I bought a sinker mold. I got the set up going, but while the sinkers are functional, they are as ugly as Inbred Newjerk.

Does anyone have any experience with them and know how to pretty them up a bit?

Maybe try heating the mold a bit if the lead is cooling to fast?

Law Dog is spot on. You need to heat the mold to get good casts, if not you will be cooling as you pour. You can either take a torch and pass it over the mold or ( and this is what I prefer to do) make several pours in rapid succession. So I pour a set of sinkers, pop them out and put them right back into the melting pot, then pour another set of sinkers and repeat until the molds start coming out clean. It should take a few seconds before the sinkers start to cool in the pour hole.

most home made sinkers i've used have been ugly but worked great.i did run the last batch i had through a small rock tumbler that made em look a little better but no difference in effectiveness.

My experience is crappy mold or lead not hot enough when it was poured. Done about 100 egg and bank sinkers about a month ago and they all came out perfect. But was using a new do it mold and Lee melting pot. Tried a couple of older molds and they turned out crappy as well.

You can also dip the mold corner in the pot for a minute to heat it up. But, the ugly ones sink just as fast as the pretty ones.

you need to take a candle and smoke the inside of the mold, just hold the mold over a burning candle and it will turn black in no time. I've poured lots of lead weights from 2lb diving weights to 10lb downrigger weights, no problem. I used a coffee pot on an electric cooker, skim off the top garbage and pour. use a vice grips to help with coffee pot because of weight. DO NOT smell fumes.
Gary

There is a learning process. Cold mold is the biggest thing. smoke the mold to lube it.
just

if they are wrinkly your not hot enough

the mold needs to be hot , dip a corner in the melted lead hold it there , I use 2 stroke motor oil on my mold pins with a qtip and on my sprue plate sprue plates are more of a bullet mold thing than a sinker mold the oil should just let a little whisp of smoke off when you are getting into the right temp

use a candle to smoke the cavities if they don't drop well

but hot mold hot lead , the puddle out side the mold cavity should stay molten for 7- 10 seconds after you quit pouring before it freezes

wrinkels are the leaf freezing as it hits the mold .


when I am casting bullets especially big 300+gr bullets I run that pot hot and dump bullets till they fill out with crisp edges in the driving bands then back off when they start sticking or get a frost to them I want to run the pot just below frosty bullets , the frost is the antimony cristalizing because it is too hot but I find that by getting a few frosty bullets then backing off the heat a but. lightly frosty bullets still shoot fine.

Especially true of aluminum molds. The heat distributes fairly quickly but it also dissipates quickly.
Most of the casting that I have done were bullets ,but if you can cast a fairly rapid pace you should be able to get some to fill out well. I became concerned when they started to come out frosty looking but that should be less of a concern with something like a sinker.

The above comments are a great wealth of info. Heat the mold over the smelting pot. Make sure there is no corrosion inside the mold. When the mold is polished to a mirror finish hold over a candle to "soot" the mold cavity. Pour a few castings and return them into the smelting pot. Keep doing that until you get the casting finish you're looking for. If still having problems try fluxing the lead. (candle wax works good as a flux, throw a chunk in the pot, stir it around after the flame goes out ladle the slag off the top ). The impurity of the lead can cause problems. Good luck.

What brand of mold and what sinkers are you pouring?I pour all my own sinkers along with all my own jigs.Also worked in a foundry for a couple years so I know a bit about molds and pouring metals.

Frosted bullets... They're grrrreeeaaattt.

Mike

I always pour the mold once and let it sit a few minutes then empty the mold put those back in the melting pot when ready start pouring. I try to not let it take me long as a warm/hot mold and properly heated lead is key.

The melting pot is a Lee Infinate Heat Control pot.

I have that mold and use it all the time.As stated above,,the mold has to be hot.I pour the mold,let it sit a minuite,then try again.Repeat again if you have to.Also,,you need a good side cutter to cut the waste from the sinkers.With that mold,,they will NOT come out as pretty as store bought ,,but will be perfectly functional.

I used to cast lead battery cable ends for a living. We did three things to make nice smooth, shiny castings.

1. Preheat the mold with an acetylene torch .

2.Put black smoke on the faces of the mold. This was also done with an acetylene torch. We did it even when the mold was hot.

3. Dust the inside of the mold with baby powder. We'd dump the talc powder into a rag and tie it shut so it was about baseball size. Then every so often beat it oin the face or pour gate to powder up the mold.

I guess functional is what really counts.

Add a Tablespoon of wax to your lead they come out slick and shiny then and keep your mold hot. Every spring we make up 50-60 lbs of snagging sinkers wax made a heck of a difference In over all apperance

What is your lead source? Most clip on wheel weights are zinc nowadays. It is possible to cast zinc contaminated lead, they ain't purty, but they will make useable sinkers. Bullets though, not so much.