How to cast jigs?

[Mr. Fisherman]

I talked to a fellow in Garabaldi who casts his own jigs. Said he carved the shape in wood and filled it with bondo. Has anyone made jig castings?

How do yo do it? I know when I've poured lead before that it likes to cool real fast and I have had to heat up the casting to get the lead to flow.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mr. F.

[Crusin]

The trick to pouring lead is to have the right temp of the lead, and of course good lead, most lead around now days has been melted many times which cause it become harder, and alot of it has been mied with wheel weights or gun lead which really makes it hard. We run our pots at or around 650 to 700 f, our pots hold about 200 pounds and we watch the surface color of the lead after it has been melted, if it has that multi colored look like oil on water you can tell its good lead, we just smack the bricks with a hammer if its just a good old thud its lead...if it rings like a church bell its been mixed with wheel weights probably,.preheating the mold will help but you would be better off cranking up the temp a bit, and remember to wear a mask when you are pouring lead, it does give off fumes.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Thanks Cruisn,

I don't usually work with that much lead.

How do you get the lead to such a high temp?

I have a brother-in-law that manages a tire store and was hoping to get some of that free wheel weight. Where can I get some good weight?

Wouldn't a harder lead be better for a jig that would have hooks in it?

What do you use for molds that will withstand such high temps and how do you shape them.

If I'm sucessful I'll send ya a few jigs.

I'm rather new at this. Thanks for your help,

Ray aka Mr. Fisherman

[Crusin]

We do commercial lead, all the way from 1/2 jigs to 24 oz jigs,our cannon balls range from 1oz to 60 pounders, spin lead, columbia riveer leads, downrigger fish. We use propane burners for melting and most of our molds are commercial molds although we have quite a few Hilt and do-it molds. The main reason we dont use tire weights is it pours really bad, plugs up alot and it has a tendency to be brittle, really good lead is hard to come by anymore, we travel up to salem for most of our lead. One more word of caution i forgot to mention...keep water away from your melting lead...so dont try pouring in a leaky shed this winter...and make sure your lead is dry when you put it in a hot pot..stuff will go ballistic on you if there is moisture on it or...in it, so if you melt down some old cannon balls or something let it sit around the furnace awhile..BTW never use battery lead....if you have any questions let me know..we dont use the old cast iron pots anymore, i'll look around and see if i can dig them out and if you like i'll send them to you, there still in good shape, we just went to stainless steel pots is all..

[Mr. Fisherman]

Hey!,

That would be great.

Do you use anything to keep the lead from fouling the propane burner?

Do you think you could help me come up with a mold?

Email me if you like or post here.

Thanks a lot [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Ray

[Bait O' Eggs]

Ray
What kind of shape are you trying to cast?? I have a couple store bought molds and some work better than others. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I have molds for lead headed jigs (1/8 and 1/4 ounce), pyramid sinkers ( 1 thru 5 ounce) and pear shaped sinkers (1 thru 5 ounce).

I wanted to cast a couple special shapes that I could not buy a mold for and I made the shape out of wood and then pressed it into bondo. I coated the wood with oil so it would not stick to the bondo, then reomoved the wood after the bondo had cured. The bondo does not like the heat of melted lead as well as a cast aluminum mold but it works. I made a mold this weekend that I cast approx 50 each about 3 ounce castings into and the mold still looks to be in very good shape.

I dont know if I have ever had good lead, but tire weights are not that bad to work with. It is kind of humurous to melt the lead and watch the little metal pieces float to the top. I buy lead at clackamas steel from there scrap yard for $0.35/lb.

I melt it on a propane camp stove in a soup or coffee can. I have only ever had one can split out on me before. I think I got it to hot [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] When the seam failed in the can the lead poured out onto the floor in a hurry. It would have been ugly if the hot lead would have gotten me. I like to bend the can lip into a nice pouring angle and then I clamp a pair of vise grips on the can to the side.

Are you after a custom shape or a standard fishing sinker shape?

[bait boy]

He's trying to make a jig that looks like a point wilson dart.

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

You can buy pre-made molds for around $30 that give you a variety of jig head weights.

Sportco in Fife,WA carries these, and I've gotten literature from the company that produces these molds. I think the URL is:
www.luremaking.com

I could be mistaken and I'll check to see if I can find the literature for you. You can pick up a lead burner as well and they are around $30 too if I'm not mistaken.

Call a scrap yard or a recycling place to see if they have lead you can buy. It's cheaper than buying it at a retailer, but as far as that lead being mixed with stuff, I'm sure some of it will be.

[Crusin]

e-mail me your address and ill pack a few "old goodies" up and send them to you...sorry cant send any #60 pound ingots of lead..

[Mr. Fisherman]

[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Crusin,

Check your email, [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] !!Thanks!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Yer the greatest!

Roy,

Thanks for your help too. I'd like to see those custom molds. I'll give you a call....

Ray

[ 07-17-2001: Message edited by: Mr. Fisherman ]