Dumbell Eye mold

[troutsmart]

I am a fly fisherman and fly tyer but I pour my own jigheads for tying weighted flies. I would love to see a lead mold for pouring dumbell eyes in multiple sizes. I think this mold could have some use for jig tyers as well. Anyway just a thought. Thanks.

[ctom]

Welcome aboard the Do-It forums troutsmart and Merry Christmas.

I've thought the same thing on more than one occasion with regard to the dumbell eyes. I'm sure this will be noticed and considered.

[anyfish]

It would be a good addition.   I would definitely purchase one.

[Muskygary]

Yes, I would buy one. It would allow you to use straight shank hooks.

[bigjim5589]

I'm both a fly tyer & jig maker, and I use a lot of barbells. I have given a lot of thought to having a mold, or molds made for those eyes. My biggest issue with the lead eyes, is they tend to break easily if you hit anything hard with the fly, and I will fish the flies around bridge pilings, riprap & other hard structures. If that issue could also be solved, then it would be a great mold to have.

I've even thought about making a mold that would take a wire insert, to reinforce the center of the barbells, but not sure how practical that might be.

I've been using a lot more brass eye's the past 10 years, because of that breakage issue with the lead eyes and because they're lighter. I fish in shallow water much of the time and don't need heavy barbells for a lot of the places I'll fish. I still use the lead, but fish them where it's open water, deeper, and not in places that may have things that will break them.

I've mentioned this too in other discussions and most folks say they don't have the breakage problem, so I guess it's how you fish them.

If Do It was to offer them, I would buy the molds, that's for sure, because for me they would be worth having.

[troutsmart]

bigjim5589, that is really interesting. I have never broken a dumbell eye. I always choose to tie with dumbells that are powder coated, maybe that gives them some protection and hardens them a bit? I thought I had was (if there was a mold available at some point) you could pour them out of tin instead of lead. Tin eye would be much harder than lead eyes and would be a bit lighter. Of course the downside of that is tin is considerably more expensive that lead.

Thanks for the responses eveyone. It's nice to hear others are interested in this too.

[bigjim5589]

Unfortunately, I've broken the lead barbells several times while fishing, as I had said, I don't have any qualms about casting the fly in places where they might get broke. I also generally epoxy coat over the fly head and eyes too. I don't see powder coating as really adding much to the strength.

I've also used them from various sources and can't say one was worse than another, but the shape and size certainly make a difference for those I've broken. Usually it's been larger eyes, which tend to have a small center compared to the sides. I have some that are ">-<" shaped with a very narrow center and those have been the worst offenders for breaks.

So, as I've mentioned, I now use a lot more of the brass barbells.