Starting another hobby

[Hanr3]

One note about casting split shot... Wheel weight lead might be too hard. Split shots need very soft lead or you won't be able to close them without hurting your fingers.

Fingers eh, I always use my teeth.

[Shoemoo]

No way would I bite lead. It's fine to handle, but it's poisonous if you ingest it.

[Andy1270]

I casted some more lead from wheel weights today in snowy conditions and 20 degree temperatures. I took some new pictures, so I thought I'd share them. So far so good - no burns, no accidents, and I recently had my lead level tested (along with cholesterol) at the doctor and my lead level was 3. They say anything below 10 is normal.

This time I got 65lbs of lead ingots from the recent 5 gallon bucket from the tire shop. In the first picture you'll see part of the wheel weights and their clips (which have to be taken out before fluxing and before casting the ingots.

While I was at it, I melted five 1lb ingots in the melting pot and started pouring into the molds.

By the way, I tested a split shot with some needle nose to make sure it wasn't too hard to crimp. It worked very well, as you can see from that picture. Not too hard to crimp.