Shad Head Pour Workaround

[Kman]

Hello there. New Guy here. Been reading these forums for a couple weeks now. Great site!

We mostly fish for So Cal saltwater bass, and on a bad day three of us can go through 50 sets of jig heads and soft plastics (usually swimbaits), so I bit the bullet and bought a 20# LEE bottom pouring pot and some do-it molds.

I have two distinct types of lead here: Shotgun shot that melted into "hard" lead, and soft lead I got at a metal recycling place (40 cents/pound). The hard lead can barely be scratched with your thumbnail and it "clinks" when you drop an ingot onto cement or bounce them off each other. The soft lead is easy to scratch and just goes "thud" when you drop it.

Pouring #9 shad heads, I had a heck of a time getting the lead to flow around the shaft of the hook (Mustad 32786BLN) and fill out the barb part of the leadhead. The soft stuff poured better than the hard stuff, and the 1 and 1.5 oz shad heads were WAY easier to pour successfully than the .5 and .75 oz heads.

I tried smoking and REALLY heating the molds, fluxing the lead, messed with the pour rates, pot levels and temps, and even varied the mixture of hard/soft lead. I got pretty good results (75% were complete) with the 1 and 1.5 oz units, but I never did get the .5 and .75 oz heads to pour completely. Pouring with the mold angled down helped a little.

Then I stumbled onto the solution: Pre heat the hooks! I put the hooks in the hot mold then ran a propane torch set on low over the shank of the hooks where the lead goes, then closed the mold and poured away. Hardly needed to heat the hooks to make this work--maybe one second/hook. My success rate for the small guys went from 10% to 99% just by heating the hooks a little. Made sense as the molds were probably 300-400 degrees, but the heavy, substituted hooks were only 55 degrees.

Checking the hooks afterward, I can't see where any damage was done to the tempering of the hooks. The hooks weren?t heated that much at all, and no heat was applied to the Aberdeen bend or the pointy end.

No doubt the hook heating step can be bypassed when I figure out the correct lead recipe, pour rate, angle or whatever, but at least for today heating the hooks made me a happy camper and we can now throw these rascals at the rocks with wild abandon knowing they (the heads at least) aren?t costing us a buck and half a whack every time we break them off.

Anyways, thought I'd share.

Anyone have a recipe for lead to make it pour better or comments on what I may have been doing wrong to have so many incomplete pours?

Thanks,

Kurt

[dtrs5kprs]

You can also just put the components in the mold, close it, and let the heat of the mold warm them up. I have 2 of the shad head molds, one for swim baits, one modified for spinnerbaits. Warming up the components was a key for me on both.

Shot is ok for pouring, but I try to cut it in with some softer lead when I use it.

[LedHed]

Kurt

Don?t use the shot unless you have to ? the soft lead is best. I have 5 shad 9 style molds and haven?t had to smoke any of them. You might try scoring a line on one side of your mold to the problematic area (where the lead is not flowing). I do the same as Dave - heat the mold with hooks in it and use soft lead. Also with the shad 9 style - I have to tilt all of them to get good flow.

Mustad BLNs are great hooks ? I use owners and gammies also ? mostly gammies for me.

Went to the Fred Hall show yesterday ? They had all the swimbaits (AA, Big Hammer, Fish Trap) in the same row. Can?t believe the prices now days ? if you are pouring lead to save money, plastics is next.

[Kman]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll give your ideas a try. Also gonna go find some Tin and see what a little of that added to the soft stuff does.

I tried letting the hot mold heat the hooks by letting them sit for 30 seconds and it helped. Problem is, I had to twiddle my thumbs for those 30 seconds, and the torch heating method A) Worked better and Only took 5 seconds. I could see this working if I had two molds going at once. One could be sitting there heating the hooks while pouring the other one. It also could very well be that had it been a 90 degree day instead of a 55 degree day, the pour would have gone fine without any additional heating.

Is there supposed to be any gap in the mold around the hook?s shank to release air? I'm wondering if those thick Mustad hooks are blocking air from escaping the space.

My main fishing buddy is a purist and wants to see if I can put recesses on the heads to flush mount 3D eyes. Anybody try putting a big drop of JB Weld on the mold then mill it flat? Seems like that would work if the JB would hold up. I did try holding a 5/16" bolt against the head and whack it with a hammer. It made a nice impression, but the bottom of the head opened up giving it that pregnant look .

Ya plastics are expensive nowadays. Last week, I fished Chris H's hand poured swimbaits for the first time and we managed to catch plenty of fish. Chris makes some good stuff:

Thanks again for the help guys. ?.Now who can help me fab a radar arch .

Kurt

[dtrs5kprs]

I would either try the JB and mill it to shape and depth, or...

drill into the mold ( a forstner bit would be ideal if it will cut it ) then use jb weld to fix a piece of aluminum rod of correct diameter for the eyes, cut to length and milled flat on the end. Hope that makes sense when read. It made sense to me when looking at a poured #9 head.

Nice paint on those heads by the way.

[Kman]

I would either try the JB and mill it to shape and depth' date=' or...

drill into the mold ( a forstner bit would be ideal if it will cut it ) then use jb weld to fix a piece of aluminum rod of correct diameter for the eyes, cut to length and milled flat on the end. [/quote']

Thanks for the idea. I was thinking of just through drilling for the eyes at a size that would be a press fit for the aluminum rod. No glue necessary. Have a lathe and aluminum stock so making oversize rods (if necessary) is an option.

That looks like running to me. Think I'll get comfortable walking first.

Kurt

[dtrs5kprs]

Yes press fit or some sort of tap and die threaded assembly would probably serve better over time.

[LedHed]

Kman

Nice baits ? would have Halloween #1 and Bleeding Mackerel #2.

Are you clear coating your 3D eyes?

[Kman]

Kman

Nice baits ? would have Halloween #1 and Bleeding Mackerel #2.

Are you clear coating your 3D eyes?

If I could only take one color out for calicos and sandies, it would be Halloween. Unless it's a sunny day and/or the current is wrong....

Not clear-coating the 3D eyes. Just put a drop of superglue on them. We lose things to the rocks so fast, it's not worth the extra effort.

[robbor]

You ever fish marina del rey? For the last 3 years weve been fishing the rock jettys at night and having great fun. Its about the only place you can night fish like normal bass. We used Arkie style bass jigs with any color grub but white was best and a piece of squid. Man-o-man we used to kill them. Som e nive bass to, we regularly got 5-7# calico's. The trick was to fish right up in the rocks, we would pitch jigs all night long till 3 am. We used to catch alot of batrays there also using squid and bluegill. I had one thet was about 100#. But pitching jigs was a blast. You got the disco boats comming around, you can see great. We would go through a couple of pounds of squid.

As for your jigheadsyou could try drilling a pilot hole in either side then using a counter bore in the size of the pilot and eye and drill a recess. Thenb you would have to make a silicone mold.

[Tree Doc]

Greetings Gang, another newby here!

This thread caught my attention on a search for parts. I'm already pouring the Shad "9" style Do-It mold in 3 & 4 oz with Mustad 8/0's as recommended by "Do-It". Does anybody here have a source for a better hook like a Gamakatsu or Owner that will work in this mold and for the next smaller mold (1.5, 2, 2.5) which calls for a 7/0 Mustad? These hooks are too long for the application of a 5" swim bait and they aren't very sharp either so when you sharpen them, the tip rusts. I have bought these very style heads that have what appears to be a Gammy or Owner hook with the wide gap but without the really long shank. I sure would love to find a source. The 7/0 Gammy's I bought from Barlows are too small and the hook eye is too small to fit the locater pin in the mold so I have to send them back to Barlows.

Also, the biggest 3D eyes that Barlow's has is 5/16" and I need bigger. Any suppliers you can recommend on that issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Dr. BassLove]

Hi Kman,

Your Halloween looks pretty good. Would you mind sharing the recipe? Thanks!

[atijigs]

If you want to get recesses without altering your mold it can be done with a punch. Pour a couple of heads with your hard lead. No hooks, Take a soft lead block and beat the heads into the block so that a slight recess the shape of the head is imprinted in the lngot or lead block. Use that as the back support. Now when you punch your eye recesses in with the bolt the head will distort very little.

Edited March 29, 2012 by atijigs