Casting sinkers - updated question post 32

[jamesharrison]

Re: something inexpensive like a Lee Pro 4-20 would produce better pours. The lead comes out of those pretty quick, especially when the pot is near full and would likely help to keep the alloy temperature up and reduce wrinkling since you're getting a constant flow of hot metal

That would be my suggestion, too.

Like a lot of folks stated, your alloy is too cold.

As an aside, that's a heck of a waste of good pure Pb & old W-W to be using for fishing weights. I bet there's a bunch of people close to you that would trade you 1 or 2 or more times its weight in exchange for zinc wheel-weights to get their hands on the good stuff.

Zinc melts in a Lee post, too.

 

[piker]

Not that I need to justify my use of my lead, but in total I’ve cast 5lbs of sinkers - with what was unmarked, unknown alloy in my furnace. Those 5lbs of sinkers will last me several seasons and offer me plenty of enjoyment.

And I recently spoke for a fresh 5gallon pail of wheel weights from my local mechanic that I will use for sinkers if I ever want more. The properly sorted and marked WW and lead will be saved.

 

[bertn]

As an aside, that's a heck of a waste of good pure Pb & old W-W to be using for fishing weights. I bet there's a bunch of people close to you that would trade you 1 or 2 or more times its weight in exchange for zinc wheel-weights to get their hands on the good stuff.

Zinc melts in a Lee post, too.

Melting the zinc weights requires a lot more heat and flows way not as nice as lead so if I was casting these I would not entertain that swap idea.
Besides this zinc is lighter so to get the same weight the sinker needs to be even bigger.

 

[Andy]

Those sinkers look like they've been filled by multiple small pours, or one very slow one.

How big are the sinkers? You say it's one ladle pour, how long do you take for the pour?

If the mold is hot enough, maybe the heat of the ladle and/or of the lead you're pouring is not.

Further to that, that's a huge pour - about 2000 grs (!), so your challenge is a rare one. The biggest bullet mold I have is 700 grs and I have a bottom pour furnace that fills it in less than a second. Much longer than that and I'd run into the same situation as you. You want all the alloy in the mold to still be fully molten at the time the fill is complete. The lead solidifies very quickly, and if you go too slowly, you get layers like you're experiencing.

It's a fool's errand to try to correct this by super-heating the alloy, mold and ladle. The best remedy is a ladle that can pour much more quickly than the one you have.

 

[trevj]

Not that I need to justify my use of my lead, but in total I’ve cast 5lbs of sinkers - with what was unmarked, unknown alloy in my furnace. Those 5lbs of sinkers will last me several seasons and offer me plenty of enjoyment.

And I recently spoke for a fresh 5gallon pail of wheel weights from my local mechanic that I will use for sinkers if I ever want more. The properly sorted and marked WW and lead will be saved.

So, what's that amount to? Number of sinkers, I mean.

Seriously, I cast a batch of 16-18 Oz sinkers each year. I form the eyes up out of scrap copper electric wire, and have at! Typically 30-40 in a batch, out of straight wheel weight alloy. Ladle poured, in to a sand mold, that I punched a sinker in to, to form the cavity. So far as I can tell, the fish can't tell!

This is for sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River. At $5-$7 per, they add up in a hurry!

 

[yomomma]

Not that I need to justify my use of my lead, but in total I’ve cast 5lbs of sinkers - with what was unmarked, unknown alloy in my furnace. Those 5lbs of sinkers will last me several seasons and offer me plenty of enjoyment.

And I recently spoke for a fresh 5gallon pail of wheel weights from my local mechanic that I will use for sinkers if I ever want more. The properly sorted and marked WW and lead will be saved.

In the end this is the internet, not to be taken to seriously.

Do what makes you happy.

 

[antiqueguy]

I switched to concrete for sinkers bc it’s a waste of lead and it’s betterish for the environment.

 

[ted_dent]

I switched to concrete for sinkers bc it’s a waste of lead and it’s betterish for the environment.

I admire your ecology mindedness but wouldn't concrete sinkers be considerably bigger, especially those for fast water fishing (i.e. a couple of ounces)? I also think they would be a lot more susceptible to snagging due to their size.

 

[antiqueguy]

I admire your ecology mindedness but wouldn't concrete sinkers be considerably bigger, especially those for fast water fishing (i.e. a couple of ounces)? I also think they would be a lot more susceptible to snagging due to their size.

Yes they are bigger to an extent I made some that are about 8oz that used a Timmy’s small as a mold. Snags around here are usually small cracks in between the rocks near shore I haven’t had an issue so far the remove them selves easier then the thin round lead sinkers do. My thought is the concrete will eventually turn into sand and gravel so can’t be much harm to it. I have been looking into some silicon ball molds and may start making and selling concrete sinkers.

 

[Andy]

Yes they are bigger to an extent I made some that are about 8oz that used a Timmy’s small as a mold. Snags around here are usually small cracks in between the rocks near shore I haven’t had an issue so far the remove them selves easier then the thin round lead sinkers do. My thought is the concrete will eventually turn into sand and gravel so can’t be much harm to it. I have been looking into some silicon ball molds and may start making and selling concrete sinkers.

Concrete the same weight as Lead will be 3-4 times larger by volume.

 

[antiqueguy]

Concrete the same weight as Lead will be 3-4 times larger by volume.

It pretty much is but it works.

 

[piker]

I picked up some wheel weights, watched a few videos on sorting, and went to it. I melted them, and poured ingots in a old muffin tin.
Afterwards I started to worry I missed some zinc sneaking into my mix, as I only found one zinc wheelweight in the small pail I sorted (quite a few steel weights). I don’t want to contaminate my properly sorted lead and wheelweight ingots. I realize zinc has been discussed a 1000 times, but mostly on avoiding it. I didn’t see many discussions on how to identify if you have zinc in your finished ingots.

So my question is, is there a easy way to tell if I missed some zinc?

 

[yomomma]

For bullets up to 3% zinc can be a good thing since it adds hardness.

Lead will melt before zinc, so keep temps around lead melting point. Zinc should float on top of melted lead

 

[Andy]

I picked up some wheel weights, watched a few videos on sorting, and went to it. I melted them, and poured ingots in a old muffin tin.
Afterwards I started to worry I missed some zinc sneaking into my mix, as I only found one zinc wheelweight in the small pail I sorted (quite a few steel weights). I don’t want to contaminate my properly sorted lead and wheelweight ingots. I realize zinc has been discussed a 1000 times, but mostly on avoiding it. I didn’t see many discussions on how to identify if you have zinc in your finished ingots.

So my question is, is there a easy way to tell if I missed some zinc?

It's so easy to prevent zinc from melting into the mix, that I've never had to deal with it happening.

Zinc melts at a temp well above that of lead, so if you keep the temp at just above what's needed to melt the lead, you can simply skim off the trash, steel and intact zinc wheelweights. I've tried to melt it in just to see how "easy" that would be, and it took a good deal of time and effort. No need to attempt to sort them out, or fear the reaper (zinc), just be attentive as you should with something as dangerous as molten metal.

If you're very negligent and use a far higher temp than needed, and ignore what's happening, and have it dissolve with the lead, small amounts will go largely unnoticed and large amounts won't matter for sinkers.

 

[piker]

Thanks gentlemen - that gives me some relief.

 

[trevj]

Thanks gentlemen - that gives me some relief.

The cast bullet guys online will tell you your pour will look like you are pouring runny oatmeal, chunky, with a bunch of odd lumps. Will not make a bit of difference for a fishing weight, but is said to make for tough times filling out a bullet mold.

Not much of a worry, if you keep the temperatures under control while processing, the zinc will float on the surface, along with the steel clips, and can be skimmed off with a slotted spoon.

FWIW, I use a stainless steel pot from the Sally-Ann, on a Coleman Stove, and a Ladle (Princess Auto, IIRC) for my fishing weights casting, and find that the heat is about right. Not so hot that the metal boils, yet hot enough that I don't feel like twiddling my thumbs waiting for the last ingot I added, to melt.