Found the perfect mold mallet

[Beagle333]

I use a gloved hand.... holding a 10" soft cedar furring strip.
I cast almost exclusively HPs and if you can get them to jump off there every time you open the mold, you're a better man than I.

To the OP, that seems like quite a lot of hammer to be using.

[country gent]

The small dead blow mallets are great. Brooks molds recomends them. With the dead blow no mar hammers a light tap becomes more of a "push thru" as the shots momentum does most of the work. I tried one after seeing it on Brooks site after buying one of his molds and it really woorks good.

[robertbank]

I have been using a rubber mallet for a number of years. Easy to use, and no damage to the mold.


Take Care

Bob

[Dutchman]

That leather mallet is about 60 yrs old. I've been using it for bullet molds for 40 years. Wouldn't think of using anything else.

[RoGrrr]

I got tired of hammering so I built a "twister". I mounted 2 bolts in a bar and clamped it to my bench. Throw the lead and put the mold against one bolt and the sprue plate against the other and TWIST. No hammering.
I save hammer handles from extinction this way - PETHH - People for the Ethical Treatment of Hammer Handles

[oldfart1956]

For about 20 years I have been using a spare hawk handle. It is getting to the point where it need to cut it down and get another 20 years from it.

......this...same one since about 1975. I drove a finish nail into the small end to pick debri from the sprue cutter hole and nudge boolits around on the towel after dropping. I don't whack the sprue cutter mind ye...I just push it open. Sometimes I need to encourage the boolits to drop free with a gentle tap at the hinge. Once casting the hawk handle never leaves my hand unless I'm dumping cut sprues back into the melt. Audie...the Oldfart

[Springfield]

I dip the mold in the molten lead so it is ready to go from the first cast. Hotplates will work for this also.

[Cane_man]

1" diameter Delrin rod, 12" long

find it on evilbay for $5 or less shipped

[sbeatty1983]

An 8lb sledge with the handle cut to 16 inches long works well for me

[Wag]

Well, this thread has been an education for me.

I've been relying on the pour to heat my mold for me and the first dozen or so sprues are tough to cut. I've been using a 1 x 2 pine stick to whack those open at first. After the mold heats up, just the barest tap will open it right up.

I just need to use a better method of heating up the mold before I start casting.

--Wag--

[dikman]

Wag, I just rest my mold across the top of the pot while it's heating up. By the time the lead is ready the mold is pretty warm, the first couple of pours I let the hot lead sit in the mold to heat it even more, chuck those back in the pot and by then it's casting well (I'm talking Lee 2-cavity roundball here). Works for me.

sbeatty, I gather you must be a proponent of the old saying "there's nothing that can't be fixed with a bigger hammer"?

[Wag]

I've been pre-warming the mold on the edge of the pot too but it just never really gets there before the first pour. I don't mind returning malformed boolits back in the melt or waiting for the mold to heat up. Just seems like others have a better way to get it done. I'm going to be getting a cheap hot plate for other reasons so I may try that.


--Wag--

[94Doug]

wood crab hammers.

[dikman]

Wag, the "hot plate method" obviously works for a lot of guys, it's just not something that I need. It could, however, be just what you need. You won't know until you try it.

94Doug, you've got wood crabs in Wisconsin? We only get the ordinary shell-type ones down here and don't need a hammer to crack them.

All this talk about hammers got me thinking, perhaps I should replace my piece of hammer handle with a suitable hammer thingy. I've made several small ones for my black powder stuff (hardwood or nylon heads) so I just made another one with a hardwood head. I have some 1/4" thick leather, very hard stuff - some sort of old machinery belting, I think - so I'll glue two layers of this to one face. The piece of hammer handle has been working well, but I'm always willing to learn something new, if it works it should be a bit "gentler" on the mold. If it doesn't then I've got a nice little leather-faced hammer, I guess.

[Green Frog]

Well, after 40 years of casting, the hickory tack hammer handle I've been using for all of it (except a couple of sessions with a dowel when I mislaid the handle) I've almost worn it down to where it's too far gone to use (more than another 5 years or so.) My Dad used it quite a bit during that time as well, especially when he made a season long supply of round balls for the Boy Scout camp. I only have about 30 or so moulds at this point, but none of them show any damage at all to their encounters with the hammer handle. Then again, I may be the exception to the rule...

Froggie

[smoked turkey]

I basically use one and two cavity moulds for most all of my casting. I find the harder the alloy and the longer it sits in the mold prior to cutting the sprue and the more sprues to cut through dictate which method. I agree with and use the gloved hand method if I can. I like to be kind to my moulds. However when a "tap" on the sprue cutter is necessary I use an old shortened hammer handle (no steel head ofcourse). Occasionally a boolit will not release from the blocks and it is necessary to "tap" the handle hinge bolt to release the boolit. Never hit the mold blocks themselves. Unfortunately I have some moulds that the former owner mistreated and the sprue cutter has evidence of either hitting or carving for reason unknown to me. The moulds do still cast good. I have recently started using a small hot plate to preheat the moulds. That usually works very well to get things going much quicker.

[69daytona]

I use a small leather hammer, I think they use them for leather work, found it at a swap meet for 2 bucks.

[meeesterpaul]

Ah! Good one.

[meeesterpaul]

Nice deal. Jewelers pay good money for those hammers. 'Garland' is a brand name if anyone wants to look them up.

I use a small leather hammer, I think they use them for leather work, found it at a swap meet for 2 bucks.

[Swede44mag]

I use a wooden mallet I made in shop class when I was a senior in High School.
I have tried a mallet with the plastic head it melted and turned into a mushroom shape.
I have a broken sledge hammer handle I am going to try next time.
I have rheumatoid arthritis so twisting a mold with a pair of gloves is not possible.