What is best source of lead for making jigs

[Rafter8]

Thanks for feed back. My local tire shop gave me a five gallon bucket with about 170 lbs of tire weights....

[last chance]

if you have a problem with the wheel weights you can buy soft lead off ebay. the wheel weights needs to be a little hotter than soft lead to get a good pour. and wheel weights isn't that good for pouring barrel sinkers or any weights that uses a pin through them that has to be pulled out. but just for jigs the wheel weights should serve your purpose.

[Kevin23]

Originally Posted by Rafter8

Thanks for feed back. My local tire shop gave me a five gallon bucket with about 170 lbs of tire weights....

Those will work just fine for standard jig heads. Just make sure you get them hot enough but not too hot, they will have some zinc in them and zinc can cause some serious health problems if it gets too hot.

I sometimes get wheel weights given to me, I keep them separate from everything else and use them for 1/2-1oz pours, or to use for catfish weights for myself.

Be sure to separate those wheel weights before you melt them. You want to get any iron or zinc ones out before you melt them. The iron ones wont cause an issue if you miss one because they will just float on your lead. The zinc ones will melt in and cause your lead to be hard, light, and brittle. You can tell the difference by looking at them (zinc will be brighter and may sparkle in the sunlight), or by tapping it with a screwdriver (zink will go PINGGGG, while lead will go THUMP).

Also never melt the wheel weights in your lead pot, use a dedicated cast iron pot over a propane burner (turkey fryer burner works GREAT). Be sure to use a metal melting thermometer to be sure you don't overheat the lead! You will then have to flux it and pour it off into an ingot mold or old muffin pan.

As you read the necessary steps to use this "crap lead", you can see why I don't even mess with it unless it is given to me.. And even then, I would rather just buy soft lead. I usually buy it for $1.50/lb.. you can do the math and see how little of your jig cost is actually lead and then you will see why I just buy the good stuff instead of using wheel weights. My rule of thumb is that if I can scratch the ingot with my fingernail, it's worth using.

[last chance]

I never use tire weights anymore because I don't pour jigs anymore. but back when I made a lot of jigs I used them. I just mixed them with what I had in my melting pot and turned the heat up a little. the metal tabs on the weights will float to the top and you can flux them off with the impureities from the zinc that's in the tire weights. now I only pour barrel sinkers and no roll sinkers and they both have holes that's made by a pin that goes through the cavity. and after you pour you remove the pin leaving the hole. with hard lead it is a real pain removing the pin. with soft lead it comes out much easier. so I only use soft lead now.