wiredhatred Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Since I was feeling better today (been sick the past few days and received the rest of my jig shipment yesterday) I decided to give pouring some jigs a try. I melted a 1lb soft lead ingot in my precision melter and had so much solid stuff at the top of the lead. I put in another pound ingot and of course got even more stuff floating around the top. I had fluxed with some wax, and was prepared to have to scrape some impurities off the top but this was ridiculous!!! I musta scraped a whole pound of junk through out my pouring (did all into an aluminum can). Towards the end of my pouring the stuff I scraped seemed real crumbly. Now, this doesnt seem normal to me but ill ask you experts the question. Did I have some bad lead? Is it normal to have that much stuff to scrape off? I only got about 20-22 half ounce jigs when I figured I should be getting up to 32 half ounce jigs per pound. The floating stuff didnt want to melt, but should I have turned the melter on higher? Should I have melted it for longer? Help please. I could also post a pic of the junk if you want to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 What was the source of the lead ingot? I think a pic would help. In the mean time, here are two closely related links, but they don't really solve your problem. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/wire-baits/14776-looks-like-lead-but-doesnt-act-like-what.html http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/wire-baits/13134-wheel-weight-alloy-composition.html Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiredhatred Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Got it on a lure making site. Had Lee stamped on the top of each ingot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimcline Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Wired, that Lee stamped on your lead is meaningless. That comes from a Lee ingot mold that someone poured it into. No telling what your lead has in it. Just dip off the slag and pour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyp Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Had the same problem,,, My lead was plumbers lead bought from a local hardware store 5lb block that I melted down into the Lee Ingot mold and let sit for about a month before I used it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I don't think I have ever melted lead that didn't have some slag in it. Sometimes there is a little and sometimes there is a lot. I generally get at least a heaping teaspoon full out of every 1# ingot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatman Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Sounds like someone sold you a ****ty batch of lead. Can you give us the name of this lure site so any of the new guys can avoid it??? Fatman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagacious Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 (edited) ...The floating stuff didnt want to melt, but should I have turned the melter on higher? Should I have melted it for longer? Help please. I could also post a pic of the junk if you want to see it. Wired, I've noticed from your last few posts that you've run into a number of very common and basic problems. The two sticky threads at the top of this forum are intended to assist the beginning pourer in not only resolving such problems, but also in avoiding them entirely. You are surely going to run into many more frustrations, but by doing some basic reading-up, you'll save yourself a considerable amount of hassle, time, and money-- not to mention reducing your risk of injury. The other part of the issue here is that lead pouring isn't always "intuitive." Many of the remedies or recommended practices are the exact opposite of what a begninner might guess. For example, by trying to be "safe," you had been removing the unused lead from your melter, thereby increasing your risk of a severe burn, and are also increasing the lead particulate dust within your pouring area and your exposure to that dust. The answer to your "slag" problem comes on two fronts. First, you are almost certainly overheating the lead. The lead isn't likely the problem here, it's what you're doing with it that causes all that lead oxide crud to form, and it will definitely happen with 100% pure lead as well as wheel-weight lead. Heating even hotter-- as you guessed-- will actually make the problem even worse. More heat is not always better. Read and understand the two sticky threads above, and you'll learn the how's and why's of lead oxide dross mitigation-- and you'll do me the courtesy of not having to type out all that information again. Then, if you have questions-- just ask. The second problem is that you don't appear to have a solid handle on what fluxing is, and how to do it effectively. Fluxing is critical to lead handling and pouring, and eliminates a long list of potentially quite vexing problems. Fluxing will fix your "slag" problem. Read-up on fluxing, and you'll make a significant jump in your lead-pouring abilities. I recognize that you're anxious to git to pouring, but you'll be far better off if you read-up on some of these topics in your spare time. Hope this helps, good luck. Edited January 15, 2009 by sagacious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 (edited) Fatman, it is a little bit early for recriminations. First we need to discover what the problem is. The solution may be as simple as keeping the temperature low, close to the melting point. Lead more often than not, contains other metallic elements, to enhance pure leads less than ideal attributes. This does not mean that the lead is faulty or sub standard. Their are a few metalurgical experts on this site, we should wait for their input, before jumping to conclusions. Dave Post script, nice one Sagacious, beat me to it. Edited January 15, 2009 by Vodkaman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
