Soft lead wanted

Greetings,

Another source would be leaded rope from fishing nets.  I got some in the past from recovered netting, but you need someplace where commercial fishing allows for use of nets.  What I got was from netting washed up on shore from the ocean, maybe you can get some from the great lakes if you are near them.  If so, check land fills for the nets, cut off the line on the bottom, then take it home to "get the lead out".  I cut the line into 5 foot lengths, made a crude jig to keep the line close to a table saw blade, cut half the rope open and took out the pellets.  I then washed and soaked the pellets 3 times to insure any salt was leeched out.  Nice clean, soft lead.  Make sure the lead is dry before melting for casting.

I used an old fine toothed blade run backwards on my table saw.  My jig was a 2X4 with a notch cut out the size of the rope, and placed the jig over the blade after the blade height was adjusted to cut to the lead, but not through ii or into it.  I secured the 2X4 to the table saw with clamps.  A friend helped with pulling the rope through the jig; I started the rope, and after it came out the other end of the jig he grabbed the rope and gently pulled it.  After the first couple lengths we moved the operation outside my shop due to the rope fibers going everywhere, and placed the saw in an area where we could pick up the lead pellets if they dropped from the rope.

TK