I drill a five eighths inch hole
Cut off a strip of lead roof flashing a bit longer than the depth of the hole and roll it up into a slug.
The 6" wide flashing when rolled quite tightly just fits into the hole.
Coat the inside of the hole with Araldite adhesive and then with a ball pein hammer and a bolt for a drift whack it so it compresses the lead and spreads it into the hole.
Trim off the excess lead and trim with a sharp knife or chisel.PS. I make the priests and let them dry out for a month or so. There's nothing worse than trying to drill into wet end grain.
4 comments:
Hi Robin, In your first picture (drilling) what is in the plastic container to the left of the flashing?
They're floating nightlights!
I put them there out of Jed's way. Good for rubbing on saws, drills, planes etc.
Robin,
excellent post. I make and sell priests on a regular basis (I try to have one on the stand) but so far have not loaded them with lead - on the basis I'm happy to use any old piece of wood when I am fishing so why carry extra weight around. But I will try your method, it looks really neat and some folks do want the weight. Tho in my view it's better to hit the right place with a sharp tap than bludgeon the fish to pieces. I tend to make to a 19th century design I found in the TATHS hall at the Amberley museum which is more of a cone shape than a bat.
Do you know if people ever melted the lead and poured it into a hole? Lead has a low melting point. Nice priests by the way.
Do you think that Mark only ever catches small fish, you need a good weight priest on a 20 pounder.
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