sagacious

Saugarman, Good job on reading-up on the available material. I would suggest that you do a search here for info on making molds from Bondo, as you'll end-up with a much more durable, and longer-lived mold. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done to extend the life of an already-made water-putty mold, aside from being careful during it's use. POP and WP molds do not require 'sealing' for use with lead. What you read about sealing is in the context of pouring plastic into molds made from those materials. A long time back, I experimented with spraying the cavities of POP and WP molds with ultra high-temp engine or BBQ paint. That did help to reduce powdering and chipping/erosion, but the flaw in these molds is that they eventually develop deep cracks as the water is cooked-out of the gypsum base. Water is part of the chemical compound that solidifies these materials, and as it is slowly cooked-out the mold is irreparably damaged. You're much better off with Bondo, as this fundamental compositonal change is either essentially eliminated or substantially reduced, dependant on the cavity volume of the mold. Sorry to say, but this mold may not fare much better. Wish I had better news-- but now ya know. In any event, all experience is good experience and should prove useful during your next mold-making project. I have made some plaster molds that cast 100+ 9oz custom-designed jigheads, but this requires considerable skill in manufacture, pouring, and use. More often they show cracks or damage much earlier in use. Making useful POP and WP molds requires more skill and experience than when using Bondo. I have written extensively here on how to make long-lived POP molds (do a search if you wish), but many folks want instant results and don't have the necessary patience required to work with POP to make durable molds. POP and WP aren't very forgiving or durable anyway, but Bondo Autobody filler is. Speaking practically, it's not worth my time to use anything other than Bondo to pour a custom mold. Read-up on Bondo and give that a go. Hope this helps, good luck!

Squigster, There's not really enough info in your intial posts about your pouring methods and setup to diagnose the fill-out problem you're having with the smaller cavity. More info will secure a more accurate solution-- otherwise you'll get many helpful suggestions but that can sometimes overwhelm the pourer with advice and actually make it harder to figure-out your specific difficulty. One thing I can probably eliminate from the list of potential problems is the oval-shaped pouring gate. That's not the source of your problem. If I were to guess, I think the problem likely stems from an inadequately hot mold or hooks (I know you said the mold is hot, but still...), inadequate venting, or improper pouring technique. Without more info it's all guesswork. There are any number of ways to go wrong when pouring lead-- if you can tell us more about what part of the cavity isn't filling, what the pours look like, etc, someone might be able to better narrow-it-down. As Hawnjigs pointed out, melting-down scrap in a bottom-pour inevitably causes frustration and clogged spouts later on. It also makes frequent fluxing considerably more necessary, and considerably more difficult. And as Cadman noted, pre-heating a mold on a hotplate is good, but you need to pour 'blank' pours without hooks until the castings are perfect and then add your warmed-up hooks to the cavity and begin pouring jigs. Heating the mold on a hotplate for 30 minutes before pouring a second batch indicates to me that there may be some fundamental problems in your technique. > Preheating by pouring blanks will answer the question of adequate preheating. > Downsizing to a 2/0 hook should answer the question of adequate venting. > Fluxing properly and pouring with a full pot of clean lead should help answer the question about proper pouring technique. Smoke the cavities to help 'break-in' the mold-- it's easy and costs nothing. Before you blame the mold or lead or search further-afield for more answers, make sure you're doing your part correctly. Try the suggestions posted above, preheat the mold by pouring blanks, read-up on fluxing, and let us know what happens. Best of luck! sagacious

Thanks for the kind words, Dave. The life of the mold is dependent on several factors and thus hard to determine with any accuracy. The main one, perhaps, is how the mold is designed and the skill of the maker. Next is how the mold is treated. If it is treated with care, it will last quite a long time. The size of the cavity is also a determining factor of the longevity of a Bondo mold. The smaller the cavity, the less heat the polyester resin has to absorb, and the less heat-stress the mold is subjected to. Along with that, the size (overall mass) of the mold itself is important, and a larger mold body can absorb more heat than a smaller one. Economizing on the mold mass may shorten the useable life of the mold. The jigs below are 6oz and were poured in a custom-made two-piece Bondo mold. The same mold has poured several hundred of these jigs. Hope this helps, good luck!

LOL!

Hawnjigs, I'm glad the info was in some way helpful. I agree with all of your points above. My understanding of the available evidence indicates that some people may be exposed to lead at high levels for decades, and suffer no adverse affect and even display a below-average blood-lead level. Of course, in matters of health, one should always take the cautious approach, and keep an eye-out for any useful information too. When refining scrap lead, I always used to take a couple calcuim tablets before hand, and make sure I was totally hydrated..... ya know, just in case!

Hawnjigs, I'm quite sure you're right. Smoke from refining scrap lead undoubtedly contains literally hundreds of toxic compounds-- as does most smoke-- but also surely contains particulate lead and probably some vaporized lead. In this case, though, it's hard to point to the lead when the other compounds are either significantly more toxic or equally toxic-- and in greater quantity. Best practice is of course to avoid breathing lead-refining smoke. If one cannot ensure adequate (read: strong) ventilation, then a respirator is mandatory-- and never a bad idea. While the refined lead may not have reached anywhere near 1100*F, the chemical process where volatile compounds evolve smoke at 600-700*F does not need to reach the heat of vaporization to put lead into particulate form. During refining, lead is finely subdivided and subjected to high heat, strong updraft, and smoke evolution. That will carry lead dust and lead oxide soot with it. Likewise, use adequate ventialtion and don't breathe the smoke from fluxing lead. I wish to stress that my points here are primarily directed at hobbyist melting and pouring of lead, and not specifically lead-refining. Lead refining carries the inherent risk of lead particulate ingestion. Scrap lead refining obviously evolves significant noxious fumes. A pot of 700*F lead does not evolve vapors as a pot of hot water evolves steam. The vapor pressure of lead is fairly high. Note that "pure" rainwater is acidic due to the presence of carbonic acid formed as soon as water is exposed to carbon dioxide. Carbonic acid will react with exposed metallic lead to form lead carbonate, which is not water soluble but forms a hazy white leached suspension. This is true of many metals. Once exposed lead is covered with a layer of lead oxide and lead carbonate, and some of the other non-lead-bearing compounds that will form on the surface, it is no longer reactive or water soluable. And once the lead is passivated, slightly acidic lake waters won't react with PbO to form water soluble compounds, and PbO is insoluable in water otherwise. Seawater is slightly basic, and so a lead sinker sitting on the bottom of the ocean poses no environmental threat. The lead is not available for biological uptake. Lead has long been used for cable sheathing because the lead oxide coating is stable and strong but non-progressive, thus slowing the rate of corrosion and protecting the cable. The PbO won't migrate with groundwater. No worries Hawnjigs, the above questions are insightful. And I hear ya, we've all been told that lead is terrible, and that point is not going to be taken lightly by someone who suffered high blood-lead levels. I take it that while your lead level was no surprise, since you refined scrap lead, you suffered no specific lead-toxicity-related symptoms-- or yes? I do hope you didn't suffer serious injury, and are feeling well. From your reply above, I take it as well that you were unable to pinpoint the exact route of ingestion. The lead ion is mistaken by the body for calcium, and metabolized when the body needs calcium. This is what puts nursing mothers and infants at risk, and why developing children are at significantly higher risk of lead poisoning than an adult. However, some people do not retain as much calcium as others, and thus are constantly metabolizing calcium and that increases one's risk of lead poisoning-- even in an adult. Among other things, for example, if you're lactose intolerant, your calcium levels may be lowered and your body may uptake lead more readily. One could probably put the practical question of environmental zinc toxicity to rest for good when it becomes aparent that virtually every bridge sheds hundreds of pounds of sacrificial zinc yearly without hazard to the environment-- or the courts would likely be clogged with EPA lawsuits on zinc pollution. Additionally, while many waterways have prohibited lead, none (as far as I know) have prohibited zinc sinkers or sacrificial zinc anodes. That lost zinc goes straight into the waterway, but largely precipitates as ZnO and poses no environmental hazard. The zinc that remains in solution is either chemically passivated or taken up as a vital mineral by micro-organisms. That zinc is not converted to a hazardous form in the way that bacteria respire and convert metallic mercury to much more toxic form that is readily available for biological uptake. Except at unreasonably high levels, both zinc oxide and zinc sulfate are harmless. Again, the dosage makes the difference between cure and killer-- but that's true of everything. If some zinc sinkers got lost in a stream, no harm at all. If a railcar of zinc chloride overturns into a stream, well that's a different matter. Treating every metal in "railcar" terms is what causes the common alarmist reaction to environmental considerations. Zinc has always been in the environment as an essential mineral, and thus biological organisms have evolved mechanisms to use or remove it. This is not generally the case with lead, and that problem is further compounded by it's chemical confusion with calcium, which the body desperately requires. The question of how to view zinc or lead in the environment is an individual one, but I would answer it like this: if I saw an iron bolt lying in the dirt, I'd accord it no threat. If I saw a zinc washer lying in the dirt, I'd do likewise. A lead sinker poses a threat if it's small enough to be eaten by a bird (a bird with a piece of lead shot in it's muscle mass can live out it's life otherwise unfettered, as the lead isn't converted to a toxic form and metabolized). Hope this addresses your questions and observations. Good fishing, sagacious

Well if you didn't know this, remember that you heard it here first: All metals are toxic at some level, or in some form. The old adage that the dosage makes the poison is quite true. But it's easier to just say, "Lead is evil" and think no further. I've been asked to weigh-in on this discussion, so I'll shine what little light I can. Lost lead fishing tackle poses a fairly low risk to wildlife. The real threat comes from lead shot. Migratory waterfowl pick up tiny pebbles from river/lakeside gravel and swallow them into their crop to help grind up low-nutrition foodstuffs. Lead oxidizes to form a white coating on stray lead shot, and that helps birds see it and pick it up out of the sand and gravel. Once in the crop, the shot is ground with the other gravel and food and the lead oxide is ground into dust, mixed with acid in the bird's stomach, and forms lead acetate which is extremely toxic. The eventual result is a poisoned bird. Copper shot will also poison a bird. And a child eating leaded-paint chips will suffer the same. Remember, lead shot is fired at waterfowl right where waterfowl congregate and feed, and a single shotshell spreads hundreds of small bite-size lead pellets exactly where it can pose the most risk of bird ingestion. But even a single swan poisoned by a split-shot generates a whole lot of TV-time and bad publicity. Because of this fact, legislators have painted all lead-containing products with the same brush, and banned lead in many areas. A small child can also be poisoned very seriously or even killed by eating too many supplemental iron tablets, and one does not generally consider iron to be toxic... but it certainly can be. One can state with fair confidence that the hazard posed to hobby lead casters is likewise from ingestion. In this case it's the dust that results from handling/melting/pouring lead. Fumes present no real hazard, and one who is more concerned with lead vapor inhalation from hobby lead pouring is likely to ignore the much more dangerous vector of ingestion. Lead "fumes" pose a threat almsot exclusively to the lead smelting and battery lead recycling industries. In those situations, lead is heated to temps between 1800 and 2200*F, and lead vapor protection is required. Lead begins to vaporize at around 1100*F. Hobbyist lead melting equipment never reaches these temps. At that temp the lead is red-hot and glowing, and one can see a slight whitish vapor that emanates from the glowing lead. This situation does not confront the hobbyist or small manufacturer. Even modest ventilation is enough to eliminate any possibility of lead vapor toxicity. Note: Smoke from refining scrap lead is petroleum, road grime, and who-knows-what-else smoke. Smoke is bad to breathe. Don't breathe it. Do you eat while or right after pouring lead? Do you not change your clothes after pouring and before eating? If you do, you risk increasing your lead intake. If you wash after pouring and keep your area clean, the boogeyman of lead poisoning will stay comfortably under the bed. Soap and water works fine, but there are detergent products available to clean up lead dust. Lead sinkers in the environment-- contrary to popular opinion-- pose virtually no risk to wildlife or water quality. Exposed lead is soon covered with a layer of lead oxides and calcium oxide. Lead oxide is stable, is not water-soluble, and does not pollute groundwater. Unless you drop it on your head or eat it, it'll sit quietly in the mud forever and pose no risk. Zinc toxicity is of even lesser concern. Zinc vapors do not present a problem unless one is smelting and alloying brass. Those temps are not practical or really even possible for the hobby lure caster, and the cost of copper presents an economic barrier anyway. Zinc is an essential mineral in the body (unlike lead), and is metabolized in a water soluble form. What isn't metabolized is eliminated fairly quickly, and toxicity requires ingestion of extremely large amounts of zinc over a short time. In the environment (anywhere outdoors actually) exposed zinc oxides rapidly to ZnO, which is not water soluble and is regarded by the US FDA as a safe compound. Use of zinc for fishing lures is safe and quite responsible. Zinc does, however, present a higher burn risk than lead. As one who has set more than one crucible of zinc on fire I can assure you that you know when your zinc is giving off vapors. Tin has virtually no down-side, especially for smaller lures, other than cost. Density is lacking as compared with lead, but addition of bismuth helps, as has been noted previously. Now, even tin can be toxic, and some SuperFund sites are dealing with severely toxic tin pollution-- but that sort of pollution is industrial and isn't anything a tin caster would ever encounter. Tungsten is very expensive, very hard to work with, and thus very impractical. Brass alloys are likewise impractical for the hobby caster, require steel molds, pose metal vapor risks and also a severe burn risk. Not practical. What's left? Copper... expensive and toxic. Cadmium is absolutely wonderful for casting... but poses serious vapor and ingestion hazards. Iron? Nope, not practical. There aren't many cheap, commonly available metals left for consideration. Aluminum poses little toxic hazard and is cheap, but it's too light and too finicky to gravity pour into small molds. The answer is obvious: Be careful and responsible with whatever metal you use. It is easily possible to use lead safely and responsibly-- if you understand the risks and take precautions to avoid them. If you use tin or zinc, more power to ya. Hope this helps a little. Good luck and be safe!

Hawnjigs, Were you aware of your high lead levels before the checkup at the doctor, or did it come as a surprise?

Looks like you read and followed my advice in the link Dave provided. Yes, WD40 makes a huge difference. Glad everything worked!

I am curious as to your source for this information, or if it is anecdotal. According to the MSDS provided by shot manufacturer Lawrence, magnum shot contains 4% antimony and 1.25-1.50% arsenic. Remington says that their shells with magnum shot are a 5% antimonial alloy. Various other manufacturers also report up to 5% antimony. None list tin on their MSDS sheets. The percentages for lead, antimony, and arsenic total to 100%. If magnum shot contained tin, by federal law it would have to be disclosed on the MSDS. Magnum shot is a good source of antimony and arsenic, but does not contain tin. Again, I think this information is somewhat in error. Non-magnum shot is usually referred to, and labled as, "chilled" shot by the industry. "Dropped" shot has no specific meaning as relates to alloy content. According to various sources such as Reminton and the Lyman shotshell reloader's guide, chilled shot contains approximately 2% antimony, and almost always less than 3% antimony. Fryxell lists the average hardness of chilled shot as 13BHN. This is fairly hard lead-- especially as compared to the 'soft' lead many tacklemakers are accustomed to. This amount of antimony is typical of wheel-weight lead, which is considered hard lead by most. Cheap upland shotshells do indeed have relatively soft shot, but even chilled shot is easy to cut with a sharp knife, and so the knife test is subjective at best. Cheap upland shells can only be relied upon to contain whatever lot of lead shot was available cheapest at the time of manufacture. The problem lies in the availability of soft shot. "Soft shot" as labelled by the manufacturer is usually pure lead or nearly so. Most of the shot commonly available in stores for reloading is not soft shot. If you can find it, and are willing to pay the high price, only "soft lead shot" is reliably soft lead. Hope this helps, good luck!

Lead shot is not soft lead. Lead shot contains several alloying elements to increase hardness, and is indeed fairly hard, although since its alloy is formulated to not be brittle, it is easy to shave a sliver off with a knife. It makes wonderful (but expensive) lead to pour with. Melted lead shot usually works very well for pours where fine detail must be retained. As you have abundantly demonstrated to yourself, the occasional advice that only 'pure' lead works for tiny pours is not the bottom line at all. The lead shot won't work very well at all for your split shot (been there, tied that-- I'm stubborn). The sinkers will come out too hard to pinch down, and they won't grasp the line very well. Split shot molds are one place where only soft lead will do. Hope this helps, good luck!

Many things work. Depending on the specific application, I either use a silicone spray or a very light coat of vaseline. Bondo preserves enough detail to show fingerprints in the finished mold, so caution must be taken not to leave fingerprints in the vaseline mold-release. Vaseline is not suitable for some mold masters that have a lot of intricate detail. Silicone spray works very well as the solvent carrier evaporates and leaves only a very thin coat of silicone. Nothing sticks to silicone. Fine details are easily preserved this way. Another great way to prevent hassles with the initial mold-separation is to put a 1/4" strip of thin plastic shipping tape along the edge of the lower mold half before pouring the upper half. The tape should only cover 1/4" of the mold face edge, and be wrapped down over the outer mold edge. That way, after pouring the top half, and when you have to pry the halves apart, you'll have a thin tape line along the edges that will greatly assist in separating the mold halves without hassle. Once poured, remove the tape. Hope this helps, good luck.

Dave is right on about the learning curve. This is very much the same as when people make a crappy plaster mold and then say that plaster is no good. If your mold warped, blame the maker and not the material, and you'll get better results. Shortcuts will produce poor results. OK guys, I'll put out a few more tips that will make for perfect two-piece molds: First, I use Bondo Bodyfiller in the large 7lb can. There is no law that says one cannot place heavy steel wire within the mold-halves to reinforce a Bondo mold (like rebar in concrete). There is no law that says one cannot use woven steel screen within a Bondo mold to reinforce the mold. When I say that my molds don't warp, and will probably last forever-- I mean it. My molds cannot warp, because they were made correctly. A one-piece mold is usually made fairly thick. A two-piece mold often isn't-- see the problem here? A two-piece Bondo mold requires halves each at least 1" thick. Too thin causes problems. Economize too much and the mold may be useless. Two-piece Bondo molds must be clamped after they become firm, and during the entire time while curing, until they are room-temperature! Failure to clamp properly while curing may result in distortions later on! These molds should be stored with heavy rubber-bands around the halves to keep the proper alignment and prevent damage. There are many techniques and approaches to mold-making. Some of the above suggestions may seem old-hat, some may seem revolutionary. Really, when you sit down to make a mold, you're making a tool that should last a long time. One should take the necessary steps and acquire the necessary experience to ensure success before stating openly that a given technique doesn't work. To do otherwise is bad advice indeed. There's a world of difference between "It doesn't work" and "I couldn't get it to work for me." Bondo works very well for two-piece molds. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting-- and in the photos I posted above. If anyone wishes to post pics of their failed two-piece Bondo molds for us to see, I'll be happy to provide comments for improvement. Hope this helps, good luck! sagacious

I wouldn't go quite that far. The only thing that limits Bondo as a mold material is the skill of the craftsman who makes the mold, or the ability of the one who uses it. Bondo works exceedingly well for two piece molds. My two-piece Bondo molds have poured countless baits, and I don't think they're likely to ever wear out. My Bondo two-piece molds never warp, regardless of how hot they get. Tylerd1994, you should start learning how to work with Bondo asap. It is suitable for a wide range of applications, and cost per mold is very low. Additionally, they won't crack or shatter if dropped, and do not require coating as plaster or water-putty does. These are significant benefits. Below is a mold I made to pour 8" curltyails for saltwater use. Hope this helps, good luck! sagacious

Glad to help. Keep us posted on your progress.

Hawnjigs, Glad the ww pouring is going well! That's a very interesting question about zinc contamination. One pitfall of a mystery lead alloy that doesn't pour well is that it's often difficult to determine what the offending alloy component is. Only a tiny amount of zinc is necessary to make lead difficult to pour, and that zinc is usually thoroughly mixed with the lead. As such, skimming will not help at all. Fluxing will help, and this is one of the reasons one must stir the mix well during fluxing-- to get at the bad stuff dissolved in the lead. Repeated thorough fluxing may be necessary. In severe cases of zinc contamination, even that may not entirely fix the problem. Skimming the scum off a difficult-to-pour lead alloy will almost always make the problem worse, since by skimming, one may be removing some of the tin component, or other beneficial alloy components. The value of restoring (by fluxing) the tin and antimony compounds in the scum are such that it's always better to flux than skim, and fluxing solves a host of other potential problems too. Hope this helps, good luck!

JSC, Thank you for the kind words. I'm pleased as punch that you found the fluxing info useful. Sound's like you've really got your melting process all dialed-in! Good fishing, sagacious

Thanks for posting the link above, Vodkaman. With all the print expended on fluxing, it's somewhat surprising that the subject and practice is still mistunderstood. ALL lead alloys will, on occasion, appear to be "mystery lead" at some point to those without comprehensive knowledge of lead and it's various alloys. This will only prove true if one disregards the information posted above in the stickies about fluxing. Lead alloys containing tin and antimony will-- especially if overheated-- separate to form a layer of frothy oxides and other compounds on top of the melt. Adding more heat only makes it worse. It will not melt, it must be fluxed. I've posted several detailed replies to your techincal questions akriverrat, without a 'thanks' yet, but I'll try one more time and we'll see how it goes. In this case, the lead you received is clearly an alloy (probably just ww lead), and will behave somewhat differently than your usual pure lead. It is not unusual that it would remain shiny. Most lead alloys should not be heated as hot as you might heat pure lead, and that is-- almost unquestionably-- the proximal cause of your floating "gunk." If you reduce the heat a little bit (yes, I know it sounds crazy), and flux as described in the sticky post above, your mystery will dissolve just as surely as will the dross floating on the top of your molten lead. Done correctly, the fluxing will recombine the floating "gunk" back into the mix, and make pouring that lead a breeze. If you just skim it off, your lead will become softer due to the loss of alloying compounds, and without fluxing, you may expect to experience difficulties while pouring. Best of luck akriverrat, hope this helps. sagacious

The Japanese knife jigs are made from lead. I make them up to 6ozs, but have done limited runs up to 14ozs. There are a few considerations to heed when making these jigs for use in North American waters. Number one is that the hooks are meant to be rigged on the top eyelet-- the same eyelet as the line is tied to. Next is that hard lead is required, and water-quenched ww lead works very well-- soft lead will not. Also, heavy through-wired eyelets are necessary if one expects to get a useful lifetime out of the jigs. I use 0.076" stainless wire. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions.

I make large saltwater jigs, up to 2lbs. Tin and other metals are fine for small jigs, but once you get to the big sizes, lead is the only practical metal to use. Any other metal is way too expensive and way too bulky to make the heavy, low-drag jigs necessary to fish deep water and strong currents. I can't imagine the cost of a 2lb tin/bismuth jig. Cutting jigs on a metal lathe cannot ever possibly produce a product that recovers the cost and labor involved. There are many types of heavy saltwater jigs, if you narrowed the choices down I could provide more specific information. (Btw, "I am wanting..." means "I am lacking..." I don't think that's what you meant to say lol! You meant, I think, "I want to get into big saltwater jigs..." No disrespect meant, just a head's-up.)

Re-read my last post carefully. I didn't recommend adding wheel weights to your soft lead. Adding wheel weights to pure lead in a ratio of 50/50 would only bring the hardness up to about 9. Blending wheel weight lead with linotype is an economical way of extending your supply of expensive linotype. That's something you should keep in mind for the future. My recommendation is, again, that to harden your soft lead you need to blend it with linotype (or a similar alloy with high antimony and tin content)-- in the ratio I suggested. If you are not familiar with linotype, you need to talk to your local scrap-metals dealer and locate a source. Before you buy any casting machines, you need to familiarize yourself with lead alloys, and lead alloy blending and maintenance. To get the most useful answer, you need to provide details like your lead-pouring experience, your pouring method and equipment, what type of lure or sinkers you're pouring and the sizes and quantities, your usual source of lead and it's hardness/alloy, and what type of quality you expect, etc. Otherwise, us helpful folks will expend considerable print in a effort to guess what help you actually need, and what the solution might be. The more info you can provide, the more likely you are to get a solution that fits your problem. See where I'm coming from? Hope this helps, good luck!

Combat, If the "printer's lead" you had been using is linotype, the alloy for certified linotype is 4% tin, 12% antimony, and 84% lead. Obviously and unfortunately, you cannot turn your pure lead (or whatever it is) into linotype alloy by blending linotype alloy into it. Pure lead has a Brinnell hardness of 6, and linotype has a hardness of 18-20. Buying antimony and tin, and adding them to pure lead is more complicated than you want to deal with. The best you can do is blend linotype with your lead, and if your lead is indeed certified pure lead, blending 1/2 linotype and 1/2 pure lead by weight will give you approximately 2% tin, 6% antimony, and 92% lead. This alloy has a nominal hardness of 14 or 15, which is still quite hard and won't scratch/dent easily, but will bend and not snap. Adding more pure lead than that will make for a softer alloy. Reeves suggestion for blending linotype with wheel-weights to economize on linotype is a good one. A blend of 3lbs linotype and 9lbs wheel-weights will essentially duplicate the 1/2 linotype and 1/2 pure lead hardness numbers listed above. If you have been buying linotype, you know where to find it. If not, contact your local scrap metal suppliers. Hope this helps, good luck.

You need linotype to make it harder, but you don't specify the alloy you're currently using. If you can get linotype, and provide the formula for your current lead alloy, I can suggest a blending ratio for linotype/pure lead.

Yes, that lead should work fine. If I understand your question, I don't 'lose' any lead. Once you've read the two stickies at the top of this forum and learned the correct melting practices, you shouldn't either. If you prefer expedience over knowledge, you'll suffer worse frustrations than a little lost lead. Hope this helps. Good luck, be safe.

If you're cutting the sprues off with gate shears or nippers, there won't be any difference in cutting effort, or time spent removing the sprues. Round sprues will offer other beneficial attributes, though. Well, yes. Smoking the cavities shortens or eliminates the break-in period, and prevents a number of potential frustrations. Smoking the cavities takes little time, but can save a lot of time later while pouring. Moly disulfide surface treatments also work very well. "Break-in" not only refers to possible adjustments, but also to establishing the proper preparation, pouring, and de-molding techniques, etc necessary for that mold. I wouldn't do it, as any surface roughness can detrimentally affect the de-molding process. Occasionally a random cavity will stubbornly refuse to drop the casting until it is pried free, and that slows production. Finding the cause can sometimes be tedious. Intentionally roughing the surface invites trouble. Most powder paints used on lures are designed to adhere tightly to bare lead, so the possible benefit seems vanishingly slim-- but the risk of damaging a perfectly good mold seems quite high.