Making Small Lead Wire ??

[Johnch]

Not doing a lot of casting right now due to Migraines
As I have LOTS already prepped ready to load

But I need fine lead wire
Small dia. to use for weight for my flies
As right now I am tieing BlueGill fly's

Any tricks I need to know ?

I have started the parts and will use the 100 Ton press in the shop
So I figure I will have enough power

Also 2 Oz of wire will last a few years ...so I figure I can make a life times supply in a short time

John

[Zbench]

The only thing you need to know is that as wire size goes down, pressure goes up, way up.

To put it in perspective, I have a hydraulic press which develops 2000# of cylinder pressure, and it won't extrude wire under .185 with a SINGLE orifice.

The way to get around this is make your die with as many orifices as you can because it's the TOTAL surface area of the holes in the die, not the diameter. I tie flies as well, and I know the kind of wire you are looking to extrude. Probably .020 or so. Put just as many holes in the die you want to use as you can drill. Still might not work, but, you will at least have a shot at it.

[Hickory]

Are you correction your statement '2 oz'?

[Zbench]

Hickory, you only use a piece maybe 3/8" long tied to the shank of the hook under the body of the fly. 2 oz would last a very long time unless you tied flies commercially. It's very fine wire.

[labradigger1]

I use the wire from the squirt dies when Swaging for weighting flies and spinners.

[Zbench]

That's a great idea, that is about the right size

[Nueces]

Another idea would be to use a metal shear (or knife and guide) to cut square section lengths of sheet lead, then roll 'em a bit between two pieces of wood to round 'em off.

[Johnch]

LOL 3 wraps around a #8 hook shank is enough extra weigh

So 2 oz will last a good while


I see how the extra holes will help
Never thought about it that way

I guess , I will be drilling as many holes as possible and I think increasing the Dia. of the "piston" will let me make a BUNCH of holes

As I plan on making the bottom sort of thin to make drilling the holes easyer

Thanks
John

[Pipefitter]

PM me with your address and I will send you enough lead wire to tie several hundred flies. I have a box full that was going to go back into the core casting pot.

[midnight]

I sure wouldn't bother extruding wire that small. You can buy spools of lead wire for $2.50 ea. You can get it from .010 to .035 diameter. I tie a lot of nymphs and am still working on my first spool. Saving the scraps from your squirt die sounds like a good idea though.

Bob

[popper]

Yup, buy the stuff. I use a roll of solid core lead solder Mom had when she was doing stained glass stuff.

[NavyVet1959]

If you only need pieces that short, could you just cast a cylindrical piece of lead and then put it in a lathe and harvest the cuttings?

[Johnch]

OK
The Die is done and tested

And YES it would be both Cheaper and easy to buy the lead wire
BUT I can't work with these DARN headackes so I have time to kill

Ok my holes I drilled were to large and I was 1/2 expecting that
So I took a steel rod and rolled 2' to sort of oval and it is working fine
Used some already to tie Bluegill flies

I also talked to my friend that has a machine shop and for some Beer
He will EDM me some holes , he is planning on sort of a tapered hole in another die when I have it ready

But LOL I have to make 2 set up's as HE wants one
But he ties flies for Bass and Northern Pike

Thanks
John

[Lead pot]

John do a search for Lead wool. It's perfect for fly's If you have a old plumbing shop close by or a Home depot yard might still carry it in the plumbing section.
This is what it looks like https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...king&FORM=IGRE

[Johnch]

John do a search for Lead wool. It's perfect for fly's If you have a old plumbing shop close by or a Home depot yard might still carry it in the plumbing section.
This is what it looks like https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...king&FORM=IGRE

LOL I used to do a LOT of old cast iron pipe repair and replacing
I know what lead wool is and have some

Years back I used some on flies and kept getting a grease like bleed through on the feathers and light colored fur
So I am guessing they put something on it to keep easy to pound in place or to "flow"

But the "lead" wire I am making is a good way to kill some time as I can't work
So I find things to do when I feel good

As I had a migraine most of the last 2 days .... almost 4 AM and some of the migraine is gone .... so I am killing time

John

[Ballistics in Scotland]

With 100 tons you can do just about any thing that won't burst the dies. You would just have to make the piston close enough fitting to not extrude a tubular piece of foil instead. It might be a good idea to put the hole in the piston, as being easier to replace if you make it too large. A good swaging lubricant such as castor oil and lanolin which won't "diesel" under pressure, would probably help.

People with less power behind them will probably be interested. I think multiple holes would increase the thrust required, for extrusion is deformation. Heating the assembly, although well short of the melting point of lead, would probably help. Also does it have to be lead? Soft copper wire would have to be only a little thicker than lead to have the same weight.

You could also glue the hook shank and roll it in lead filings. A while ago I made the handle and scabbard for an allegedly original Japanese dagger blade. I lacquered the sycamore scabbard with the original urushi vegetable lacquer, which is very interesting stuff. It is immensely durable, hardens through chemical reaction with atmospheric humidity, and is a rather nasty contact poison, systemic in that a little produces a rash where the lacquer never was, and I don't care to think about a lot.

I sprinkled silver filings on the lacquer, and flattened it down with a watchmaker-sized hammer as it hardened. This was repeated several times, and then filled in with more lacquer, sanded flush and polished. It seems extremely durable, like microscopic concrete. At any stage this would have produced a nice, sparkly lure body. I was always told that the role of tinsel or wire-wrapped bodies, in catching fish rather than fishermen, was to imitate the insects which dive with silvery air bubbles adhering to their bodies.

[Lead pot]

John.

Bummer on the migraines. Nothing worse then having a guy with a 10 pound mall beating the back of the eye balls.

I'm a retired plumber and lead was in heavy use in my time. Lead wool was great when making joints and packing where heat was not an option. I think the wool just has some sort of oil base coating on it to keep the corroding down when it ages. I know when you throw some in the lead pot it smokes. Just give it a bath in acetone and rinse with water to get the smell away and let it dry in the sun a few days. I like the wire for adding weight to my fly's

[elk hunter]

I read somewhere that for every 100 degrees that you raise the lead billet temperature you reduce the pressure needed to extrude it by 1/2. If true 200 degree lead would require only 1/4 the pressure of cold lead which would be easier on dies and reduce the size of press and dies needed.

[footpetaljones]

I read somewhere that for every 100 degrees that you raise the lead billet temperature you reduce the pressure needed to extrude it by 1/2. If true 200 degree lead would require only 1/4 the pressure of cold lead which would be easier on dies and reduce the size of press and dies needed.

From the article "A Lead Extrusion Press" in the NRA's Illustrated Reloading Handbook, which can be downloaded from CastPics.net.

It's 100 degrees Celcius, though.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Now that figure is interesting. You don't pick up a boiling kettle in fear of touching the wrong bit, and it isn't too hot to sandwich your die and piston between pieces of wood to reduce heat leakage. I'd heat them with one of those little blowtorches you fill from a lighter gas cylinder. Very likely commercial extruders of lead wire use clamp-on electric elements.