Pouring strap anchors?

A few thoughts about material, temps, and molds.

What material are making the strap anchors out of? Pure lead? reclaimed lead? a known lead alloy mix? Each one of these will have different bend and flexing characteristics. Pure lead is probably your best choice and will be the most friendly in regards to repeated bending.

Too high of melting and pouring temps will contribute to brittleness in the finished product. Along with that, is making sure the mold(s) are not disturbed while the material is still molten and setting up. Disturbing the molds, even a little, (moving them, setting them down to cool) can cause internal fractures in the cooling metal.

Molds,,, Are you using an open (one sided) or closed ( two sided) mold? Open molds will produce a poorer grade product because of the uneven cooling of the molten metal. This again contributes to internal stress fractures and brittleness.

Open sided molds can still be used, just be aware that they will produce a product that will be more prone to break than the same lead cast in a closed mold. How much difference in the end product depends on the actual difference in the cooling rate between the two under the conditions in which you are pouring that day.
 
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I have tried this a few times. I was using old lead drain pipes that I cut out of an old house. I routed grooves into a piece of ipee decking for the mold. Very crude but the first dozen I made have held up great. I made another dozen last fall and they didn't hold up nearly as well. Most had broken by the end of the season. I guess all the factors listed above contributed to the bad batch. And I guess I just got lucky on the first batch. Luke
 
..what Dave said and don't cool them in water.
Also, consider selling your ingots and buying the ready-made straps anchors.
 
I had a machine shot make me a three place strap anchor mold that makes a longer and heavier anchor than you can buy. The commercial anchors are a little too light and short for my use. As said, you need pure lead, not babit or anything with a high antimony content like wheel weights to melt as it is brittle. Make sure you are in a well ventilated area to work with lead as the fumes aren't good for you either. I make two types of anchors as the use dictates. The strap anchors are for portable decoys and my cup anchors are for the permanent decoys we use in the rice field. I use coated, heavy(12 ga.) single strand electrical wire made into a loop then when I pour my anchors in an old cast iron muffin mold the 6 to 8 inch loop fits over the decoy's neck and can be bent to stay on for picking up and storing at the end of the year.
 
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