Casting with my homemade lead hammer mold.

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My wooden mallet was wearing out from hitting the sprue plates on my bullet moulds.
Also I had to hit the sprue plate several times on 8 and 10 cavity moulds to knock them open.
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I switched to a plastic hammer, but it was damaging the sprue plate.
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Sprue plate damage.

I could have purchased a lead hammer or a lead hammer mould.
I decided to make a lead hammer mould.
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1” brass “T” cut in half to make a lead hammer mould.
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Lead hammer mould held together with hose clamps.
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Heating lead hammer mould with a torch. Otherwise the lead hammer will have wrinkles. Lead hammer mould with metal plates as end caps held on by a “C” clamp.
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Insert the handle and fill the mould with lead. I used wheelweights as my lead alloy.
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Lead hammer mould filled with lead. Let it cool before removing mould.

Remove hose clamps. Pry off mould with a screwdriver. OR knock off mould by hitting it sideways.
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Finished lead hammer. I make several so when one wears out, I can pick up another one and keep casting.
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Now the lead hammer takes the wear instead of the sprue plate.

When the lead hammer wears out, I melt the worn out hammer off the handle and cast a new lead hammer.

Great idea for the mold!

John

neat. What are you using for a handle?

Looks like he fluxed a piece of copper tubing and dunked it in.

Great job!

Great idea and best of all cheap and simple. Thanks for sharing.

Great idea.

You could put a bolt with the head up in the mould and then put a wooden handle on the bolt.

Outstanding... :drinks:

That's funny, I melted a bunch of lead hammer for my first ingots, they will be my first bullets. Great idea.

Nice job.

Just what I need for the one mold that I have trouble opening the spur plate with a gloved hand.

!Nice hammer, 1/2 cent worth: could you leave the copper tee in tack and
incorporate it right into the hammer design?..just a passing thought.(..and most of them
do pass.)

Cool looking hammer. Just curious, would a rawhide hammer work as well, or is it just not enough mass. I mean I am all for a nice heavy hammer, I but I have some rawhide hammers already.

TANSTAAFL!

I did something similar, but with a wooden handle and an old 1-1/4 impact socket. I put an extension in the socket to plug the hole, then fill it halfway with lead. Then I place a bolt in the lead so it's centered then fill the 'mould'. The rest of the way, leaving the threaded end of the bolt sticking out. Let it cool then remove the 1/2 in extension and pop out the new hammer head with a 1/4 in extension. Drill a hole through a handle, an old chair leg in this case and bolt the head onto it.
Been using it for about a year now and it's on its 3'rd head. Makes easy work of even the most stubborn bullet mounds. :D
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/02/uhamamyn.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/02/sugava5a.jpg

Wonderful ideas guys!

I use a rawhide hammer as I had some old ones from my leather work. Mostly though I just open with my gloved hand. I do use a lead hammer for some of my larger leather stamps, they need some real weight to impress the leather properly.

In a pinch, I just grab an ingot and swing away. Ingots are everywhere and I often just use what's handy.

Cool! I am going to try and make one of these!

What was the final hammer's weight?

I just use an old wooden "Fish Knocker", but then my molds are all single cavity.:bigsmyl2:

I currently use a broken hammer handle for my Lee 6 gangers. I used something similar to a wooden handle years ago on my H&G 10 gangers. But that's when I was younger and had bigger arms!!

When pouring from the hinge toward the sprue handle, the coolest (hardest) sprue is easier cut by the shorter distance in leverage. This can make a difference in the need for a sprue knocker.
I almost never use anything but a gloved hand, allowing for less mould abuse.
When necessary, a weighted, leather covered, 1 1/4" dowel is at hand.

I used the broken handle of a hammer upside down. Wrapped the end with friction tape for a grip and the other end wrapped with a thick rubber tape, then several layers of aluminum tape and then fiberglass tape for heat resistance. Drilled out the end with a 3/8 bit deep enough to tap three .38 special wadcutters in there then poured a bit of molten lead to seal them in. Makes a perfect thumper/sprue plate opener and bullet drop persuader for me.

12" piece of 3/4" PVC tubing, clamped one end in the vise, heated with heat gun until I could bend it over to 90 degree's causing the pipe to pinch shut. Small piece of steel wool driven into the end as a stopper. Then added ladle fulls of hot lead until it felt right.

Pvc takes some damage, but is easy on the molds. One rap on the sprue plate, another on the handles hinge and the boolits fall out. Quick, cheap, and if I need to I can grab a new piece of pipe, remelt the lead.

I have an old axe handle that is still very solid even though it broke just below the head of the axe, rendering it useless for anything other than use as a heavy stick. I'm going to cut it down to a handier size one day but haven't done so yet.

I save pieces of shovel/hammer/rake/etc pieces of broken handles. Work great for several thousand, then replaced by a new one. BTW, the beat-up-mallets make great firewood in the chimenea.

There are diffrent hardnesses of rubber caps for cap hammers. I also have used a slimline 8 ounce dead blow hammer, it was really handy and useable. Carried a good puh thru type blow to the sprue plate. Im currently using a cap hammer with soft caps and its working good. I may play with a lead hammer here shortly I can easily make one up. My existing hammer mould is to big at almost 2 lbs wieght. But it wont take much to make one.

Attachment 162410I generally use a welding glove but I did make a Lead Hammer by drilling a hole in a 2X4 with a Forstner bit sticking a handle in and filling with lead.

I’ve got some wooden table legs (oak) and plan on turning them down like a mini bat. Then drill out about a one inch hole in the top and fill it with melted lead. Then pin it in. Should work like a champ. When I make one, I’ll post a pic.

The tee could be left intact and aluminum flashing wrapped around the ends and held with the pipe clamps use the same flat stock and c clamp to seal ends. lead shouldnt stick to the aluminum allowing it to peel of when cool. I would leave the lead ends 1/2"-3/4" proud of the tees ends. Utilizing the tee will support the head and the hammer socket will last much longer. Here a piece of flat stock 3/16" thick X size of tee wide drill several 1/8" hole thru end where its in tee and lead to lock in place I locking grooves can be filed or cut in with a hacksaw also) then attach wood scales to each side for the handle. Doing it this way I would consider adding a short piece of tubing in the tee to extend handle grip by an inch 1" to 1 1/2" for a better hold.
A hammer seldom starts life with a flat face but is crowned so that te center is supported and higher. This last much longer. Making a couple caps from aluminum to the tee and have the crown in them would extend life.