Old School Long-Line molding

Dave Diefenderfer

Dave Diefenderfer

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I had seen a photo on "On the Falling Tide" slide show. I use sash weights now for my long lines, and generally they work well. However, when hunting areas with a stronger tide, I wanted something more, so.....

I plastic wrapped some bocce balls, and slapped together a box with some scrap pine. Half a bag of quick set concrete was mixed up and poured. I let them set over night, the balls slide out easily. The form sat in the sun a couple days, but that was not long enough....

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What I learned is that it takes several pours to really dry out the concrete.

Concrete may not be the best material, perhaps a grout mix would work better.

Steel bolts/nuts/washers want to float in the lead, and you need to fix them in position.

I will pursue other molds with the grout mix and see what happens..... not much invested!
 
I know you have some time in molding and I know how fun it is, but you can make those same mushrooms with a small plumbers lead pot. Should be an easy ebay item if you don't already have one. I have two and both work well to release the lead. That weight is what I use on my long lines, worlds better than sash weights (smaller, don't rust and hold better).
 
I used an old cast iron skillet to make similar anchors.

And yes, I also found out the hard way that steel floats in molten lead!
 
but you can make those same mushrooms with a small plumbers lead pot. Should be an easy ebay item if you don't already have one. I have two and both work well to release the lead. That weight is what I use on my long lines, worlds better than sash weights (smaller, don't rust and hold better)

Todd, how do you get the lead to release from the cast iron pot? Brian actually found a pot, and we had to heat the pot to get the lead out of it? It was in there for many years, likely decades, so maybe that is the reason. Oil it?
 
Don't oil it! If the hot lead hits the oil you'll have an explosion on your hands, or lead spatter at the very least!

The different rates of expansion between the lead and the cast iron should let it fall out of the pan when cool.
 
That was why I added that note... I can envision that some pots would be too straight sided to do so, but mine do. Lead does not bond to iron or rust so no release needed. Bummer that your pot won't release them. Mine are visibly tapered. I would think they would generally be shaped not to hold the solid lead mass after cooling (but what do I know), so that whatever that was in there wasn't stuck.
 
Dave:

You might try smoking the inside of the pot with a candle. If you get it all black and, dusty with the smoke, the lead should come loose, with just a bump on the edge. When I was a kid, I used to make lead army men, with a casting set. I melted the lead in a ladle and then poured it in a mold, that was made with two halves. Before pouring the lead, each half of the mold was smoked black, with a lit candle.

Jerry
 
Geoff Pike said:
The different rates of expansion between the lead and the cast iron should let it fall out of the pan when cool.
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
Dave~

Cast iron should not be a problem. For my regular mushroom anchors, I use a cast iron muffin "tin". In fact, I also have some heavy anchors molded from a "modern" (pre-Teflon) muffin tin. You could pour a dozen at a time - provided you can hold the hardware in place.....

BTW: That anchor molding box you saw was in our first DVD: "When the Broadbill was King on Great South Bay"

It was shown to us by Preston Raynor - of Islip, NY - who was 91 at the time. I believe his brother (whose name escapes me) made the box.

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I suspect you would need to clamp any eyes or bails to the cross bar so they stay in place during a pour. Thanks to my dad, I have a "holder" that is a spring clamp articulated on a heavy base. It holds the "hardware" whilst I pour my anchor.

With your old pot, you could wax it before its first use. As with oil, you'd need a slow pour to make sure there's no heavy residue to expand too fast. As you no doubt know, water in a mold - or dropped into molten lead - is very dangerous.

All the best,

SJS

 
Or you could just clip another sash weight to the first.[cool]
But then you miss out playing with stuff.

Frankly, if one large sash weight doesn't hold, those small mushrooms probably won't either.
I've gone to those galv. rowboat mushroom anchors, they weigh 10#. When that won't hold it's time to go home
 
I have had success with a stainless steel dog bowl, a small one, rigged up a jig to hold a stainless steel eye bolt up in it while the lead cooled. They worked great just brought a lot of mud in with them.
 
All kinds of great ideas! Thanks guys....

I was enamored with the "old school" method and just had to try it. I have some old keel weights I was going to try next if this had worked...still may.
 
CraigS said:
I have had success with a stainless steel dog bowl, a small one, rigged up a jig to hold a stainless steel eye bolt up in it while the lead cooled. They worked great just brought a lot of mud in with them.
Click to expand...

I do the same hing for my gang line weights. Scored a bunch of sash weights this summer. I prefer them just for the nostalgia of it. I don't deal with current here.
 
Dave,
What about using casting/ Foundry sand? Here is a pretty cool tutorial on casting a keel for model yacht.

https://www.sfmyc.org/website/images/stories/articles/LeadCasting/sand-casting-a-lead-keel.pdf

Zane
 
I cast 5 lbs pyramid anchors in a box of slightly damp sand. Just damp enough to hold the shape. The problem I have with steel hardware is that the heat burns off the chrome or bright finish and they rust. I'm ready to melt them down after 5 or 6 years of fresh and salt water use and try galvanized hardware.
 
Brad B said:
I cast 5 lbs pyramid anchors in a box of slightly damp sand. Just damp enough to hold the shape. The problem I have with steel hardware is that the heat burns off the chrome or bright finish and they rust. I'm ready to melt them down after 5 or 6 years of fresh and salt water use and try galvanized hardware.
Click to expand...

Spring for stainless :). I use stainless eyebolt lags and bend the threaded end in a vice so it can't unthread. I found that to be the least expensive option that works well and is the fastest.
 
The skillet lead molds sound like the way to go. We used 25-30 lb sash weights on our diver strings and had some flat metal plate weights for a dumbell set for the trailing edges of the lines.

It is funny how much the current can play with the flat plates on the ends. Even with 15 lbs on the trailing edges, they'd still get moved around from the tides and the currents.

I wonder if you might be able to line the mold with aluminum foil to keep it from sticking?

Another notion is after the lead has cooled, heat the bottom of the cast iron some and it will expand, and probably break the seal with the lead.
 
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Steve Sanford said:

It was shown to us by Preston Raynor - of Islip, NY - who was 91 at the time.
Click to expand...

Where you ever fortunate enough to peek inside that guys barn??? Whoa mama......
 
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