I was thinking of making my own tube jigs. I was wondering how hard it is and how cost effective it would be. I can currently buy them for 3 for 4 dollars. Also where can you get the lead to make them.

Thanks,

Jenga

Jenga,

Unless you are going to make a lot of them, it definitely costs more money to start up and pour. You won't recoup your cost for awhile. Mold about $35, lead pot about $60, lead ...free if you can find it, hooks, gate cutters, paint if you are going to paint them, eyeglasses, face shield, fan for circulation, toaster oven for curing paint. This is just a general idea. I'm sure I missed a lot.

However if you want a hobby to keep you busy, then go for it, learn and most important be very careful so you don't get burned.

I make lots of jigheads, shakeyheads, football heads, and weedless jigheads along with sinkers. I get my lead from scrap at construction sites. Any house with copper on the roof will be attached by smelting lead it seems like. If you catch them while they're picking up all the trash around the house and ask if you can look to see if there is any lead laying around and tell them why you want it they'll usually let you look, they're just going to throw it away anyways. Makes sure you clean it off really well before you use it. It's probably not the purest lead but it works. If you're not making a bunch it's not going to be very cost effective either. I wouldn't bother with it if you don't have a way of getting free lead because it isn't cheap to buy the ingots to melt down.