Pouring your own Leadheads By Alan Tani - California Fishing

DementedFish · 03-20-2006, 04:13 PM

Pouring Your Own Leadheads
By Alan Tani

Warning! Screw up fast and get burned really bad, screw up slow and get poisoned. Do this right and you save a ton of money.

I make 2.5 pound lead balls, bannana weights, regular sinkers and torpedo weights, and I make lots of stuff for friends. I still didn't have a good 4 ounce swim bait head. I meet this guy named doug mooney. He's the guy that owns a machine shop called "intool" and he made the rsk loading tool. He also makes swim bait heads. I bought one and now my arsenal is complete.

Ever think about trying this? Here's how. First, set up some way to melt lead. I spent $15 at the goodwill store and bought a small electric hotplate, a cheap aluminum pot and a stainless steel ladle. I wrapped tin foil around the base of the pot to hold the heat in, works better this way....

Open up one of doug's molds and place a hook inside....

Clamp it together with something, anything....

Pour the lead into the mold....

Open up the mold...

Pop out the head and snip the excess.

Toss them in a small pile to cool and you're done! You can also customize your leadheads by painting them. This was a half hour to set up, an hour's worth of work and a half hour to clean up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't breath the fumes, don't get burned and don't leave a mess! Here's a link to the hilt's site and safety information. If you do decide to do this PLEASE read this information:

http://www.hiltsmolds.com/MoldInstructions.htm

Most of the hilts molds are $40. I bought a mold from doug for $30. His work # is 408-727-7575. He says he will make more if you ask, and he is also going to make me a 6 ounce mold next.

sharkbait7 · 03-20-2006, 04:17 PM

this is cool. where do you buy the special hooks?

DementedFish · 03-20-2006, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharkbait7

this is cool. where do you buy the special hooks?

I'm sure any big tackle shop like the Longfin will sell hooks. They should be called something like "Lead head hooks"

aftahour · 03-21-2006, 12:08 PM

Isnt it illegal to do lead stuff in california.

BeachBear · 03-21-2006, 06:14 PM

Anyone willing to be around lead fumes intentionally is a brave brave man.

batman · 03-23-2006, 09:58 PM

Lead isnt illegal. You can do what you want with it. Its fun making lead things but I hadly make anything that I use. I still need to buy those brass rings to tie your line to
Batman

bitedez · 03-23-2006, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Isnt it illegal to do lead stuff in california.

Only if you get caught. But seriously though, I think it is legal because they don't put any restrictions on you buying the molds or ingots to make the leadhead.