A Guide On Making Your Own Fishing Weights...

Hi guys. have decided to add this thread - to help people save money by making their own lead weights.

SAFETY TIPS:
Making your own fishing weight's is great fun and will save you money. However, molten lead is dangerous. Follow these steps to minimise the risk of injury:

• Always wear safety glasses when melting lead. These can be bought from you local DIY store.
• Always ensure that your burner/stove is located on a stable, level surface and will not rock or move in any way shape or form. If you are using the kitchen cooker, so much the better but if your cooker is a gas cocker, ensure the pot stands are correctly located. (Be warned, the misses will not be please if you do not clean up properly afterwards).
• When using the smaller portable burners, it is essential that it is stable.
• Ventilation. Always ensure that you have adequate ventilation when melting lead. A through draft is best with air coming in through a door and out of a door/window. Lead fumes are dangerous. Always wear a facemask. These can be purchased from all the major DIY stores in the UK.
• Never attempt to move a pot of molten lead. When you have finished making your sinkers/lures, always wait for the lead pot to cool down prior to moving it.
• A fire blanket and a powder fire extinguisher should always be on hand before you start melting.
• Never pour water onto molten lead, IT WILL EXPLODE VIOLENTLY spitting molten lead all over the place.
• Always wear heat resistant gloves when handling hot moulds. These can be purchased from you local DIY store.
• It is best to make them on your own. Do not have a radio on, switch off your mobile and ask the family not to disturb you. If you are making them with someone, establish a few basic ground rules i.e. do not talk to each other when pouring, do not talk to each other when handling hot molds, in fact, do not talk when you are making them at all. Focus on what you are doing and that alone. Decide what you are going to make before you start making them.
• Once you have started and made lets say 100 molds and your lead pot is getting low, always ensure that the lead you are going to put in to top the pot up is dry. Lead is best stored inside at all times as rain will work its way into the folds and creases. When you put it into the pot, as it starts to melt the water runs into the molten lead and it will cause a minor explosion spitting hot lead all over the place.

HELPFULL HINTS ON HOW TO MAKE THEM:
I have listed below a few helpful hints to give you a little guidance to make you tackle making easier. After weeks myself of making weights, there are a number of things I have learnt which make the task a lot easier:

• When starting up, place the lead pot on the stove and turn on the heat. Depending on the output of your stove / cooker it will take time to melt the lead. Once melted, you will find that there is a layer of scum/ rubbish on the top of the lead. This must be skimmed off thoroughly before you attempt to make anything as these impurities will cause defects in the finished surface of your leads / lure. Do this by using your ladle and tip the scum into a biscuit tin or metal bucket remembering that it is HOT. Place this tin / bucket somewhere safely away from children and animals so it can cool down.
• Now continue to heat the lead until you have a colour-hardened film over the surface. When this is achieved, the lead is at the correct temperature for pouring. The scum will begin to reform whilst you are working so periodically skim it off by repeating the process detailed above.
• Always heat your moulds prior to use. This can be done by placing them next to the stove or by pouring lead into them with and leaving it in the mould for a minute or two, removing the lead / lure and repeating it again. Do this three or four times and the mould will come up to the required temperature and the lead will pour properly, filling the cavity properly and producing a perfect moulding.
• From time to time, the lead will not run properly and you will end up with a miss shaped lead / lure. Simply remove and place to one side. Do not be tempted to simply drop it back in the pot of molten lead as it will splash and may cause injury. After a while, you will probably have a few miss shapes, these should be placed into the ladle and gently lowered into the pot. Then simply invert the ladle.
• When moulding pirks, do not use scrap sheet or pipe lead on its own. This will produce a very soft pirk that will bend very easily and you will find that you send a perfectly shaped Norway pirk down to the seabed at the beginning of the drift and at the end of the drift you will wind up a banana shaped pirk. Go to your nearest tyres centre and ask them for some scrap wheel weights. You may need to part with a few quid to buy 200 lbs of scrap weights but you will have an important ingredient for you pirks. When you get them home, pour a few pounds at a time into a garden sieve which is inside a bin liner and give them a good shack to remove all dust. Sort out rubber valves and any other rubbish there may be in there and pour the cleaned wheel weights into a bucket. When you come to melt down your lead put both scrap lead and wheel weights into the pot at 60% scrap lead + 40% wheel weights. Melt this down and skim the lead off thoroughly ensuring you remove ALL the floating debris before you start pouring. Now when you make your pirks you will have a pirk which will not bend. Test the first ones you make by dropping them into a bucket of water (well away from your lead pot). Once cool, try to bend them. If you can, add more wheel weights to the lead pot and repeat the process until you have a hard pirk. Too much wheel weight will make them too hard and they will become brittle allowing you to snap them when you try to bend them. A little practice will see you establish what the mix should be.
• When you have finished making your pirks or lures, set about cleaning them up with a file and remove all the burrs and sharp edges. Once done you can now powder coat or paint them as you wish. Very soon (check our What's NEW page regularly) we will be offering pre cut holographic tape for you to finish your pirks off with. Simply prime your lures with a matt white primer, paint them with our new glow in the dark paint and when dry, apply the pre cut / shaped tape your pirk / lure to give a terrific fish catching finish.
• When powder coating pirks at home, it has been found that a very good finish can be achieved by heating the pirk then apply the powder coating from a large pepper pot.

I hope this information helps.
Tight Lines!

Very helpfull and interesting post. Your an encyclopedia of fishing! I ussaly make my own weights and i agree with everything on there so you know your stuff, Josh!

Why thank you very much - i'm glad it's helpfull! I've run out of ideas on threads!
Although i do have 75 threads!