I figured I would post this separately but it relates directly to a request to share some thoughts on sinker making by another forummer; Mr Seahorse dude who asked me;
Originally Posted by
seahorse@SZ7678H 
I do melt my own weight too.(300g,500g,800g & 1kg) but really have to handle with care. I,m sure u knows how and maybe u can teach our kaki here too
Seahorse dude,
Yes, I have been making my own weights for quite a few years, but still find myself buying commercially made ones when I don't have the time to do more.
Firstly SAFETY . Lead is a toxic metal and should be treated very carefully. Melted/molten lead is REALLY HOT and it will burn through clothes, leather gloves, skin, flesh, tendons and eyeballs. Be very careful with molten lead, remember that it can splatter like any other fluid or liquid medium and it can boil and bubble too. Wear thick leather gloves when handling the metal melting pots and weight moulds. Eye protection is mandatory too. Keep children and pets away (lest the kids get hurt or even worst pick up dangerous ideas like me at age 9). One other good idea is a thick apron, leather is best or heavy canvas. That can help reduce burns to body and clothing.
Secondly, when lead melts it can give off poisonous fumes. For this reason, don't try melting lead indoors if at all possible. If you do have to do it indoors, make sure you have very good ventilation and a fan or extractor fan on.
I usually use a portable gas stove to melt lead. You can hook it up to a domestic cooking gas source and pipe it outside your backdoor/kitchen so you can work outside.
For melting lead, I prefer a cast iron milk pot.... basically use a pot that has a pouring spout as this will make it a lot easier to pour your lead accurately and quickly (before it cools) saving you time and spilt lead in the process. Do remember/realise that using a pot to melt lead will render it useless for doing just about anything else that is culinary related, SO PLEASE USE A POT THAT YOU CAN THROW AWAY. Do not use your missus's favorite soup pot or your mum's favorite copper bottomed stainless steel saucepan....The consequences for these kinds of screwups are probably worse than being burned by molten lead.... you have been warned.
Scrap lead can be bought commercially, usually in a package of small square plates that weigh a kilo. You can also try frequenting junkyards and recycling centres or be imaginitive and look for scrap electrical cables with lead sheathing and the sinkers on discarded fishing nets. The mother of all sinkers are the ones used by commercial circle net boats, where each sinker weighs a hefty 5-10kg, I tried begging one off a commercial boat but just got a smile in response (but I did get a free ride and fish off that boat too 
). AVOID using old battery terminals from lead acid batteries as I have been told that the lead from these is contaminated with sulphides and gives off even more toxic fumes.
EL-CHEAPO WAY
Firstly you need some sort of mold to shape the sinker. The easiest, cheapest and crudest mold is the sand mold. I used this method as a kid (Told ya kids can pick up dangerous ideas).
1. Basically you get a bucket of sand and use a rod or even a broomstick to make a cylindrical hole in the sand.
2. Then get hold of some thick 1-2mm single strand copper wire like you get from big commercial electrical cables and cut off about 3 inches and twist that to form a loop that you haywire twist. you can use the two tag ends of the twisted tail section to make small hooks that will stick in the molten lead and stop the sinker eye beng pulled out on a cast or minor snag.
3. Use a pair of needle nose pliers to stick the wire loop into the bottom of the hole you made in the sand until the loop is fully buried in the sand with the twisted tail section sticking up into the hole.
4. Melt your lead and pour it into the hole. When it cools just pull out the lead cylinder with the wire loop now sticking out to tie your leader or rig to.
Like I said this is the crudest way to do it in my view and I made my first weights this way at the tender age of about 9 or 10 with scrap lead from the cutoff scraps of big electrical cable shields and also wire from those same cables.
STAINLESS STEEL/COPPER "COOL" WEIGHTS
1. If you happen to know a friend or contractor that does work using stainless steel pipes to make safety and decorative railings, or maybe a guy who does plumbing or aircon work, pay his workshop a visit and look at all those lovely 0.5-1.5 inch diameter bits of scrap stainless steel or copper piping lying around the shop. Ask if you can have some of these scraps if he doesn't want them..... chances are he would be happy to let you take the lot and save him having to waste his time gathering them and throwing them away.
2. I find that sections of 1 inch diameter piping from 4-6 inches long are the easiest to work with. If he gives you scrap piping thats a bit too long or can be used to make 2-3 sections of suitably shorter piping, then ask to borrow his big cutoff saw (every metalworking place has one or two) so you can quickly cut the pipe to length and save yourself headaches and elbowaches later using a hacksaw to do the same thing. A big cutoff saw can do in 5 seconds what it might take you 5 minutes of sweat and toil to do with a hacksaw. You might also borrow his bench grinder to take the sharp edges off the pipes and to true up uneven pipe ends, but thats up to you and the mood of your contractor acquaintance. (I have a bench grinder and a hand grinder at home, so I sometimes just grab the piping and run).
3. Take the pieces of piping home and figure a way out to plug one end of the piping off so that you can fill it with lead. I basically like using the bucket of sand still, so I would poke a hole in the sand and do the same thing as the first technique, by sticking a wire eye section in the bottom of the hole, but this time, I put the piping in the hole prior to pouring to act as the walls of the finished sinker. I like this method because it provides a plug for the end of the pipe and acts to hold the pipe upright without using a frame or vice. You only need to make a shallow sand hole for this method since all you need is a hole deep enough to keep the pipe standing up. I sometimes also substitute the copper wire loop with a big el-cheapo brass swivel.
4. Pour in your melted lead and when it cools you will have a pretty perfectly cylindrical and SS/Copper sheathed sinker that can be almost too pretty to use. If you used a swivel instead of the copper wire to make the sinker eye, then you will usually end up with a nice sinker eye that rotates just like a swivel... very nice for Apollo rigs. You can even use discarded shell casings this way, but you might get some funny looks. 7.62mm casings are nice for small sinkers, but .50 Cal or even 20mm casings would make awesome offshore sinkers.
MOST EXPENSIVE BUT EASIEST OPTION-READY MADE OR CUSTOM MOLDS
You can buy ready made lead molds made from cast iron and aluminium alloy, from some fishing shops, I have seen them in some Beach Road shops, but can't quite remember which ones. I bought my sets yonks ago in Brisbane and I mainly use the biggest sized snapper lead molds.
The advantage of ready made molds is of course that they can provide you with a wide variety of sinker shapes, weights and the ability to make multiple sinkers in one pour of lead. The molds are also reusable and and some come with nice features like built in clamps, wooden lined holding handles etc etc. Of course these molds can be a bit costly, but I find they pay you back pretty quick if you tend to lose a lot of lead to snags.
Another option is if you have a friend with a machine shop and a decent metal lathe or mill. Get hold of a nice bit of scrap aluminium or steel like the pistons off a big engine or the huge pins you can get out of the threads of a caterpillar. Ask your machinist buddy to use his lathe to make you a mold out of the scrap metal, Ishak (one of my Captains) used two old Caterpillar pistons to make a mold for a big chum sinker which is bell shaped.
Well thats all I can sort of come up with for now. Sorry but I don't have any pics. I will try and remember the next time my crew or I decide to stock up on lead for a sinker making session.
There is another option using iron rebar sections but I will add that on to this post at a later time.
Good Luck and BE CAREFUL.
Regards,
Saimee
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
