I've used wheel weights for making sinkers for years, and yes they work just fine. They have some tin in them which makes them harder & less malleable than pure lead. For everything other than split shots you should have no problem.
However, there are several things to be aware of.
A: Ventilation, lead is nasty stuff in the human body, and melting down wheel weights without good ventilation is not a good plan. Personally I use our kitchen stove, open both windows and the door, and aim a small fan to bring fresh air in the window and over towards the stove.
B If your going to melt them down, might as well do a bunch of them. Pour your clean lead either into an ingot mold, or you could cut the tops off half a dozen pop cans. Fill to the desired level. But make dang sure there is no trace of moisture anywhere.
When water turns to steam it expands many many times over the original volume it occupied. If a single drop of water is covered by hot lead, it will flash to steam, then blow that lead up & out in what is basically an explosion.
Sending droplets of hot lead flying that will stick to and burn anything they touch.
Hot lead and water do not mix ever.
Anything that hot lead is going to come into contact with should be clean, dry, and preheated before you pour.
Equipment can be as complex as an electric furnace with a bottom dump, or as simple as a cast iron fry pan and a ladle or spoon.
My favorite mold is a Do-it, well designed, trouble free, its a joy to work with.
The egg type sinkers are in my opinion harder, as the steel pins have to be pulled before you can repour. These can slowly get harder and harder to do.
I have experimented with a smaller rod and a wrapping of aluminum foil. This does work, and it let me setup several rods ahead of time. So I could pour more sinkers while the lead was hot without wasting time.
But it did take a bit of time to wrap the foil around the rods and remove the foil after, while cutting sprue's.
However, there are several things to be aware of.
A: Ventilation, lead is nasty stuff in the human body, and melting down wheel weights without good ventilation is not a good plan. Personally I use our kitchen stove, open both windows and the door, and aim a small fan to bring fresh air in the window and over towards the stove.
B If your going to melt them down, might as well do a bunch of them. Pour your clean lead either into an ingot mold, or you could cut the tops off half a dozen pop cans. Fill to the desired level. But make dang sure there is no trace of moisture anywhere.
When water turns to steam it expands many many times over the original volume it occupied. If a single drop of water is covered by hot lead, it will flash to steam, then blow that lead up & out in what is basically an explosion.
Sending droplets of hot lead flying that will stick to and burn anything they touch.
Hot lead and water do not mix ever.
Anything that hot lead is going to come into contact with should be clean, dry, and preheated before you pour.
Equipment can be as complex as an electric furnace with a bottom dump, or as simple as a cast iron fry pan and a ladle or spoon.
My favorite mold is a Do-it, well designed, trouble free, its a joy to work with.
The egg type sinkers are in my opinion harder, as the steel pins have to be pulled before you can repour. These can slowly get harder and harder to do.
I have experimented with a smaller rod and a wrapping of aluminum foil. This does work, and it let me setup several rods ahead of time. So I could pour more sinkers while the lead was hot without wasting time.
But it did take a bit of time to wrap the foil around the rods and remove the foil after, while cutting sprue's.
