Making your own weights

Member Joined: Jan 23, 2007 Posts: 8

Hi, I'm after some help I'm goner start making my own weights but not sure on an ideal gas stove to go for. I found a Lee lead melting pot on ebay but was a bit pricy at £72+ so I was wondering if anyone knows of any ideal cheaper options up to roughly £30. I've also looked at camping stoves but I'm not sure whether they give enough to melt lead. Any ideas or recommendations would be great.

cheers, Mike

Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:13 pm

Hi,

I used to make my own lead weights by using a blow-lamp and melting the lead in an old saucepan.
If you are going to make quite a few, then go for a piezo ignition gas burner.
You can get these for around £50.00 at any plumbing shop.
There are cheaper alternatives.... gaz make a blowlamp for a few quid which will do the job.
Go to a local pound store and buy the cheap milk saucepans...
they have a pouring lip on them and if you get three or four uses out of it, then it's a pound well spent.
I had one that lasted for absolute ages.......
Spending £72.00 plus is a complete waste of money, unless you intend to do it for a living.
Stay cheap and cheerfull mate......... happy

Member Joined: Jan 23, 2007 Posts: 8

Cheers for the response mate, great idea I haven't really got the cash for trial and error so knowing that your method works thats perfect. I hope to get it sorted this week so thanks for the quick response.

Cheers Mike

Guest

I use a cheapy camping gaz stove (since I am banned from using the cooker by her ladyship) and back it up with a blowtorch for the initial heating. If you can get hold of one cheap, the gas rings that attach to a 13 kg bottle are much better though. I do the same as limey1 and use an old milk saucepan...try and get one with a lid though as the lead will heat up quicker.

You are probably already aware ...... but just in case you aren't.....heat your moulds first to get rid of any moisture (it will also ensure a good cast first time on) and wear good gloves, boots and goggles....just in case. Also watch out for the fumes if you are doing your moulding inside....they can creep up on you, especially if the lead used is very dirty - I never fail to get a headache after playing with the lead moulds.

Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:25 pm

hiya,

we had a go at making weights for the first time and used the kitchen cooker with one of my mothers old saucepans.... worked a treat but yes watch the fumes

the lead used was very clean and melted fine, gloves are essential and lead must be dry

my brother melts his lead on a ordinary camping stove, keep to cheep kit as it does work a treat

Guest

Just had a look at your website petersclan, the boat brought back some happy memories as a good mate of mine used to have one the same - spent many a happy day afloat on one of those!

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 4:39 am

Really, there is no need for any specialised equipment, a domestic cooker is fine and an old pan will do.
I have not made weights in moulds, but I used to make sinkers in a box filled with damp sand, the shape of the weight being created by pressing a spoon (with the handle bent up out of the way) into the damp sand and then pouring the molten lead into the depression. Utilising different spoons made different sized weights, a little one from a teaspoon, a middle-sized one from a dessertspoon, and a large one from a tablespoon. A twisted brass wire loop, with the ends protruding at right-angles to each other, inserted horizontaly into the ' handle' end of the depression created a strong attachment point.
The shape of these weights were not totally aerodynamic for casting purposes but were adequate. However, they did provide an advantage when used over very rough and rocky ground due to the fact that one side was convex and one was flat which, when being retrieved, would 'plane' up in the water and keep the snoods etc away from any potential snags.

Tight Lines

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:29 am

One word of warning if you use the damp sand method........
Make sure your sand is only just damp and not soaking wet.
Molten metal poured onto water can erupt and I know this for a fact.
The two different temperatures react when they meet and you have to be carefull that you don't get a face full of hot lead.

A mate of mine once got badly burnt on his foot after using this method.
Hot lead entered his boot and before he could get it off, the damage had been done.

Member Joined: Jan 23, 2007 Posts: 8

Hi, cheers guys great load of feedback. I've never melted lead before so cheers for the safety advice also. I'm goner get a cheap stove probally and use a blow torch for the intial melting. Hoping to give it ago this week so by the info you guys have given me should go brilliantly (Fingers Crossed).

Many Thanks, Mike

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:40 am

Good luck with the meltdown Mike...

I'm sure you won't have any problems....

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:09 am

I made some years ago using wood as a mould. Get some dry 2"x2", place on concrete floor, use flatbit drill to make hole drill in until drill end touches concrete., twist up some wire (we used heavy strands from cooker cable offcuts) long enough tails and turn back ends so that they don't pull out. Rest length of wood that you have drilled on something under each end to give some clearance for the wire loops. Insert loops in drilled hole and make sure they are centered. Use old milk saucepan as others have suggested, to melt the lead and pour into holes. Allow to cool for a bit.... then invert strip of wood and bang the end down onto a hard surface and all your weights will come out...... easy peasy. If you are careful you should be able to reuse for another one or two batches, if not it's no big deal to make another. We made about a dozen a time spacing the holes to leave about an inch between holes. I think the 3/4" bit gave about 4oz and the 1" bit 5 or 6oz..... experiment a bit to get the right weight. We used them for fishing rough ground marks.... still have a couple. I will put up detailed instructions with pics on my site when I have time. Just one pic for now.

http://haddock-fishyfishy.blogspot.com/

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:12 pm

I used a gas ring.( The kind that roofers uaed when melting the tar for a felt roof.
Like this one.

And an old aluminium saucepan with a v cut in the rim . A small 5kg calor or propane for the gas.

Hope this helps.

Member Joined: Dec 05, 2007 Posts: 5

get some copper tubing cut to length drill sides for grip wires ,fill with lead,easy way when no mould available and you just cut the tube to whatever length /weight you desire,and if you polish the tube makes an additional attractor when feathering.
Dave big grin

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:13 pm

Hi, A quick word of warning......

Back in the mists of time when i was but a lad I was helping my uncles make some weights in the kitchen, exactly how has been described above........ unfortunately things went a little wrong.....

The handle to the pan SNAPPED between the stove and the mould spilling lead over everything...the cooker...the worktop..the floor..and more importantly my uncles leg....it wasnt funny and given the language that followedI guess it hurt a lot....

If you are gonna make your own leads then it might be safer to sort some better equipment out because if it does go wrong you will know about it.

A friend of mine makes all our leads and supplies a few local tackle shops and hes got things set up nicely.. he uses a gas ring similar to the one shown above ( it apparently was used by BT in the past to join connectors but they dont have them any more), but hes modified it with an old galvanized bucket as a deflector to ensure as much of the heat goes into the pan as possible ( i will try to get a photo to show this if you like). Instead of pouring lead from the melting pot hes got a big old ladle that he uses, which means the pots always on the heat and theres never more than a mould or two's worth of lead out at a time.......it works really well so it might be worth a car boot trawl to get some stuff......

Chris

Member Joined: Dec 05, 2007 Posts: 5

spot on Zzippy,could not have put it better myself ,and for heavens sake don't melt lead in the kitchen anyway. crying