I just started pouring my own jigs yesterday for the first time. at first I was getting incomplete pours but eventually solved the problem. But now I have a quite a bit of bad jig pours. What can I do to get the hooks back so I can reuse them? I'd appreciate the help.

Grab the poured jig by the hook bend with a pair of forceps or pliers. Then take and dip the lower half of the jig back into your lead pot. The lead will melt off. Once the lead melts off the hook immediately, wipe the hook shank towards the  eye with a dry rag. This will leave the hook ready to be poured again. Do not dunk the whole jig in the pot because you will fill the hook eye with lead, and once you do that it's cumbersome to clean out the hook eye.

If the hook eye fills with lead tap the plier holding the hook agianst the lead pot while it's still hot, should pop out. If the hardens in the hook eye pick it out using a sharp pointed awl. Short pours are common until the lead and mold are at the right temps.

Use the cleaned hooks for the 1st few pours next time, they are useful.

Tom

 

When you start up, while your lead is coming up to temperature, set your mold on top of the pot and let it warm up too, then your first pour should be as gold as your last.

incomplete pours are due to a cold mold. make sure to heat it up. Some people set it on the Pot while heating, I do this as well as make a few pours without any hooks inserted to heat up the cavity.  Good Luck.

Incomplete pours may also be because of poor lead quality. Try buying ingots from Bass Pro, they are $25 for 5 lbs and it is extremely soft and hasn’t given me any problems.