Jig Mold

[pakrat846]

Just ordered a football jig mold with all the componets. Does anybody out there have any do's and don'ts they want to share.

[capt ken]

Smoke the cavities with candle smoke.  You will get better pours every time.

What style and size hooks does it use?  I have thousands of jig hooks.

[BW]

I'm using lead pipe it's almost pure lead.  I melt in a small amount of wheel weights from the tire store where I buy my tires.  (At first they didn't want to give any up till I told them I'd just buy my tires some where else from now on.)  Use just enough weights to make the jigs a little harder, not to much or they will not mold right.  Once they are melted the slag needs to be scraped off the lead, then I poor it into ingot molds and let it cool for use later.   

After the jigs are molded paint them using powder paint.  After painting them they need to be cooked in an oven to harden the paint.  Just follow the direction on the container.  You'll not believe how much better the pain stays on your jigs than those from the Wal-mart.

DO NOT PICK UP THE FRESHLY MOLDED JIG BY THE LEAD TO REMOVE THE WEED GARD PLUG.  IT IS HOT   

[larrylargemouth]

Make sure your jig mold is hot before you pour. Heat the mold with a propane torch to get started a little faster or
pour a few practice heads before putting in hooks. As BW stated, powder coating is definately the way to go. We
rigged up an old toaster oven with racks to hang the heads on to bake the powder paint. 45 mins. at 350 works well.  Needlenose pliers are a must for this process. Good Luck!

[pakrat846]

Thanks for the info guys,I ordered the Mustad 32756 hooks but there were two other brands that would work with this mold.I haven't bought the paint yet because I just did not know what to use,but now I do.I have a toaster oven we just bought and we have not used it until now.


Should I also put epoxy or hardener on them also?

[javelin225ho]

im with ya pakrat, i just started pouring lead.  i have poured plastics for the last couple years and i also do custom paint on crankbaits/topwater/jerkbaits....i am sick of paying 1$ a pop for a jighead when i break off 5-10 of them a tourney.....i have the powder paint, the lead pot, molds and 400 of the hooks you ordered. 

which mold do you have?  i have the Giggy Head and looking for the SpotSticker mold

[pakrat846]

I bought the weedless football mold in 1/4 3/8 1/2 3/4. I have poured a few with the small weedless bundles but I stopped after a few because I think the bundles were too small and I had to double them up.I ordered larger ones and some powder paint from Barlows so I'm waiting for those to arrived before making more. I also ordered a size larger hook too.I bought the rubber skirt material kinda like in bulk but just trying to separate all of the strands after making a skirt is time consuming.I guess like anything else its trial and error.But I figured out that the jigs I make will only cost about .24 a piece.