Looks good to me. I stick the spout of the pot directly in each cavity so that head fills complete and tightly around wire keeper. Also use a harder lead now as soft lead tends to wobble on non barb/wire keeper heads. I use 95% lead 5% antimony. Once I started using harder lead never understood why most use 100% lead. Will get a better head this way.
I have a set of sprue cutters, single ground, that work fine. Less than $10 and I use em for everything. My best ones came from some folks in Cane Poles old line of work. Built along the lines of a quality pair of Klein’s or like that. Might be German made but don’t hold me to it. Also single ground and were designed to trim circuit boards of excess stems of the components, and they are some kind of tough. I also wouldn’t want to go buy another set, I’m sure they were way pricey. I gave $4 at a flea market for em. Never tried the nippers, look like they’d be worth a try.
Creativity is just intelligence fooling aroundJavelin 180 LIKED above post
For getting rid of the sprue, most of the time I just snap them off with a pair of pliers. I have 2 pair of flush cutters that I got from craft stores in their jewelry making section, one from Hobby Lobby and the other from Michaels. Both work really well for smaller jigs and for larger jigs I use them to score the sprue then snap it off. No matter what way you do it, if you want it to look smooth you will have to file it. I just put a file in a bench vice and run the head over it a could times to smooth out the burr left behind from cutting or snapping.
I would like to add to this for safety. Files and such work great but the air born particles from filing are way worse for you than melting lead with an exhaust fan. I have worked with lead since the 80's both professionally and hobbyest and have health issues now that could have been avoided. Heck, I can't even give blood as my lead count is so high. Oh and it never goes down. Once you got it it's yours for life. Wear a mask, don't snack or smoke and never touch your face while working with lead products. Sermon is over. Think about this post. Please
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Grumpy, you're exactly right and I probably don't give it enough thought. I do run an exhaust fan when I pour jigs and only "render" lead outdoors on a windy day, but you can't be too careful when working with lead.
Robbie, you're gonna have to get busy pouring more jigs so Garrett can have more to tie up.
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I spray a product called Drop out on my molds where filling is an issue and like magic no more bad pours. Eye protection is also a must have. Some years back a friend sent me some large sinkers that he found during low tide. When I put one in my pot it exploded and some lead actually hit the sealing. I had some burns on my hands and had some lead hanging from my eye lashes, it was a miracle that I wasn't blinded. Not sure if it was water in the sinker or perhaps salt but it's something I will never forget. Safety glasses go on before I even sit down now.
I remember that Jim, I was new to pouring and the pics hit home. And I’m glad it wasn’t any worse than it was.
Creativity is just intelligence fooling around
My first time ever melting down lead was 2 or so years ago and I had a very similar thing happen. I had gone around to some scrap metal places and bought lead. I got quite a bit of x ray room lining that had been folded up into a pretty small piece. I didn't think about trapped water turning instantly to steam, but it does and it did, and it blew molten lead everywhere. Luckily I was dropping pieces of lead into the large pot and turning my head to avoid an accidental splash or whatever. If I had been looking at the cooker when I dropped it in, it could have been bad.