Most anglers, when equipping their fishing rods, are faced with the need to load the bait. Both bottom fishers and spinners have to weigh down their rigs or artificial fish so that they quickly reach the bottom or fly far. Sometimes during a fishing trip you can leave your entire arsenal of fishing weights in a catchable but snagged area of ​​the reservoir. Some amateurs do not have the financial means to constantly replenish lead supplies, while other fishermen find it difficult to get to specialized stores. In such cases, molds for casting sinkers will come to the rescue. Due to the low melting point of lead and its availability, the necessary cargo can be cast directly on the shore of the reservoir. What forms are there for sinkers?

Molds for casting from different materials

Fishermen make lead sinkers with equal success with their own hands, using factory-made or homemade molds. Basically, most designs differ in the material of manufacture. The most commonly used materials are plaster, wood, aluminum or steel.

• Disposable forms can even be made from thick paper. Many novice anglers know how to make a lead sinker for bottom fishing using a tablespoon. It is enough to pour molten lead into the concave part of a tablespoon to get a neat workpiece. All that remains is to make a hole, and the load can be installed on the donk.
• Simplest form for casting, the sinker can be made from a piece wooden slats 5-10 mm thick. Using a hacksaw and a knife, you need to make two halves of the future shape in the form of an oval or diamond. Now all that remains is to place both halves on a flat wooden or metal surface and secure them with clamps or simple stands. In the case of a sliding load, it is necessary to place steel wire thickness 0.8-1.0 mm. You can pour lead.
• Often fishermen are faced with the problem of how to make a mold for lead sinkers according to an existing sample. For example, every spinner should have a popular type of jig heads called “Cheburashka”. And it’s not difficult to make an eared sinker based on a store sample if you make a plaster mold. To pour the creamy solution, you can use 2 ordinary matchboxes. First make the dough different weights one box is filled, after which half of the Cheburashka is immersed in plaster.

• As soon as the material dries, a similar operation should be done with the second part of the mold. When the plaster dries in it, all that remains is to combine the two halves, make a hole for pouring and a side hole for air to escape. In opposite corners matchboxes Through holes are made for wire pins or a nail. After such fixation, the halves will not move, maintaining an even spherical figure.
• The most durable sinker molds are made from aluminum or steel. But you won’t be able to make it well on your own. The help of experienced millers and mechanics will be required. Let's look at the technology for making a steel mold for your favorite Cheburashka.
  1. First of all, you will need 2 metal bars with a thickness of 20-25 mm. The width and length depend on the size of the future load and the number of simultaneously cast products. The joining surfaces must be made even and smooth.
  2. Hemispheres can be made using special spherical burrs. After this, it is important to accurately align both halves, for which you can use ball bearings.
  3. Next on drilling machine holes are made for the pins, bleeders and filler necks. Inside one of the halves it is necessary to make recesses for the wire ears.

Sinker casting process

When a mold for casting sinkers finally appeared, questions related to pouring lead appeared. The ease of making a weight depends to some extent on the quality of the mold. But if you know some of the nuances of working with lead, then everything will work out with both homemade and Chinese form, as well as with a product from Spinmag.

Before you begin heating lead, there are a few preparatory steps you need to take. If there are wire elements, it is necessary to cut the required section, bend it and carefully place it in the mold. Internal surfaces The molds into which the molten lead will fall must be lubricated. Then it will be easier to remove the cooled sinker.

Tested in practice! The best lubricant is lard. It is enough to rub a piece of sandpaper over all the depressions to make it easier for the finished product to come out of the mold.

All that remains is to assemble the structure and secure it with special clamps, bolts or pins.

• Lead can be smelted at any time tin can. Using pliers, you can make a narrowed part (beak) to obtain a thin stream of melt. To make it convenient to put a kind of ladle on the fire and remove it from it, it is better to make a bend in the side at the top of the jar.
• Many anglers use battery lead. Melting it at home is dangerous and harmful. Therefore, it is first necessary to make the first melt on the street, pouring a clean fraction, for example, into a spoon. And you can work with pure lead in the kitchen by first turning on the hood. You can also immediately use weights removed from fishing nets.
• If a fisherman has few forms, but wants to make a lot of weights with different weights, then you can experiment a little by adding tin to the lead. These two metals melt well and mix with each other. And the resulting sinkers will be lighter than those made from pure lead.
• When the metal melts in the ladle, you need to wait a little longer for the temperature of the melt to increase. Then the metal will not harden during the casting process.
• It is important to pour hot lead evenly, without stopping. Otherwise, air gaps and unevenness may form inside.

Attention! You can disassemble the mold only after it has completely cooled. This primarily applies to metal structures.

• Lead is soft material. Therefore, flash and burrs can be cut off with a regular knife. Excess metal, which inevitably forms in the filler holes, is removed with wire cutters. A fine file will give the surface a smooth appearance.

Many anglers note that brand new sinkers work worse than tarnished similar models. Therefore, home-made products can first be treated in vinegar (24 hours). Then lower the sinkers into a saturated solution of potassium permanganate for a day.

Today, fishermen can purchase ready-made forms in specialized stores or make them with their own hands. Using these devices correctly, you can get a rich arsenal fishing sinkers and heads.

I’ll say right away: this method is only suitable for small batches and simple shapes of sinkers. For example, I would recommend making collapsible Cheburashkas using aluminum molds, which I use myself)

Before the start of the season, I decided to add “bullet” weights to my collection for the increasingly popular jig-rig.

Materials

So where do we start? First, we need to prepare a set of materials for making molds for our future sinkers. I make the forms from ordinary building plaster.

I use stainless steel wire with a cross section of 0.8 mm. Also, we will need ordinary disposable containers, any fatty cream, such as “baby”, water and an old spoon.

Samples

These are ready-made sinkers, purchased or previously made. Any thing can serve as a model. I made one sample from a real bullet)

The shape can be slightly adjusted with plasticine, but only a little, because... When the gypsum sets, it releases heat and a large volume of plasticine will simply melt. IN in this case I took the bullets I had previously made and equipped them with wire loops, fixing it all with green plasticine.

Mold making

You need to prepare the gypsum mixture according to the “powder to water” rule, in a ratio of approximately 1:1, you need to focus on the consistency, it should be creamy.

Pre-lubricate our mold and samples with the prepared fatty cream.

Pour the mixed plaster into the container to fill exactly ½ of the container and tap it on the surface, expelling air bubbles. As soon as the plaster begins to set, it is necessary to immerse our samples halfway in the hardening plaster. The setting time of gypsum depends on the brand of the powder itself, minimum time- this is 2 minutes, i.e. after 2 minutes we begin to carefully look at the surface of the plaster. As soon as it becomes matte, it’s time!

We insert guides along the edges of our form. It can be anything, I use pieces of wire, toothpicks, lollipop tubes.

Now we wait for complete hardening, 20-30 minutes is enough.

Then we lubricate the surface of the mold and the samples recessed in it with our rich cream.

We dilute the plaster again and fill the container to the top. We also remove air bubbles by tapping and leave to harden for the same 20-30 minutes.

After hardening, carefully remove the mold from the container and carefully separate it into two halves, removing the samples.

That's it, the form is ready! We leave it to dry for a couple of days near the battery - the water should completely evaporate.

So I made 3 molds with different weights. Before the molds become unusable, the weights cast in them will last me for 2 or 3 seasons). The main disadvantage of such forms is their fragility. Gypsum is a fairly fragile material, so molds quickly crack, caverns and chips appear in them, especially for split molds. Bullet molds last much longer. For example, the uniform shown in the photo in the article is already in use for the second or even third season.

After the mold has completely dried, it is necessary to make sprues. To do this, mark the line of the sprue, connect the mold and drill out the sprue in the shape of a funnel using drills different diameters. For the top point of the funnel I use a 10.1mm drill, for the bottom I use a 3.5mm drill.

Casting sinkers

Now we can start casting the lead weights! To do this we need wire for the ears, lead, a torch or crucible and a clamp.

We bend the ears from the wire using pliers and put them into the mold.

We connect the two halves of the form and fix them with a clamp.

Melt the lead. I have old cheburakhs, tire weights and other lead scrap. Warming up the lead gas burner, it literally takes a few minutes, very convenient! Next, we pour the lead into the sprues and let it cool, that is, when you pour it into the last mold, the first one has already cooled down, everything is very fast!

Now we separate the mold and remove our weights.

Weights are cast very quickly, sometimes before fishing I remember that I have run out of a load of a certain weight, and then, in literally 20 minutes, I cast the dozen or one and a half weights I need. It takes less time than going to the store for the same goods)

In this way, you can experiment with the shapes and weights of sinkers, and invent some special shape of sinkers that are not available in stores. For example, last season I experimented with “stick” weights, made several versions of non-snagging weights with different lengths and diameters. The weight of such “stick” sinkers can be reduced directly while fishing, thanks to the small diameter of 6 and 8 mm (if you need to reduce the weight, you can simply bite off part of the sinker with pliers). Also, thanks to such diameters, the load passes 95% of hooks!

Another simplest version of the mold for casting weights is the “bullet” for Carolina. To make such a mold, you need to pour plaster into any sufficiently high mold; I took a lid from aerosol can, and just place sharp side samples of bullets smeared with the same cream on top into hardening plaster - that’s it, the form is ready.

To cast such bullets, it is necessary to insert a “mortgage” made of steel wire, lubricated with ordinary toilet soap, into a mold, and pour lead on top. That's all.

The insert is removed from the bullet, leaving a hole for the fishing line.

Pros and cons of making your own sinkers

The most important advantage is the low cost of the resulting weights. It is also important that you can always cast the missing weights within 10-15 minutes if available ready-made forms. I practice this quite often; before fishing, I quickly cast a dozen weights, if necessary.

Another plus for these homemade products is that you can choose a special shape and weight of the sinker for your fishing conditions, equip it with any accessories, “play” with the diameter and size of the loops, etc. Also, this is a quite exciting and educational lesson in physics and chemistry for your children! Children are happy to get involved in the process, even for this alone it’s worth trying to make a mold and cast weights yourself!

Now about the disadvantages: the most important one, as I already mentioned, is the fragility of the form. You can add reinforcing additives to gypsum, such as lime and others, but this will not fundamentally change the situation. Also one of the disadvantages this method There is a certain amount of flash on the finished weights, this applies to collapsible forms. A mold for a “bullet” with a hole is the most good option both in terms of durability and ease of manufacturing the mold, and in terms of casting the sinkers themselves. I 105% recommend making a mold for bullets! I would also consider the difficulties of marking such cargo as a disadvantage. The grams have to be marked manually.

In general, making such sinkers does not require any special equipment or any special knowledge or skills, everything is extremely simple!

That’s probably all, if you have any questions, write in the comments, I’ll be happy to answer;)

Today many fishermen prefer self-production gear, but this is not associated with a certain saving, although in this case it is also present. Basically, by creating sinkers with your own hands, you can make the size, shape and weight that the fisherman himself needs, based on his preferences and experience.

In principle, you can cast absolutely any sinker yourself, but if we are talking about a standard fishing rod, then there is no need to cast anything. It is enough to find a piece of lead that is suitable in weight and process it with a file or pliers. It will also be much easier for those who combine fishing and hunting, because the almost finished sinker is a lead pellet, which is easily upgraded into a weight by making a small cut.

As for bottom tackle, sinkers of a certain shape and weight are needed. The material for such sinkers can be battery plates, from which lead is smelted and poured into a spoon scoop. When the lead has cooled, all that remains is to drill a small hole in the sinker (on the narrow side).

The casting of weights for spinning fishing deserves special attention, because such sinkers have a more complex shape than a tablespoon. That is why a special form is needed here.

When choosing a material for a casting mold, you should remember that a matrix that is easier to manufacture will quickly become unusable. As a rule, the most common material for such forms is gypsum or metal, where the gypsum base is faster and simple option in the casting sinker, but at the same time it can withstand only a few castings.

The basis for the matrix can be either an empty cardboard box or matchbox or ordinary polystyrene foam, into which plaster is poured (which should have the consistency of thick sour cream), and then an existing sinker is carefully pressed into it (but only to the middle), pre-lubricated with oil or Vaseline. After complete drying,

We extract our sample and do the same procedure with the second half of the form. Next, you should cut a couple of grooves for air and a funnel for filling. A round needle file and a sharp shoe knife are ideal for this. For better adhesion and a tight fit, you should install a pair of pins on the mold, which can be made from ordinary wire, nails or bolts.

As for metal molds, you can make it yourself only if you have special equipment or order it from friends who work at any enterprise that has metalworking machines. This matrix will serve you well for many years and it will be an indispensable assistant in the manufacture of gear.

Today I will tell you how to make fishing weights with your own hands from lead, and not waste money. Any jig spinner should ideally have a gentleman's set in order to feel confident on any body of water, even in the most unexpected fishing conditions. Such a set of weights requires the presence of a large number of weights, ranging from 1.5 g to 35 g, and sometimes more, with an interval of 2-4 g. For example, when we go on a trip, we always take with us a set of ordinary eared weights, respectively, 1. 5 g, 4 g, 6 g, 9 g, 12 g, 15 g, 18 g, 20 g, 22 g, 25 g, 28 g, 32 g, 35 g.

Of course it is large number It’s quite cumbersome to carry shot and buckshot all day, especially since the load of each weight must be backed up in case of snags. But this, in a sense, store assortment allows us to select bait for absolutely any fishing conditions.

Unfortunately, the fishing industry lags far behind the potential needs of the market, and you will not find such a selection, especially eared fish, anywhere. The way out of this current situation is quite simple - you need to cast and make weights for fishing yourself. This kills two birds with one stone - on the one hand, you save time by not running around the shops looking for the weight you need, and on the other hand, you stop being afraid of losing them on cliffs.

How to make a weight from lead

How to make weights for fishing with your own hands from lead, because according to statistics, out of 100 fishermen, only 1 is a jack of all trades or a mechanic high category, who is able to make molds for casting himself. We should not forget that in our country the hardest currency, oddly enough, is liquid, and if you are able to explain to a mechanic, who is easy to meet at the entrance of any factory, what you need and what he needs, then this problem is completely solved in just a few days. The only thing is that in order to obtain forms for each weight, it is necessary to inform the mechanic of the exact diameters of the future ears. For convenience, we provide below a table of correspondence between diameters and weights in the shape of a ball. This table is compiled specifically for lead, taking into account its density, so if you want to cast, for example, a Wood or Rose alloy with a lower density, obtained in the same form it will be similar in diameter, but lighter in weight. And if you put tungsten fragments of electrodes into the mold before casting, you can get a very heavy and compact one.

How to make molds for casting a weight

Molds for casting sinkers with your own hands are also quite easy to make from plaster or silicone sealant. Very original and at the same time simple solution is the manufacture of a mold for casting from silicone sealant such as “Germesil” or any similar one. The criterion for choosing a sealant is the ability to withstand high temperatures without changing the properties of the material. Most household sealants have an upper temperature limit of about 150-180°C. This forces us to use not lead (melting point about 350°C) for casting sinkers, but special alloys that have more low temperature melting. First of all, we are talking about Wood, Rose and typographic alloys (melting point from 60 to 110 ° C). When using these particular alloys silicone mold will serve for a very long time without deteriorating the quality of the castings.

In the case of lead, a mold made from household sealant can withstand up to 10 castings, and the quality of each subsequent load becomes worse due to the gradual burnout of the sealant over the entire area of ​​​​contact of the molten lead with the mold. Currently, silicone sealant is easy to buy in auto stores or stores selling building materials. This silicone mold, despite its amazing elasticity and seeming unreliability, can easily withstand high temperatures and a large number of castings. In addition, silicone sealant gives the angler an amazing opportunity to almost perfectly replicate any, even the most complex, shape of a sinker or spinning bait.

Form for weights

The shape of the weights itself is very simple to make. A small box is taken, which is then filled to the brim with silicone sealant. During filling, you need to ensure that there are no bubbles in the sealant. Next, the weight or bait that you are going to repeat is lubricated with a solution of wax or paraffin in gasoline, dried and lowered on a wire into a box with sealant so that it is completely immersed in the sealant, but does not touch the walls of the box. In such a suspended state, a sample of the future fishing weight or bait should be kept until the sealant has completely hardened. The polymerization process of silicone sealant throughout the entire volume of the mold is not uniform, and complete hardening of the silicone mold can take five to six days. Therefore, you should not remove the sample from the mold until complete polymerization occurs.

This moment can be easily controlled by periodically carefully feeling the shape. The completely cured sealant should resemble the consistency of a well-inflated one. soccer ball. Next, a small sprue hole is carefully cut from the top, through which the sample is removed due to the elasticity of the sealant. After this, the silicone mold is separated from the box and becomes completely ready for multiple castings. Pouring lead into this form and removing a finished hand-made weight or bait occurs through the same sprue hole. At the moment of removing the finished sample, the mold stretches each time and, as it were, “spits out” it, after which it instantly takes on its original form and is again ready for more and more castings. The advantages of a mold made from silicone sealant are obvious: it is very cheap, extremely simple and at the same time quite reliable. In addition to the molds for the eared balls, we highly recommend that you make several molds for casting the lentil type. Outwardly, it somewhat resembles a plum pit flattened on the sides. The lentil is lighter than the spherical eared fish, but due to its shape it slips much more easily through the closed mouth of the fish, significantly improving hooking. The most important use of lentils is when catching pike perch with its bulldog grip. Here they are simple tips how you can make weights for fishing with your own hands and without financial costs for you.

Do-it-yourself fishing sinkers are created from lead using casting; for this you do not need to have blacksmithing skills or spend a lot of money. All you need for the job are materials for casting molds and lead. The main thing is to follow safety precautions when casting; you need to protect your respiratory tract, because lead is not excreted from the body and has a detrimental effect on humans.

To make a primitive disposable form, we will need thick paper, cardboard, any utensils and sand will do.

Step-by-step production:

• roll the prepared paper into a cone and cut it sharp end, thread wire or rings into the hole for fastening;
• Place a paper bag in the center of the dish and fill it with sand around it.

Molten lead is poured into the resulting mold. When casting fishing weights, the paper will burn, but by this time the lead will have already hardened. The resulting result remains to be cleaned, after which the sinker can be used immediately.

Making sinkers at home does not require much effort, but not everyone can afford metal mold for casting, so we will use sealant.

This option is good because the sealant mold is made quite easily and quickly and allows you to cast many different sinkers for fishing:

1. We fill the box with sealant, while trying to prevent the formation of bubbles.
2. Before immersing in the box, the sinker must be treated with wax.
3. Using a wire, lower the sinker into the solution without touching the walls. You need to wait for the sealant to completely harden without removing the weight.
4. After the solution has completely hardened, you need to cut a hole and remove the weight. The form is ready, you can start making new weights.
5. Pour molten lead into the resulting mold. When using pure lead, a sealant mold can withstand about 10 castings; using a typographic alloy will increase the service life of the mold several times .

“I cast the sinkers from a printing alloy, it has a melting point of about 100 degrees - this is significantly lower than that of ordinary lead. In addition to the main hole in the sealant, I made one small hole for air, this improved the quality of production,” writes an experienced person who makes fishing sinkers with his own hands.

There are no difficulties in making such forms and castings of sinkers. Everyone has the materials needed for this in their home, and if they are not available, they can be purchased at any time. affordable prices and make fishing weights.

Let's start making molds and casting weights:

1. Diluted gypsum powder is poured into the square formwork.
2. The sinker blank, attached to a wire, is installed in the center of the container in the not yet hardened plaster. We make holes in different parts blanks.
3. Before you pour top layer Be sure to coat the bottom layer with the sinker with liquid soap - this will prevent the workpieces from sticking together.
4. After applying the top layer, lightly tap the workpiece to distribute the solution evenly.
5. The gypsum has frozen, you can disassemble the formwork and open the workpiece.
6. Make holes in the upper part: one for sinker castings, the other for oxygen supply. The workpiece is ready for use.
7. Next, we proceed similarly to the options described above: insert the wire into the workpiece and pour molten lead into the hole made.

Before fishing using the resulting sinkers, it is necessary to finalize them, make line clamps, drill holes and clean the connecting points. After processing, you will have excellent sinkers in your hands that you can take fishing.

By casting lead weights, you will not waste your money on tackle that you can make yourself. After the first work, the question of how to make a sinker for fishing will be resolved independently.