Who "rolls their own" Crappie jig heads?

[Lum]

Wandering what molds / paints you guys are using. I mold 1/32 and 1/16 out of a "do it" mold, also been using powder paints. The powder is ok, i am gonna try and look into maybe using something easier than dipping / oven curing. Do you guys have a good source for pure soft lead? Would appreciate hearing from some of you home brewers as to what methods / paints you use. Thanks for any replies in advance.

[duane]

I am molding some pony head jigs. Well I tried powder paint. I is just not good on pony head jigs with that little crane Swivels. I have done it but what a pain and takes up so much time. Plus wife was not happy about me using her oven for fishing jigs.

I was at BPS this past weekend and now have some Vinyl paint to try.

[gcromer]

Lum, I also use the Do-it molds, I think the pro model, in the 1/32 and 1/16 size. The round head with a barb. I've been useing tire weights and they work well for me. I have some of the real soft lead from DO-IT but haven't tried it yet.

I don't paint the heads as a rule. I haven't found that makes a big difference for me. I have tried the power paint and it works well and is real HARD. I've tied a few jigs but haven't fished them much though. I heat the heads just enough to make the paint stick to the head and then I hold the jig close to the flame of the torch and then it's cured. Just takes a few seconds.

With hooks costing about $6.50 / 100, and I enjoy making them I don't mind loseing so many. I've though about buying hooks in the 1000 box, they then come down to about $45 / 1000. With everything hot and ready, I can do about 100 in a hour. I just get outside and suck up on some of those go old lead fumes..... Keeps the heart ticking....LOL

The guys on the Texas Crappie group really make some nice finished jigs, tieing and painting..

Gerald

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[Lum]

To gcromer....You are paying too much for your hooks, should be able to get em for about $34.00 a thousand, and that should be for the gold one's. I can get the bronze for $29.00 a thousand. Shop around bud.

I have found that the tire weights don't fill up the mold as good as pure soft lead. I use a double barb mold and if i am using wheel weights, one of the barbs won't make just about every time i pour, switch to pure lead and make a purdy jig each and EVERY time. Take care.

[CrappiePappy]

Lum ... I have a Hilts jig mold that molds 1/16 & 1/32oz "insert" style jigheads. I don't make many, anymore, since I started using "weedless" style jigheads. When I was making them, I used an old lead pipe sheath, lead door weight, wheel weights, and other items that contained lead. I found that running the first 4 or 5 sets of jigheads thru the mold, then melting the lead off the hooks and back into the pot was necessary to "heat" the mold to a sufficient temp to allow the following runs to fill the jighead cavity completely - thus making a full cavity pour, and resulting in a usable and reliable head. I skim the "slag" off the lead in the pot, before attempting to pour, thus removing some of the other materials present. Since these were "insert" style heads, I had no reason to paint them. I rarely use painted jigheads, even now. I have Teezur and other brands of painted jigheads in my boxes, but generally tend to use the "weedless", unpainted versions more often than not. My use of "non-weedless" jigheads is primarily for open water situations, which is only about 5% of the time I fish and on certain lakes or under certain conditions which cause the fish to relate to open water or suspend above the cover.
Two of the most important "other" items I have, in my jig molding arsenal, are heavy oven gloves and a filter mask. I have no access to an outside area or out-building, so I have to limit my use of the mold to when I can open a window and turn on a fan to draw the fumes away from me and the inside of my apt. Take care in your hobby .... cheap jigheads aren't worth risking ones health. And make sure that the "powder paints" usage (baking)isn't also a health risk. I would hate to lose anyone, from our Crappie fishing family, over this. Though I understand the desire to "make" something, whether for economical or "personal pride" reasons, I don't wish any harm to come to those who would. Be safe and ........luck2ya .........cp

[crappieseeker]

I have been buying my jigheads for 6 dollars a hundred. For the time and money it cost to make them, i'm better off buying them at this price.

[gcromer]

Lum, Thanks for the good information. I'll shop around and see where the better price is.

I've got several molds from different mfg and the best so far has been the Doit mold.. I do preheat them before doing the real pouring. The last molds I got from them were a real work of art. Far better that the ones I have that are several years old. The machineing is so much better.

I don't have much trouble with missing barbs with the new molds and very little flashing, but I think the soft lead will be even better to use.

I know that I can shop around and find them already made at a good price, but there's something about doing it yourself and catching crappie with them.

Gerald

To gcromer....You are paying too much for your hooks, should be able to get em for about $34.00 a thousand, and that should be for the gold one's. I can get the bronze for $29.00 a thousand. Shop around bud.

I have found that the tire weights don't fill up the mold as good as pure soft lead. I use a double barb mold and if i am using wheel weights, one of the barbs won't make just about every time i pour, switch to pure lead and make a purdy jig each and EVERY time. Take care.

[duane]

Lum, Thanks for the good information. I'll shop around and see where the better price is.

I've got several molds from different mfg and the best so far has been the Doit mold.. I do preheat them before doing the real pouring. The last molds I got from them were a real work of art. Far better that the ones I have that are several years old. The machineing is so much better.

I don't have much trouble with missing barbs with the new molds and very little flashing, but I think the soft lead will be even better to use.

I know that I can shop around and find them already made at a good price, but there's something about doing it yourself and catching crappie with them.

Gerald

If you run across some cheaper hooks, please let me know. I only make my jigs with goold, blood red, and black hooks. I have ordered some #6 & #4 1x bronze jigs to fish a jig with a minnow.

I am molding only pony head for now. one mold is for 1/8 oz only with the other makes 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 & 3/8 oz. I also use these mold to make my jig head just leave the crane swivel off.

Any one need some Pony head jigs, I will make U a good price.

duane

[Moose1am]

We have an area in Evansville, IN that is now an USEPA SUPERFUND SITE due to lead contamination. It seems that this area (which includes the land around one of our two largest hospitals) is still contaminated with lead that was emitted from several old lead smelters that flourished in the area when the city was first formed. During the 1800's or early 1900's there were three plants that worked with lead in this area. We had the State Indiana Department of Environemental Management (IDEM) perform some soil sampling around an old metal plating plant site and they found the lead in extreemly high concentations. The started warning people living in this area to get their blood checked for lead contamination. They should also have other test performed as the lead does not stay in the blood but is deposited in other places in the body. Lead can accumulate in the central nervous system and do much damage to your nerves and the brain too. Children are at greater risk as they are much smaller and their bodies are still growing and the lead can cause much more damage to them. If your wife is pregnant then keep the lead out of the house as you can expose her and the baby to this toxic element. Lead is a naturally occuring element found on this earth but too much of it can be a bad thing.

DILUTION IS THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION so do this work out in the fresh air where you can dilute the lead fumes.

If not then set aside a special room or some special ventilation. A big fan and some flexible tubing can be used to ventelate a room. I have seen huge industrial fans and this 2 to 3ft diameter plastic tubing used to ventilate the asbestos abatement projects that I supervised. The tubing is sold to the asbestos abatement companies and they use long lenths of this stuff. Find some asbestos abatement guys in your area via the yellow pages and call and ask them were they get this stuff and their huge fans if you make lead head jigs commercially. They use High Effeciency Particulate Abatement (HEPA) Filters in this industrial sized blowers. They are actually big blowers held inside large metal boxes with caster wheels on the bottom so that they can be moved around the worksites. We used on in an Asbestos Testing lab that I worked in. We hooked up a series of 4" od PVC pipes from the blower to the lab and then used smaller flexible tubing to hook the Negative Pressure Work Stations up to the PVC Pipe. Then we would work with the asbestos samples inside the negative pressure boxes. The Boxes were made out of lexan and had the bottom, two sides and the back covered with the lexan and an open front. There was a hole cut in the back of the box and a short piece of pipe was glued to the hole and used to attach the flexible pipe to the box. They worked great and any asbestos fibers that got stired up inside the box was pulled though the piping and then caputured in the HEPA filters. The blower was stored inside it's own sealed room so that it's exhaust would not contaminate the lab and then the exhaust air from the HEPA blower fliter system was vented out of the building with more flexible plastic tubing.

You can also wear an Half Face Mask and use the HEPA filters with these makes to stop the lead fumes from getting into your body though your lungs. You can get these saftey masks at most saftey supplie companies or sometimes at the local hardware stores. I see these at LOWES and HOME DEPOT stores all the time. Get the filters that have the purple color coding on them as they should be the ones that are HEPA certified and used for filtering out lead and other toxic particulate materials. They should filter out the lead fumes.

But be careful if you use lead in the home on a long term basis as the fumes can settle on things and fall out of the air and contaminte things in the room. The dust containing the lead can then be resuspended at a later time or get on your hands and be transfered into your body if you are not careful.

I would keep the kids out of the area too. I am not sure how to get ride of the lead residue once it's enter the room so the best thing is to keep the lead fumes out of the house if at all possible.

Now if you are just doing this every once in a while these precautions may seem like a lot of work and you may not think that lead can hurt you but remember that lead damages the brain and can cause long term memory problems and other diseases. You may be brain damaged already and not think you are. So take care of yourself guys and be careful when working around these toxic substances.

The USEPA does more work with lead these days than they do with Asbestos.

Now if you are getting contaminated with lead and also eating fish with mercury in them then you may start GLOWING IN THE DARK. LOL

They also make full face power air filter systems that are used in the asbestos abatement industry. I used them when I performed supervision of the abatement projects. They provide much more protections of your lungs than the cheaper half face respirators simply because there is always a positive pressure inside the facemask and any leaks will be air leaving the inside of the mask and not air coming into the mask. That is a good thing to have clean air inside the mask creating a positive pressure inside the mask. These PAPR's are run by battery packs that attached to our belt and a rubber flexible hose runs from the face mask down to the battery pack and air pump filter system on your belt.

Take this advice for what it's worth and decide for your self if you want to protect yourself or not.

Lum ... I have a Hilts jig mold that molds 1/16 & 1/32oz "insert" style jigheads. I don't make many, anymore, since I started using "weedless" style jigheads. When I was making them, I used an old lead pipe sheath, lead door weight, wheel weights, and other items that contained lead. I found that running the first 4 or 5 sets of jigheads thru the mold, then melting the lead off the hooks and back into the pot was necessary to "heat" the mold to a sufficient temp to allow the following runs to fill the jighead cavity completely - thus making a full cavity pour, and resulting in a usable and reliable head. I skim the "slag" off the lead in the pot, before attempting to pour, thus removing some of the other materials present. Since these were "insert" style heads, I had no reason to paint them. I rarely use painted jigheads, even now. I have Teezur and other brands of painted jigheads in my boxes, but generally tend to use the "weedless", unpainted versions more often than not. My use of "non-weedless" jigheads is primarily for open water situations, which is only about 5% of the time I fish and on certain lakes or under certain conditions which cause the fish to relate to open water or suspend above the cover.
Two of the most important "other" items I have, in my jig molding arsenal, are heavy oven gloves and a filter mask. I have no access to an outside area or out-building, so I have to limit my use of the mold to when I can open a window and turn on a fan to draw the fumes away from me and the inside of my apt. Take care in your hobby .... cheap jigheads aren't worth risking ones health. And make sure that the "powder paints" usage (baking)isn't also a health risk. I would hate to lose anyone, from our Crappie fishing family, over this. Though I understand the desire to "make" something, whether for economical or "personal pride" reasons, I don't wish any harm to come to those who would. Be safe and ........luck2ya .........cp

[Big Zig]

Moose - good post on the ill effects of lead. It is something to keep safety in mind while doing, but most get a little out of hand with worrying about it. I'm more at risk handling the components I use to reload ammunition then I am melting lead. Just to keep things in perspective.

Lum - I've been doing my own since the late 70's. I've just recently gotten into the full custom work with jigs: matching plastics, custom paint work, and custom mold forms. Powder paint is nice, but really hard to work with on anything much smaller then 1/16 oz. It can still be used, but the results aren't as uniform as they are on larger molds. Vinyl paint is still a good paint to use, but is is very strong smelling if done indoors. Don't forget to white basecoat first. If you don't paint the lead right away, use an etching primer first - this allows your top coat of paint to bond easier with the lead for a more durable paint.
As far as molds - Hilts was a company from years past that has recently resurfaced from another company, Do-it is probably the largest maker of molds, and there are now some CNC molds on the market that are being made by some tool and die shops.

A note on using wheel weight lead - you need to seperate the heavier metals used in this lead, mainly Zinc. Antimony content is usually high in this type lead as well, but you need that and some Tin to do what we want it to do for fishing purposes. Wheel weight lead needs a higher temp to melt (due to the heavier metal content) therefore is harder to work with. If you spend a few minutes melting, skimming impurities, pouring into nuggets, and repeating the process 2-3 times you will seperate the metals enough to have some decent lead to work with. You can tell when you have reached the right seperation by looking at the nuggets after sitting for a few hours. If they start turning grey, and loosing their shininess - melt them again. This "oxidation" is galvantic action - or the zinc coming to the surface of the lead. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the zinc is coating the lead in a protective layer (it is galvanizing), but most people want to see that nice shiny lead (which also bonds with paint better).
Soft lead is commonly referred to as "pig lead". Most plumbing wholesale houses still sell 3 lb. forms of this lead. Or if you have any industrial factories in your area - they still use lead sheets for precision drilling large forms. One place I've always though to check for lead is at imaging places. The health profession still uses lead sheeting as a protective means from the effects of radiation (go figure - lead is dangerous and protective?). I understand those blankets are only allowed to be used so many times - but I'd bet they won't hand them out to the general public. Maybe that's why some trucks are placarded with "radioactive material".

Hope this helps.