why do you whack on your mould?

[troy_mclure]

I've been watching a few videos, and reading threads where people mention "whacking" their sprue plate mould with a stick. either to cut the sprue or drop the boolit.

why do you do this?

I've even cast pure tin boolits and had no prob cutting the sprue by hand.

and with the 60% of boolits that dont fall right of the mould(mostly cause i dont let it cool long enough) a wee bit of pressure with my thumb will pop them right out.

so am i missing something by not whacking my mould?

[BABore]

Aggression therapy!

[Wayne Smith]

The only mold I've ever had to whack the sprue plate is a Lyman 4-cavity. That one I couldn't cut by hand, but that was prior to BullPlate. Maybe I can cut it earlier now? All of the other ones I cut by hand.

[Shepherd2]

I think age has a lot to do with it for many of us. I'm just a few weeks shy of my 70th birthday and with aging I can't or won't do many things that I once did. These days if I put too much strain on my hands I know I will be paying for it in days to come. So I'll continue to whack my moulds with a stick and save my hands so I can shoot those boolits.

[bootsnthejeep]

I used to use the chunk o' wood method, now I have a small dead-blow plastic hammer. I'll admit it, I whack the mould out of habit, cause that's the way I was taught. But lately, I started experimenting with cutting the sprues by hand, and it works fine on most of my moulds, but occasionally I still have to whack the hinge pin to encourage the bullet out. So I have to pick the hammer up anyway, so instead of cutting the sprue by hand, I just use the top side of the head of the hammer to push the plate open.

Of course, my H&G moulds need no encouragement to get the bullets out, but some of my Lymans are still a tad sticky. The Lees are a bit frustrating from time to time too. <WHACK>

[smokemjoe]

My custom molds I use my hand, but I have a red hande from a hammer, made of some hard plastic like material that I have used for 15 or more years.

[putteral]

For me it is also the age thing. Do not have the kind of hand strength I use to.
That is why I like the 6 cavity molds,no whacking.

[Bret4207]

I have arthritis in my fingers. If I wear gloves I'm even more clumsy. And I still do a lot of ladle casting and grabbing the ladle with gloves would be quite a chore. Opening the sprue plate with a rawhide mallet is not an issue if done properly.

[Shooter6br]

I use a raw hide hammer Works on molds and many things that need a non mar hammering

[DLCTEX]

I cut sprues by hand and keep a plastic mallet handy to tap the bolt of the handles to shake loose any reluctant boolits. I like my moulds, so I want to be as kind and gentle as possible.

[HeavyMetal]

Only on the Lyman 4 cavity molds, any make of 2 can I can open by hand and prefer to.

The Lee 6 bangers have that cool cam plate so no need there.

Back in the day I had a friend with a pair of 10 Cav H&G 68 molds for that you needed a whacker and I used a non marring hammer for that.

[RayinNH]

I would call it more of a gentle tap, a whack is not needed. I don't wear gloves when I cast, I find they're too clumsy. Opening a sprue plate without gloves would take a lot of the fun away, real quickly...Ray

[powderburnerr]

I use a knocker cause the mould is too hot to grab on to with a bare hand,, I am politicaly incorrect and do not wear gloves, ..Dean

[troy_mclure]

I would call it more of a gentle tap, a whack is not needed. I don't wear gloves when I cast, I find they're too clumsy. Opening a sprue plate without gloves would take a lot of the fun away, real quickly...Ray

i like to drop the boolit from the mould right into my glove, roll 'em around, check 'em out, etc....

then i put them in my bowl.


i dont think it would much fun for you!

[Char-Gar]

In 1960 I bought a 16" hammer handle from Sears and have used that same handle to cut sprus all of these years.

[mdi]

I don't like to wear gloves when casting. (And, yes, I'm aware of the possibilities). So cutting sprues by hand is realllllly painful so I whack 'em. And besides, that's what the instructions say...

[kawalekm]

I've done it both ways. I started out whacking, then heard about opening the sprue by hand and found that it works too. I eventually went back to 100% whacking because it's less effort for me. Two reasons actually. The first is gradual heat buildup in my leather gloves. Ten or twenty casts was just fine. After a hundred or more my gloves got unconfortablly hot. The second is consistancy and rythum. Maybe one out of twenty casts required a whack anyway. That ruins my "cadence". Since I have to use a whack every 20 or so, I might as well use them for all.

[94Doug]

I didn't know there was any other way.

Doug

[AZ-Stew]

Another whacker here. No gloves, either. I have Lyman and Lee 2-banger moulds over 30 years old that have had the sprue plate whacked to open and the moulds are good as new. It's all in how you apply the force and the tool used.

As long as you hit the sprue plate such that the force is applied in the plane of rotation of the sprue plate around its hinge screw, there is no damage. I began using a wood hammer handle I bought from Sears many years ago. One time when my father in law was visiting, he saw my old splintered hammer handle and decided I needed a Cadillac whacker. When he got home he turned one for me on his wood lathe from a piece of Indiana Hickory. It's starting to splinter a bit now, so maybe I'll get a new one for Christmas.

Once the sprue plate is open, I can use the whacker stick to tap the mould handle hinge to drop sticky boolits from the mould and to roll the completed boolits into a pile on the back of my drop towel, giving me a chance to take a quick look for obvious defects. Rounded bases, voids and poor fillout sends the offending boolits back to the pot with the sprues.

Regards,

Stew

[dromia]

I don't wear gloves when casting so hand operating the sprue plate isn't an otion, unless its a lee 6 gang.

So the rawhide hammer tap for me.