MOULDS FOR BOAT-LEADS. 45 



lamp-black and water, or the lead may adhere. If in sand, 

 make a model in wood first, and press it tightly down into 

 the sand, having first driven a nail, screw, or gimlet, into the 

 top or flat, to enable you to raise it .without breaking the 

 edges of the mould. Get a piece of brass wire three-six- 

 teenths of an inch thick, and long enough to project beyond 

 the ends of the mould in the same proportion as shown in the 

 illustrations, whatever be the weight of the lead, and having 

 made an eye in each end and bent it into the form of a 

 bow, place it in the mould, securing it in the wooden or stone 

 mould by a lump of putty or clay, but in the sand mould by a 

 little of the same material. Now pour in the molten lead, 

 and allow it at least three minutes to become solid, or it may 

 divide in moving the mould. To cast smaller leads is easily 

 done by pressing one already made into some sand a less 

 depth, not of course forgetting the wire. Tackle-makers and 

 plumbers keep moulds for leads in wood or metal, but amateurs 

 will find the wood or sand the easier plan. A sharp-edged 

 oval pebble from the beach is often used where procurable, but 

 a model may be made out of a piece of deal in a few minutes. 

 For a three- pound lead the wire should be a quarter of an inch 

 in diameter. I have made moulds out of a Bath brick, but 

 find them very liable to break. Good moulds are also made 

 out of thin sheet copper. 



Boat-leads are sometimes made of a half-breadth form that 

 they may work out from the side of the boat more than those 

 of ordinary shape, which seem, however, to answer every pur- 

 pose. The half-breadths must, of course, each be kept to its own 

 side of the boat, or their very property of sheering will destroy 

 its object, by fouling each other. This applies to those leads 

 made with a long arm only at one end, and an eye at the other, 

 but when the wire projects equally from each end, the leads 

 can be used on either side, always remembering to so fix them 

 to the line, as to keep the convexity of the. lead towards the side 

 of the boat. They are much used now by the Plymouth fisher- 

 men, and have nearly superseded all other forms for ground- 

 fishing. They are known as ' sheer ' leads, from their action in 

 the water, and are being also used for Mackerel-fishing under 



