jnurn Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 I just finished pouring some jigs for the first time. I had a good time doing it Kind of relaxing. But I had a few not so good pours but quite a few good pours. My question is on the jigs that did not turn out so good is there a way to get the lead off of the hooks and reuse them or is it to much goofing aroud to worry about. My other question is most of my bad pours were the lead not getting all of the way to the bottom and covering the the hook am I missing something or do I just need to except that not all pours will work. it was mostly my small jigs that did not workout. would there be fewer bad pours with a bottom pour pot right now I am using the pot with the heating attached to the bottom (I can't remember the name but it is a popular lead melting pot. thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 jnurn, Yes you can salvage those hooks. Take a pair of forceps or long nose pliers, and grab the hook by the bend. Then take the jig and slowly dip it in the hot lead. The lead on the jig will melt right off. Do not dip the whole jig in otherwise you will have lead over the hook , hook eye, barb and all. Just dip it in low enough so the lead on the jig is in the hot lead in the pot. A bottom pour pot will not necessarily guarantee you better pours. Heat, hot molds, warm hooks and soft lead is a good place to start. Then make sure you definitely flux your lead. Finally I believe you have a Palmer Hot Pot I or Hot Pot II. They are workhorses, although a little heavy with the lead inside Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 (edited) If you are still having trouble after following Cadman's advice, light a candle and hold the mold over it so it gets all smoky. I don't like to do that, but I have 2 molds that won't work well any other way. Edited May 23, 2010 by Jig Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cub48 Posted May 27, 2010 Report Share Posted May 27, 2010 Make sure your molds are hot. I polished the gates on my mold. They had a rough finish. The best you can do you will have a few duds. Also you can pour the bottom full and let set a few min before you start to pour, some pour a batch without hooks I don't as if you get 4 out of 8 thats four you would not have. The more you pour the better you will get. Cub48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
