Cast something for me, Grandpa !!

[Sensai]

The grandkids know that "Grandpa" casts his own bullets. So they asked me to cast them some fishing sinkers. I put them off by telling them that I didn't have any moulds for sinkers. Well, not to be deterred, they saved up the money and bought their own moulds. Now what??

I don't want to use my boolit alloy for no stinking fishing sinkers, and I don't have very much lead. I do have some zinc wheelweights that I've taken out of my "smelting" pot. Will it hurt anything to melt the zinc in my regular melting/smelting pot if I get all of it out before I make any more alloy? Is there anything wrong with using zinc for sinkers? Is there anything unusual about casting sinkers? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ugluk]

Now what? Now you teach them to cast of course..

If their parents would frown upon it, do it secretly (but safely of course)

Sounds like a golden opportunity for some multi generation bonding that would be worth a pund of lead..

[Sensai]

That's exactly what I have in mind, Ugluk. I've just never cast any fishing sinkers before, and need a little help in the what's allowed and what's not department. I'll give up my lead, if I have too, but I'd much rather use the zinc that I have accummulated (sp?). I just don't know if it will make good sinkers, mess up my melting pot, be any more dangerous than lead alloy, etc.

Thanks

[mike in co]

my only issue with sinker molds was getting up to temp..its big...heat it a bunch...

mike in co

[Ugluk]

I've never cast any fishing weights, but I did try making a more generic weight out of zinc ww for tying down tarps and such, but gave up after doing one.
Smelting and skimming was really heavy going requiring massive heat.
Perhaps just a few weights at a time in a designated ladle directly over a burner would be better?

[Doble Troble]

After casting bullets, sinkers are a snap!

Take 'em out to the range to shoot some bullets and then mine the berms for sinker lead.

[SierraWhiskeyMC]

Actually, boolits can make pretty decent sinkers with just a bit o' help.

Just clamp the nose of a boolit in a bench vice, and smoosh it down until it's about 1/16" thick.
Then drill a hole in the smooshed area, and tie a leader to it.

I figured that one out when I was about 8 years old or so. Of course, I got a bit carried away, and my tackle box got a good bit heavier - but I had plenty of sinkers in .30, .38 and .45 caliber. :D

Probably better that you don't show them that trick tho, as any cast boolits you might have sitting around might get made into sinkers. [smilie=b: Then after their liberal teachers have schooled them on the environment, they'll be calling Grandpa an "eco-terrorist" for letting them put lead into bodies of water.

Better use Zinc instead. Save the lead for yourself ;)

[Beekeeper]

Sensai,
Casting sinkers is just like casting boolits and yes zinc is ok.
Most ships have sacrifical zincs on them so you don't have electrolis between the hull and the water.
Zinc is harder to melt as you probably allready know but makes great fishing weights.
Moulds have to be pretty hot too.
I always do them on an old colman stove and use one burner for the pot and the other for the mould.
I use propane as it seems to get hotter and is easier to control and you don't run out about half way through.


Jim

[Wayne Smith]

I'd set up an old pot specifically for casting zinc, I wouldn't trust myself to get it all out. An old thrift store 1qt ss pot will do, copper bottom not necessary. On a Coleman two burner readily available at thrift shops and yard sales, or so it is claimed. I just use one of the two I had.

If you just have a few zinc wws I would be tempted to melt them in a large spoon or such.

[DLCTEX]

Crank up the heat and cast away. It will not hurt the pot or future casting. Just empty the pot completely when you're done. I've cast with zinc often in my bottom pours and up to 2% zinc will alloy with the lead and cast good boolits.

[Sensai]

Thanks guys. I have about twenty pounds of zinc wheel weights, so that should make a few sinkers. I use a propane turkey fryer base for heat and a cast iron dutch oven for my melting pot, so there should be enough heat. I guess I'll use an old Coleman two burner propane camp stove, that I no longer use for cooking, for heating the moulds and keeping them hot.

I'll probably do a dry run of a few casts this evening. Don't want "Grandpa" to look like he doesn't know what he's doing ya know! Then I'll make an event out of it this week-end. It'll take a while to get started because "Grandpa's always talking about safety". But it should be a good and fun filled experience for them.

Thanks again.

[jlchucker]

Check your State's fish and game book before using home-cast sinkers. Lots of Liberal-Socialist states lately have been enacting legislation outlawing lead sinkers. My own state apparently has--but so far no politician has gotten away with meddling with the use of boolets. Years ago my first exposure to lead casting was at the home of a grade school friend who had a mold in which we cast up some lead soldiers. It was a technique that I remembered later on in life when I first got into boolit casting.

[Sensai]

Thanks, I'll check.

[cbrick]

Sensai, in the interest of helping out the Grandpa/Grandkids relationship send me a PM with an address and I'll send you a couple of 5 pound stick-on wheel weight ingots to make sinkers. You gotta promise to also go fishing with them though. :wink:

Rick

[ghh3rd]

According to lead sinker guys, you are not casting fishing weights, you are "pouring" them. They have their own jargon :-)

By now you've probably found that it's really not difficult to get a good sinker from a mold since nothing is very critical. Have fun!

Randy

[Sensai]

Thanks for all the help, guys. We did the "pouring" last Saturday, and the grandkids had a ball. It was, indeed, hard to keep the moulds hot enough for the zinc. After we got into it for a while, and got a process going, the sinkers started coming out a lot prettier than at first. One of the grandkids wants to learn to cast boolits, but the other three who participated want to cast/pour more sinkers. One of them wants to cast toy "guys", I think that means toy soldiers. I don't think that I'll go there, simply because I don't know enough about lead poisoning with the amount of exposure that toys would have. I know that I played with a lot of lead toys when I was a kid. I guess that could be evidence in an arguement for either side.

[HORNET]

Glad that you had the chance to introduce them to the wonderful world of casting and that they enjoyed it. Now you've even got some politically correct sinkers to take them fishing with, also fun with grandkids(if YOU don't plan on actually fishing). You might even have a free labor source in the making.
P.S. Nice avatar........:kidding: