Check CL for lead that has been fluxed. I found it for $2.00 a lb As said wheel weights have to much other metals.

I figure 10lbs would be plenty for a while the shaky head are 3/8 and 1/4oz. The football jigs are 3/8 and 1/2 oz. In reality I probably don't need that much but if I'm making a mess I would like to poor as many as I can at one time. I'll do some more looking around this week and see what I come up with 2 dollars a pound sounds reasonable.

10 lbs will last you a long time as long as you are just making baits for yourself.

Just wanted to say thanks to NekidTackle for the advise and the lead today I'm one step closer to poring by next weekend now.

Ron is a pretty great guy. He has helped me out in he past too.

And likewise, this is the first time since I have been on TFF, that information is freely shared.
I have learned more about air brush painting. Now I have the FEVER.

Nick,
I finally figured out Fluid Bed's.....for 1 inch of powder, I easily get 4 - 4.5 inches of rise.

Next I need free up time to start air brush painting, thanks to John and his great gift!!! Now that I found the material at Walmart - .97 a yard.

Where is a good place besides Hagens to get crank bait blanks?

Dingerbaits.com, Getbitbaits.com, predatorbass.com, dakotalakestackle.com, unpaintedlures.com are all good I order from all of them and have been happy with everything I have purchased from each. Feel free to ask anytime you need advise or have a question. You have my cell, and I'm available just about 24/7

FYI: all vendors blanks aren't exact duplicates of the same lure from other vendors in terms of size or shape. Example; vendor A sells an LC 1.5, vendor B sells the same LC 1.5 model.....but vendor A's blank is just a little wider than vendor B's blank. Makes a difference if you use stencils a lot. Keep notes on who sells what and settle on a few vendors for consistent quality blanks. All the vendors Brad listed sell good blanks. Pick the blanks you like to paint from each vendor. May take several vendors to get a variety of models that you like and can paint well.

I get all my jig building supplies at barlows tackle and my skirts from fishingskirts.com. I have figured out that if you use 3 layers of skirts per jig it cost around 75 cents per jig, which is about 70% of the how much one lure cost for me to make, But that's with me buying the lead. I havnt found a better price than fishingskirts.com. Donald Harpers skirts I believe are scented so may check them out.

Well I'm going to give poring a shot in the am, hopefully I can knock out some decent shaky heads to replinish my stock. Have 2 tournaments next saturday and need to get stocked up.

You are gonna realize how nice it is painting crankbaits after standing over the hot furnace in July. Give me a shout if you have any issues and I can probably help. I'm pretty sure that I've made every lure making mistake possible on the road to where I am now.

I work outside in the heat, doing something I enjoy and being hot will be no problem. I have watched several videos online and picked up a few tricks that should help out. I'll let you know how it goes though.

Okay, possibly a dumb question do you guys poor with the weed guards in the mold or use the studs and glue them in place?

The hot mold and lead will melt the weed guards. Pour with the inserts and then glue in place with epoxy or super glue gel after you paint or powder coat them. The liquid superglue will leave a hazy residue over the entire bait so DO NOT USE IT. I use teflon inserts during the powder coating process, but if you get any paint in the opening and the weed guard won't fit, just drill it out w/ the appropriate size drill bit to match the size of your weed guard.

I was thinking that would be the best idea, thanks for the info on the glue to use. Hopefully I'll be building some in a few days, had a sick kiddo at home today and couldn't work in the garage.