulting in a wrinkled appearance on sinkers, and lack of detail on smaller jigs - if you get it to pour into the mould to begin with, it hardens that quickly. Use soft lead only.

Also make sure that the lead that goes in the pot is clean lead, previously melted and formed into clean ingots. Do not attempt to melt and pour dirty lead using the spout - it will only hopelessly clog with debris and you'll wind up having tp pour the lead out and cleaning the bottom of the pot and spout.

Lou


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

Another problem with the tire weights is they are lighter than soft lead(i.e. Purer). This will affect the weight of the jigs you are pouring since the molds is made based on volume. The alloy that is mixed in with has a higher melting point which is why it does not pour as well.

I have the LEE melting pot IV and like it very much It works well.


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## rattler (Jul 3, 2004)

tire lead leaves a "skum" on the surface that must be skimmed off...you lose about 20% of your weight...but it works if its free...


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## Heaver (Feb 7, 2001)

I guess tire weights will work if thats all you have. 

The metal recyling place next to the Sears repair center off Witchduck has soft clean lead for 40-cents a pound. You can find it for less if you look around.

Lou


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

Rattler the scum only forms when the temps are low enough i.E. closer to leads melting point than the melting point of the mixed metal. This is most easily done when you have a lead thermometer.


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## Jesse Lockowitz (Feb 13, 2006)

You should check around at some of the telephone companies near you. And ask some of the line marker guys, if they have any lead?

They usually have BIG, BIG chunks of lead under ground around some of the wires, and they usually will give it for free, if not pay you to take it away.

I got a buddy that lives in Jacksonville,NC, and he is a line marker, and thats how I know.

He gets a few hundred pounds out of the smaller chunks. Alot of them he cuts down.

He doesnt make his own anchors/weights, but we have friends that do.

He melts his lead down, and pours them into muffin molds, and the last time i was at his house, he had a 50 gallon barrell fill to the BRIM with lead muffins lol.


I would like to make my own weights too, because no one around here carries tongue weights I like lol, so every time I go to Hatteras, I have to load up on them lol.

Plus, I bet I go through 25lbs of eggweights, for flounder and sheepshead lol.



Jesse


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## Shoebag22 (Jun 17, 2004)

Great advice guys...

didn't know about the telephone line weights... will certainly have to ask around...

I figured that tire weights weren't the best thing to use, but the price is right... 

what do you guys use to skim the impurities off the surface... is that necessary?


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

Yes you have to skim. I use a old spoon or fork(just hit the thrift store).


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## rattler (Jul 3, 2004)

tire weights have(had) a lot of tin content to make the lead hard enough to hold the rim of the tire rim...that you skim off...as digger said anything that works...


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## fcbandgdog1 (Jan 11, 2006)

*ingots*

I agree about tire weights...

1. Price is right...Free.
2. Lots of Non-lead contant...so you have to "clean it up" and make it into ingots. then the ingots are easy to work with. Use an old muffin tin to make the ingots.

I have the Lee pot also...good choice. BUt..if you melt big quantities of leade...an cast iron pot on a burner is best...

Now...DO THIS OUTSIDE! Wear eye protection and LOTS of cloths. Please be safe.

F


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## fcbandgdog1 (Jan 11, 2006)

*Lead pouring party*

Lots of good informations here...sounds like we have some really experienced pourers...Maybe time for a P & S Lead party!


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## Shoebag22 (Jun 17, 2004)

Poured a bit of lead this weekend... outside with pants and several long-sleeve shirts, goggles and welder's gloves... worked pretty well... 

I agree... a lead party is in order...


anyone know of any tire places that are willing to give you their weights... most places I called just wanted to get me off the phone...


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## rattler (Jul 3, 2004)

i'm up...F...give me a call...or i'll call you...


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## david123 (Jun 24, 2004)

*lee pot*

been using a lee production pot for bullet casting and jig making for a long time. Works well. also been using wheel weights for a long time and they work fine. Trick is to flux the metal. We used to use beeswax. Drop a glob on top of the molten metal and mix in. This will promote the impurities to float to the top where they can be skimmed off along with the clips and deposited in a suitable container for disposal. Gives off a lot of smoke whick may or may not catch on fire..so do this oputside. You can light the fumes to reduce the smoke...but still...outside is the norm, or at least with a powerful exhaust fan.

You can also get lead flux from Brownell's, Inc., a gunsmith supply house in Montana for a reasonable price. 

The secret to getting casts that are not wrinkled is to preheat the mold. With aluminum molds, you can simply dip the edge of the mold in the molten metal for 30 seconds. For cast metal molds or steel molds, leave it on top of the pot to preheat for a time before pouring and then when you dump the weights, if you're not going to pour immediately, then rest it back on top of the pot until you are ready to pour again. The Ov-Glove is a good tool for handling molds that have no insulation no the handles.

Wrinkled castings simply mean that the mold is not hot enough and will happen regardless of molten metal quality. It's a verycommon problem with bullet casting and we normally throw the first few casts back into the pot until the mold gets hot enough. What happens is that the cooler molds starts to cool the moltem metal prematurely and the wrinkles form from this process. When the mold is hot enough the wrinkles go away. Not much of a problem for sinkers, inless you quit pouring half way through the complete sinker and then try and fill it up again. Then the sinker could come apart on the cast, at the faultline. Surface wrinkles are only a problem when the total weight is critical as obviously the unfilled out wrinkles = less weight.

The good folks here are correct in that wheel weight sinkers will be a bit lighter than pure lead. They are otherwise fine. Make good bullets too!


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## The Bucket (Mar 4, 2001)

*test run*

Made first lead pours this weekend. OK test run and good trip down memory lane just like riding a bike. Wheel weighted my way to some 8oz pyramids and ingots  Thanks for the info and ...

Go pour hot metal  

`bucket


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## The Bucket (Mar 4, 2001)

*may pour this weekend 4/22-23 ...*

... scored two coffee cans of wheel weights and may have a window to pour some more ingots and surf casting weights  Will see and stop by if'n ya interested  

Gonna pour some more hot metal  

lead `bucket


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## rufus george (Dec 16, 2004)

The Bucket said:


> ... scored two coffee cans of wheel weights and may have a window to pour some more ingots and surf casting weights  Will see and stop by if'n ya interested
> 
> Gonna pour some more hot metal
> 
> lead `bucket



I may swing by sunday if the weather holds out. Maybe we can cook some of my rodkill rolls while the lead melts. 
what's your longitude and latitude?
rufus


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## The Bucket (Mar 4, 2001)

*Rg*

Plan to pour lead today (Sunday 4/23) ~ 1pm, figure it'll be just you and I as all them others went to a wedding, pulled a `bucket, and will need the day off :--| 

Have two coffee cans of wheel weights that will become ingots then 8oz's and various other sinkers  

Go get it all hot, melt it up, and just pour it  

`bucket


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## ndcarper (Feb 20, 2006)

Another great flux is BORAX. It confines the contaminents and floats to the top. No fire risk or smoking with borax. As far as fluxes go paraffins, old candles, motor oil, and sawdust ahve been supposidly used according to books I've read on the topic.


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## ndcarper (Feb 20, 2006)

*Health risks*

BTW lead is extremely toxic and melted lead throws off oxide fumes of lead and any other metals that may be in the lead mixture (eg arsenic = arsenide gas). So ALWAYS have a well ventilated area, preferably outdoors. Lead and heavy metals are cumulative and just hang around in your body till toxic effects are achieved. Then its too late.


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