Ogajiga

I've gotten a lot of abused and neglected molds on eBay and my first step is toothbrushing (plastic bristles) WD-40 to remove whatever corrosion and stuck on specks that will scrub off. Stubborn stickers are usually lead specks on the flat faces that can be CAREFULLY shaved off with a sharp razor blade. Crusty corrosion deposits inside the cavities have to be dealt with even more carefully using whatever tool best suits the job. Aluminum is much softer than steel or even copper so metal brushes & wool could damage the mold. Sounds like you are describing bits of steel or iron dust that rusted onto the mold faces which problem I've never encountered yet so can't offer a remedy.

I no longer mark boxes "FRAGILE" since that has appeared to target them special handling. I think the sound of breaking glass is especially entertaining to USPS parcel handlers somewhere. My wife gets me "Jolly Rancher" candy I think brown cardboard boxes from Safeway that if you cut a bit off the top fit inside the smaller square Priority Mail flat rate box for a more secure double box. And like "reeves" says padding for a tight fit and maybe some kind of moisture barrier(Zip Lock freezer bags?) might help.

My three cents is that the 91725D is incredibly strong, sharp, & expensive. But, customers particular about quality will pay the price and coincidentally I just got an order for 300 jig heads with the 3/0 size. Also Shorty's might still have some VMC equivelant 9131 bronze in stock. Very similar in appearance to 630, but VMC appears to be stronger.

I don't think Mustad makes an exact 90* bronze forged O'Sh 630 clone. Used the forged tinned 91715 1/0 thru 4/0 for saltwater heads some years back. The 91715 had a narrower bite than the 635 and a slightly different hook eye configuration required a modification to Arrow jig head molds to fit. The Ultra Point 91725 Duratin 3/0 & 4/0 seems to interchange with 635 but they are round bends with a shorter point leg. Do you have issues with the 630?

Benjamin, just checked my Wobble Jig mold and think best stock fit SW choice would be Owner 5413 beak points - although slightly over gauge for perfect mold fit 1/8 #1 and 1/4 1/0 should pour OK although 2/0 not a good fit for the 3/8 size. This Xstrong style Owner hook is the choice of many West Coast steelhead/salmon jig makers posting online. If these are too expensive for you another alternative to 32746BLN could be black chrome Sickles - the last box of #1 I just got from Shorty's was an exceptionally strong batch. edit: Just checked Barlows site and they list the Owner hook as 5313 which is the small pack stock #.

Holy moly "Lure Junkie", you new guys make me wish I was further north.

Holy sh** Steve, is that a USA wally? How big was that dinosaur? Wanna share the lure she bit? Hey "philB", your signature reminds me of Eric Burdon "my best just ain't good enough".

Oh, wheel weights can be steel? That explains why some floaters are shiny corrosion free riveted weights and some resembling lead are cast on. I think the cast ones are zinc. I remember in my early attempts to melt wheel weights I used to crank up the heat until the floaters which I thought were high antimony melted - no steel ones back then - so I probably got zinc contamination. Searched but couldn't find the thread with the layered melt posting.

Actually, there seems to be a higher percentage of zinc(alloy?) floaters in current ww batches which skim out with the steel clips. Or maybe I was previously melting the zinc since I poured at a much higher temp with the higher antimony alloy of older wws. Cranked up the heat till even zinc contaminatrf heavier bank sinkers poured OK. Took a lot of scraping, grinding, & sanding to clean up pot & ladle so for a coupla years I avoided wws. Back then soft scrap was abundant and cheap so no need for tire shop visits. "Sagacious", you answered a question in a previous thread I was curious about describing a separate melt floating on top of lead.

"Sagacious", that helps. Does an increased arsenic component present an added toxicity hazard to the lead caster or consumer? Since you mentioned zinc as being a "pot sticker" metal in another thread, I remember reading that zinc might have been alloyed into some ww lead, which explains why pouring sessions back when with certain batches of ww coated my pot & ladle with a continuous shiny hard to remove plating. By contrast, the modern ww metal I poured again today left no unusual sticky residue on my equipment. Think you're right about the arsenic harderner because although the melt poured easy like softer lead it set up pretty hard though with a satiny rather than grainy finish.

Kelly, that is the model # of the 90* BC color Sickle jig hook. If you have a Shorty's price list, the model #s are posted for each hook type on the far left. Does anyone know if Sickles are available in a heavy wire 90* jig hook?

When I first started lead casting 10 years ago the Do-it flyer with the molds stated that wheel weights were 90% lead. A posting on a bullet casting website a few years back said clip on wheel weights were 95% lead & flat stick ons 98%. The clip on wheel weight alloy I poured sinkers with today appeared to be way softer than the crumbly grainy finish stick to the pot stuff from 10 years ago. Anyone have info on this?

An update on BiSn alloy composition cost strategy. I reduced the Bi content of my alloy when Bismuth zoomed to $18.50 while Sn(tin) remained at $8 per lb. Well, now with Bi at at $19 and Sn around $15 there is substantially less cost savings for alloying lower Bi. For those who want max weight and powder paintability might as well go with higher Bi.

"Sagacious", call me sloppy but I often do overpour into the mold hinge area and that would be a nightmare to free up from hard zinc alloy. I don't think I would mess with zinc unless desperate with no other alternatives. Good tip on creating a tool steel sprue cutter. My two light duty gate shears are starting to look like saw blades at the cutting edges due to hard alloy trims. "Fatman" 3-2 60/40 BiSn would be easy to measure out & alloy together. Weigh your tin then break the brittle bismuth with a cold chisel to measure 1-1/2x your tin weight. You probably figured this out already. Its improbable to make a precision 58-42 alloy in a home shop anyway due to different hot & cold oxidation properties of the two metals. If you want closer to lead weight don't be afraid to try 9-1, 8-1, 7-1 etc. BiSn alloys, though their working temps will be higher than 60-40. Although (shiny)tin split shots are Do-it-able, you can't beat low vis black tin Dinsmores.

I was wondering if alloying zinc would retard oxidation. You zinker tinkers are a tough breed - those alloy metals require too much heat for my comfort(and fuel budget). "Sagacious", do you know what the melting point of zamak is? How do you remove such a tough sprue? Can you pour in standard molds? I occasionaly pour 3-5 oz. SW jig heads and the heat of lead melt destroys the tin plate on hook eyes. Yes thank goodness for lead & tin, and with rising fuel costs I appreciate my low melt BiSn alloy requiring less than half the fuel of lead casting.

That explains why cheap and reasonably workable melting point zinc sinkers aren't seen much. Given the appearance of the rotten zinker I found and now knowing zinc's tendency to dissolve in water with any salt/acid constituents I'm not convinced it's a suitable metal for lead replacement especially in low circulation enclosed fresh water bodies. A final word on my experience with whole number ratio BiSn alloys from 9-1 to 1-1. All hand poured OK with increasing amounts of tin pouring tiny jig heads easier. Higher bismuth percentage = heavier alloy of course ranging from 83% to 75% lead weight. Higher bismuth also means higher melting point with the lowest at 58-42, which is the lowest amount of bismuth I suggest using in your fishing weight alloy. Higher tin toughens the alloy more, but reduces the melting point again down to 58-42 as the lowest. My original standard alloy was chosen as 7-1 although there wasn't a significant difference in pourability between 9-1, 8-1, 7-1, 6-1, or 5-1. Maybe 7 sounds luckier. When the cost of bismuth tripled I was forced to drop my bismuth content down to 58-60%. Downside is the alloy is lighter and not powder paintable. Bismuth price has increased several times in the past month, advise perhaps buying in ASAP if you're interested.

I've been getting Sickles for years from Shorty's. Looking to replace the bad box of mis-shapen and soft 1/0 blacks but as of today they were out of that size & color.

"Fernet", the reason I don't remember breaking a BiSn jig head isn't due to bad memory, its probably that it never happened. I just took a 1/8 tube head which I believe is a 7-1 mix and threw it down hard on concrete several times with no chips or any visible damage. "Fatman", split shots made with a Bi alloy will only be useful as sling shot ammo - only pure tin is soft enough to open/close. I notice that Lee didn't list tin or bismuth on their no-no list. One of our lurker members (Howzit Nellie!) is commercially casting tin in his Lee pot. Don't let the #s scare you away from trying BiSn heads. Since I switched totally to lead free in fresh water 4 years ago I don't even remember what lead weight feels like and think I get my fair share of catches with no problem.

I've posted before about the deteriorating quality of Sickle jig hooks, especially a recent box of #2 reds which only had 900 useable. Well, since then I got a box of 1/0 blacks that was so bad I couldn't use em. Not only was the off shape needing repairs over 50% but the temper was bad aka too easy to bend out. But, boxes of #1 red & black received yesterday were about perfect - like Ultra Points no need to sort out duds. Was wondering if perfect Sickles was a lucky fluke or has Matzuo finally gotten their quality control...under control ?

"Fernet", if "smashed into the rocks" above water is one of your techniques, you might consider adjusting. Even harder 60-40 is brittle enough to fragment with sufficiently hard impact, and 90-10 is more likely. A good tough powder paint job of course will add to the strength of any casting, including soft lead which easily dents out of shape. Although I don't get much water time anymore due to work load and geographical location, most of my fresh water time is spent shorelining jigs on rock dam faces, rocky bluffs, and boulder strewn streams, and I may have broken 1 jig head, which I really don't even remember.

Also not wanting to contradict anyone, but my cast iron pot for lead free has gotten major mileage and the inside which directly contacts the tin/bismuth still looks smooth and intact. The outside looks like an orange peel from all the rust pitting caused I believe by the humidity here. Then again the steel lining in bottom pour melters appears to be thin and perhaps easily compromised by any corrosion. Mr. Aery, thanks for providing precise working temps of BiSn 60/40. Would like to point out to those newly condsidering lead free casting that IMO there is no noticeable difference in use between BiSn 60/40 and the recommended 58/42 except a 3 to 2 mix is a lot easier to weigh and alloy.

While perhaps less toxic than lead, this is what "wikipedia.org" has to say about zinc toxicity: "Even though zinc is an essential requirement for a healthy body, too much zinc can be harmful. Excessive absorption of zinc can also suppress copper and iron absorption. The free zinc ion in solution is highly toxic to plants, invertebrates, and even vertebrate fish. The Free Ion Activity Model (FIAM) is well-established in the literature, and shows that just micromolar amounts of the free ion kills some organisms. A recent example showed 6 micromolar killing 93% of all daphnia in water.[28] The free zinc ion is also a powerful Lewis acid up to the point of being corrosive. Stomach acid contains hydrochloric acid, in which metallic zinc dissolves readily to give corrosive zinc chloride. Swallowing a post 1982 American one cent piece (97.5% zinc) can cause damage to the stomach lining due to the high solubility of the zinc ion in the acidic stomach.[29] Zinc toxicity, mostly in the form of the ingestion of US pennies minted after 1982, is commonly fatal in dogs where it causes a severe hemolytic anemia.[30] In pet parrots zinc is highly toxic and poisoning can often be fatal."

A bit off topic, but did some research on cadmium toxicity. We all know that lead is a cumulative poison and at some point can cause serious health issues. Cadmium, on the other hand, fumes can cause sufficient irritation of lung tissues to cause fatal respiratory failure. Yes its amazing that someone was desperate enough to make sinkers out of it and and a store actually offered them for sale. Where were they made? "Sagacious", or anyone else, have you tried any zinc casting or alloying? I once found a sinker on a reservoir shoreline that was seriously "rotting" apart that I think might have been zinc.

"Fatman", as I suggested to "Fernet", Bi90 Sn10 probably has a high enough melting temp to be powder paintable and at 83% lead weight will not feel noticeably different from lead in use. Pure tin is also Do-it-able and the 63% lead weight is actually an advantage for shallow, slow falling, or slow running presentations. I can't figure why either metal couldn't be used in a Lee pot, perhaps you can contact the mfg.? I personally find BiSn to be user friendly and no problem pouring with my pot & ladle setup, and I can lower my propane burner temp down to 350-400*F to cast low melt 60-40. I realize if you're new to lead free, the metals prices come as a shock, but consider that a lb. of metal at $20 a lb. will cast around 150 BiSn 1/8 Do-its or $.14 each. Cut that price in half for 1/16 and you can see that lead free metals cost ain't bad when considered as cost per casting. However, 1/4 & up does get kinda expensive compared to lead, but it shouldn't break your bank(I hope!). According to "Sagacious" tin/antimony pewters like R-92 are a tough pour with a gravity casting setup, and I believe I saved some time & $ following his advice to avoid them.

I too recently had a problem with bubble voids at the sprue break with Mustad 32786 red hooks. A quick pre-dip of the hook into the melt to scorch the paint a bit in the area that would be covered by lead seemed to solve the problem. Had to pad the contact between pliers & hook to avoid scratching the red finish. Would suggest the lowest possible melt temp to avoid over scorching, and it wasn't necessary to precisely scorch the entire area covered by lead, just 2/3 or 3/4. No need to keep the hook immersed in the melt, just a quick dip and tap of the pliers to shake off as much of the clinging melt as possible. Used a cast iron pot on a burner rather than a melter. Then again others have poured the same hook without difficulty, might be some technique involved?