The design of the weight is very important not only for fishing, but for getting it out of the mold relatively easy. A little bit of curvature on the sides is the key as you can see in the picture below. This is a 5 ounce weight shown with the nail that goes through it when pouring. The nail has been ground off at the end to get rid of the barbs so that it is easy to pull it through the weight after it cools. The bent up side is where you grab it out of the mold with a pair of pliers. You have to drill a small hole for the tip of the nail to stick into the mold to hold it there while pouring.  A 3/32nd in diameter piece of brass works well also.

When I pour my molds into a plastic container. I let the mixture (now bondo) set up slightly and use vice grips like in the picture below. The bondo mixture gets rather hot from the chemical reaction.  Definitely use a cut off nail in the weight so it does not go all the way through and so that it forms the one end that sticks up in the mold. Then drill out the other end where the tip of the nail goes later with a 1/16^th inch drill. Does not take much. This curvature of the weight design should take care of it sticking in the mold or pulled out with little effort.  If your weight goes to deep in the mold, then use a Exacto Knife and cut out the excess.  The secret is not to let the bondo totally cure before you pull out the weight.  You can always touch it up as there might be small bubbles under the weight depending how much you mixed the mixture to begin with whipping air into it.

This weight is pretty much a standard slip sinker for any tackle box. I am now starting to play around with the shapes somewhat to decrease the probability of it getting hung up. This I am sure will take a lot of time and trials. As we all know, you can’t save them all. But, if you can save just one, it is well worth our efforts here in the designing process.

I’m having trouble with the molds made out of bondo and definitely plaster of paris when the hot lead is above 7 ounces. So thinking of trying out something else like going back to floor grout to absorb the heat better. Or some type of a mini rebar that they use in concrete type of structure.