Making your own weights

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GodWithaRod

Well-known member
Does anyone make their own weights? I'm beginning to think that at almost £1 a pop for a gripped weight it's getting a touch expensive buying them at the tackle shops so I've been thinking about making my own. :yltype:

The only problem is I have no lead. Pretty fundamental to the process I know. :D Where do people get their lead from? Do they buy it from a scrap yard or through less legitimate means? :p Just wondering if it would be cost effective having to buy lead from a scrappie! The local church roof is looking an attractive proposition I have to admit*!! :eek::D










* not necessarily true!
 
There's a scrapyard at Dunston that sells lead to the public, it was £1 per kilo last time I was there but I believe the price may of fallen.
 
KeithB said:
There's a scrapyard at Dunston that sells lead to the public, it ws £1 per kilo last time I was there but I believe the price may of fallen.
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Do you mean Stanley's at Swalwell? £1 a kilo is palatable I suppose. Plus costs of wires, mould and beads I think it could soon pay for it's self. Especially the way me and Geordie... lose weights.
 
GodWithaRod said:
Do you mean Stanley's at Swalwell? £1 a kilo is palatable I suppose. Plus costs of wires, mould and beads I think it could soon pay for it's self. Especially the way me and Geordie... lose weights.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the one mate, just tell them it's for making sinkers and they'll dig you out some clean flashing (safer than melting pipe).
 
make sure you have decent gloves and a fumes mask and make them in a well ventilated place when i first started making my own i started a thread on here and it nearly caused world war three
 
i neva use glloves or a mask, just get used to the fumes, just have a pan in my cole fire with a towel so i dont burn my hands, some people do buy htere lead mate, but i neva have, i get it off mates who are builders/ plummers, that kinda thing, and i just throw them a few weights at the end, i have about 1000 weights sitting in my house, all redy to have the wires uppt in them and a fair bit of lead in the garden aswell, so i dont think im goin to run out anytime soon lol
 
whitey123 said:
i neva use glloves or a mask, just get used to the fumes, just have a pan in my cole fire with a towel so i dont burn my hands,
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thats the stupidest statement ive seen on here i hope you havent got any kids who have to get used to the fumes
 
I bought a bag of lead from my local scrappy for a fiver. A lead mould from e-bay for 12 ounce sinkers £7.Also bought 100 brass loops off e-bay £3. I only have an electric oven and melt small amounts of lead on this in a £2 milk pan bought from Morrisons. I don,t use masks or gloves-never have.Coal fire would be canny to melt the stuff.
I have made about 10 sinkers and its good fun if you are careful. Still have lead in the shed. I was just fed up paying nearly £2 a sinker.
The price of lead did go through the roof quite recently but it has gone down again.
Would recommend the thick gloves if you have any.

Mick.
 
Not only does it pay to use a mask and gloves, it would also pay to use some cheap goggles. It wouldn't be the first time I have had lead explode in my face. I was making some lures years ago and there was a tiny bit of moisture in the bottom that I didn't know about, I was quite lucky but my ceiling wasn't. I ALWAYS heat my moulds or anything else up before pouring in any lead.

Jim.
 
ray said:
thats the stupidest statement ive seen on here i hope you havent got any kids who have to get used to the fumes
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well said ray them fumes are not very nice

whitey123 said:
i neva use glloves or a mask, just get used to the fumes, just have a pan in my cole fire with a towel so i dont burn my hands,
Click to expand...

A towel will not stop you getting burns and lead burns hurt and they take ages to heal i know i have had a few over the years.
 
A towel will not stop you getting burns and lead burns hurt and they take ages to heal i know i have had a few over the years.[/QUOTE]

your not wrong there allan nothing worse than lead burns they are nearly always deep and take ages to heal up as for fumes i always wore the correct mask and me chest is still knackered
 
i always pre heat my moulds to a too hot to handle stage first so you get good casts from the start , a cold mould will chill the lead and not form right and it does away with the moisture worries


just as a side question does anyone use a Gemini gripper mould and if so do you have to take the wires out and refit them as i do or am i ding something wrong ?
 
Just secured myself a new strikeout mould (whatever that is haha) on Ebay for £12 or so. What's the crack with the wires? How do you bend them into shape??? Can see a pack of stainless TIG welding wires going missing from the stores at work here. :red:
 
GodWithaRod said:
Just secured myself a new strikeout mould (whatever that is haha) on Ebay for £12 or so. What's the crack with the wires? How do you bend them into shape??? Can see a pack of stainless TIG welding wires going missing from the stores at work here. :red:
Click to expand...

i have a gemini mould for them and i bend the end of 2 ,then when there are in place and the lead is cooling i pull them out , remove from mould and trim off plug then when cooled i have to put the wires back in and bend them round the point
dont know if its the right way but it works for me
 

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