Ogajiga

"Squigster", at least part of your fill out problem might be dirty lead. The sticky on fluxing should help you understand the process of cleaning contaminants from the melt. Not sure how much equipment expense you want to incur, but it really helps to have a separate pot, ladle, ingot mold, & burner setup for making clean lead ingots for your melter. I think having clean soft lead should be the first step in solving your problem. Altho fluxing can be done in a bottom pour pot, really dirty lead will create an excessive amount of dross to deal with, some of which will settle to the bottom of the pot and may cause issues at the pouring gate. If your problem is caused by mold issues, practically every fix possible as well as "2fishon"s vent line cutting, is available onboard in the archives. The most recent: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/wire-baits/16582-my-1-2-oz-poison-tail-driving-me-crazy.html Try what you can & if you've still got a problem, "sagacious" will show up and take solution to the next level !

Ditto "the cleanest, purest, softest lead you can get". The only way my 1/16 & under molds will pour, & even some 1/8s.

There are a couple of postings regarding heating hooks by staging on the pot rims, in a pan on a hot plate, or with a heat gun. I personally pour pot & ladle so for one-at-a-time pours I do a quick hook dip into the melt immersing ONLY THE AREA INSIDE THE HEAD. Red hot shouldn't be necessary, 2-3 seconds works for me. Do-it molds are cast rather than machined so the cavity surfaces have an orange peel texture which I use a NON-POWERED HAND HELD ball cutter or round stone bit for smoothing if necessary to assist melt flow & fill out. "cadman"'s mold cracking method usually works & I go this extra mile only if it doesn't. BTW, the methods I suggested aren't necessarily the best! Pot dipping probably not a good idea with a bottom pour melter.

"Bassgrabber", you might have noticed that there are members here who are serious about mastering their craft and could probably make exactly what you want (not me). Perhaps you could research the archives and send out a few PMs if your "big name" mfg. can't provide you.

"Jig Man" I assume your problem is incomplete fill out? In what area? Some of my custom molds will only fully fill the cone keeper collars with heated hooks. Smoothing out the cavity and inlet gate surfaces has improved some of my tuff pouring Do-its.

"Sagacious", my wife is a supplement-a-holic so I think I'll take your suggestions of popping a few cal-mags before pouring with lots of liquid. Thanks! Sorry, to digress to your question concerning symptoms if any at my low danger in body level of lead, unfortunately, published data of lead toxicity symptoms are too similar to old fartitis to separate!

"Sagacious", your info has made me more comfortable that lead & zinc slinging anglers probably won't significantly impact our water resources compared to say mercury polluters. Of course lead ingestion is still dangerous & I will avoid as much as possible personal risk or subjecting others to it. That being said I think that ingestible size uses like small sinkers, shot, small jig heads, etc. could perhaps be totally phased out of use since non-toxic alternatives are available at reasonable cost. Hmm, lactose intolerance & dietary calcium deficiency may be a factor in my elevated lead level since I quit milk consumption 40 years ago. Member "Fatman" who has been lead pouring longer than my dozen years posted that his in body lead count is 0 !

"Sagacious", nope, high lead blood test result no surprise since I have chosen to avoid use of a respirator. Right now low danger zone, if it gets worse will use one for dirty jobs like melting wheel weights. I think the smoke from the burning off wheel weight contaminants might entrain Pb oxide particulates. Fairly sure my working temps are below 1100 F vaporization threshhold. Not sure what to believe on the real danger of lead or zinc in the environment. On the one hand, the info on leach barrier oxide coating formation sounds credible, but isn't this within a neutral PH water or air environment? In the presence of acidic conditions don't the metals degrade into toxic & soluble chlorides & sulphates? I have observed that clear rainwater bonded with a chunk of lead will turn milky white in a very short time. Not being argumentative, just seeking clarification.

"Tapout", my research indicated zinc, while perhaps a less toxic alternative to lead, was not the bet choice. What are the Symptoms of Zinc Poisoning? There also might be an archived link pointing to research information concerning the degradation and toxicity of zinc in water particularly with an acidic PH.

The existing wire tail loop might have to be rotated to a horizontal rather than vertical alignment to accomodate split ring attachment of certain hardware.

What a score! - wheel weights up to $40 per 5 gal bucket here & now with more steel ones in the mix a solid 15#(clips + steelies) waste. The round block if 4-5# is almost pure plumber's lead - save it for when harder lead won't pour like in tiny ball heads. The other stuff, drop it on concrete from about a foot up and if it thuds, it's soft - if it dings, it's hard. Drop the ingots so they land flat side down.

Lead free casting is my personal choice & I can't decide for anyone else but I'd like to address some concerns: 1. Fear of the unknown: bismuth & tin metals are easily available by mail order and are very user friendly. Pretty much anything that can be cast in lead is do-it-able with either metal or their alloys. 2. Lead free lighter than lead: yes, bismuth weight 85% & tin 63% of lead, but in my experience can hardly tell the difference especially in a high bismuth alloy. Light weight tin is actually an advantage for slowing fall or running shallower. Its possible to design alloys for different applications of the same lure. 2. Expense: I paid per lb. $8 tin & $15 bismuth on my last order. The (alloy) metal costs per jig head thus are for example 1/4 size $.18 & 1/8 size $.10 each. I've never tried pewter but "Stagio" says his 1/2 oz. cost would be $.20. Yes, this is more than lead but compare to $6 for a basic Rapala. 3. Toxicity hazard: water contamination & wildlife mortality studies are controversial and arguable, but I will say that my in body high lead level probably resulted from contacting lead fishing tackle and making same. "Fatman", you must have better genes than I do! Also, if dogs can eat a penny(fatal!) I would think a stray split shot would far easier to get inside a pet, fish, or (hopefully not!) a kid. Huge fringe benefits for me casting lead free is being able to pour at half the temperature of lead and not worrying about fumes & dust.

I believe forum members "dlaery" & "reeves" also provide a full range of services from design to production.

Wow, $6 / lb. pewter is a super low price. (Used to be) best priced RotoMetals is still $11-12 / lb. Pewter Alloys for casting from Rotometals

I've been substituting tin & bismuth for lead since '03. "Stagio" & "Vodkaman" presented a good account of lead free metals, but there is a typo in that bismuth melts at 520* F. Current small lot prices per lb are: tin=$10, bismuth=$15, pewter(tin/antimony/copper alloy)=$11. My personal preference is for bismuth/tin alloys I make from the pure metals. Altho the above metals make heavy castings expensive, there are now reasonably priced iron based sinkers available. Lead is a sneaky metal. Tho casting a lot less lead lately and always being cautious about venting fumes, that stuff is still stuck in my body in the danger zone according to my latest blood test.

Ordered 3 different colors tube material for jig/fly tying and received the wrong size & type. They sent me the correct items very quickly and told me to keep the wrong ones.

For modifying mold eye slots for hook fits, this had been a good investment: MICROLUX 3-SPEED STANDARD DUTY DRILL PRESS For enlarging hook shank channels: DOUBLE END PIN VISE

You can get a similar look by cutting the legs off a tube bait & slipping the hollow body over the tied jig head.

Exactly, "cadman". A quick flux when a pouring session starts to go bad often solves the problem. Thank you for addressing my question, "sagacious".

Hey "sagacious", thanks to the Forum dialogue here I no longer ruin my wheel weight melts with zinc. Was wondering tho if removing the surface sludge on a melt might improve a zinc contaminated mystery alloy?

George, your PM box is full. My email is hawnjigs@yahoo.com

Examining 32746BLN & 32831BLN 2/0s side by side it appears they are approx the same wire gauge. The 32831 feels a hair stiffer at the bend. Both fine quality optimal bang for the buck. By the way, these Ultra Points are my bottom line for hook strength and I would personally never use the hooks I suggested to fit your criteria.

According to the mfg. website, Mustad Ultra Points use a special tempering process to harden their wire, so the hook strength is more than just a function of wire size or surface finish. The 32831 is a long shank version of the 32746 and likely to be just as strong. Tho IMO the Matzuo Aberdeen & VMC 9147 2/0 & 3/0 are both inferior to Ultra Point in bend out resistance, the 570 is an especially weak hook with no peers. I would suggest that point fold is caused not only by overly thinned out taper but also by inferior wire strength. Like to mention that only newer China mfg. 9147 is chemically sharpened, the older France mfg. version is not. And Matzuo mfg. is notoriously inconsistent, so batches will differ in quality including wire strength.

Tin Ingot from Rotometals