We used to fish a lot, and with my husband being retired, we will probably begin to go a lot more than we did for a while. In order to save a little money, he makes a lot of our jigs and also spinner baits.
It all starts with lead. He has friends that will bring him lead from tire weights, etc. These he places in a lead pot...I am not sure how hot it gets but plenty hot to melt the lead. I have done that over an open fire. One thing you do not want to do is let one drop of water hit the melted lead because it will splatter everywhere!
Anyway, the lead pot has a spout in the bottom that is controlled by a little 'stopper'. I don't know what else to call it...it is long and runs all the way to the top and has a wire connected to it. ( I use the term connected loosely--I think it is more like a notch is cut into the stopper and the wire runs through it.) It is a stiff wire, and has a handle that is lifted to open the spout, and allows lead to flow out. My husband has jig molds and buys hooks, you place the hooks in the open mold, which has one side laying flat till the hooks will stay put. You thing carefully close the other side to it, and it looks like the photo below.
With the mold above he makes 8 jigheads at a time. They will each have a little bit of excess lead that he has to trim off, and then he paints them one at a time. He uses model paint, and I think he discovered that he could use touch-up paint for cars and it dries fast.
These are all lures he made over a couple or three days. It is time consuming to sit and paint the eyes on. He don't always paint, but really prefers to.
Then for spinner baits, he has another mold. He also has to buy wire, blades, swivels, and living rubber.
He bends the wire to the desired shape he wants and chooses what blades he wants. This is a smaller spinner bait, but he also makes the larger ones.
The photo below shows the spinner bait just before the living rubber is added.
And here is the finished product.
It all starts with lead. He has friends that will bring him lead from tire weights, etc. These he places in a lead pot...I am not sure how hot it gets but plenty hot to melt the lead. I have done that over an open fire. One thing you do not want to do is let one drop of water hit the melted lead because it will splatter everywhere!
Anyway, the lead pot has a spout in the bottom that is controlled by a little 'stopper'. I don't know what else to call it...it is long and runs all the way to the top and has a wire connected to it. ( I use the term connected loosely--I think it is more like a notch is cut into the stopper and the wire runs through it.) It is a stiff wire, and has a handle that is lifted to open the spout, and allows lead to flow out. My husband has jig molds and buys hooks, you place the hooks in the open mold, which has one side laying flat till the hooks will stay put. You thing carefully close the other side to it, and it looks like the photo below.
With the mold above he makes 8 jigheads at a time. They will each have a little bit of excess lead that he has to trim off, and then he paints them one at a time. He uses model paint, and I think he discovered that he could use touch-up paint for cars and it dries fast.
These are all lures he made over a couple or three days. It is time consuming to sit and paint the eyes on. He don't always paint, but really prefers to.
Then for spinner baits, he has another mold. He also has to buy wire, blades, swivels, and living rubber.
He bends the wire to the desired shape he wants and chooses what blades he wants. This is a smaller spinner bait, but he also makes the larger ones.
The photo below shows the spinner bait just before the living rubber is added.
And here is the finished product.
