After getting my new Speardiver weight vest I now had the problem of finding weights that would fit the small pockets. Buying them was never an option as I have a few hundred pounds of lead laying around so I searched around to see what others had done to make there's. I found nothing....so here's what I came up with and I hope it helps others.
Ill say first off that if your not familiar working with lead you should do a little research first as it can be dangerous in a few ways.
I first thought of making a mold out of wood but decided I didn't want to put in that much work so I walked a few different stores looking for objects that fit the 3.5x2.5" size needed that would hold hot lead. I now know the demotions of every brand of sardine can sold in town :laughing3: I ended up getting a stainless sheetrock mud pan that is 12" long but had about a 2.5" wide bottom. I made a mark about a 1/2" off the bottom for a fill line and used a level to make sure the lead would be uniform. This takes about 8lbs of lead for one pour so I used a cast iron kettle that is large enough to hold 20+ lbs. I poured two bars a little over 1/2" thick and two a little under. I used a hatchet and hammer to cut each bar in to three 3.5" chunks, it was easier than using a saw. Hammered the cut edges round and touched it up with a file to get all the edges smooth. the end product dose flair out a little past 2 1/2" wide because of the mud pan shape but they fit in the pockets just fine. I weighed each one just so I knew what I was working with and the six that were just under 1/2" thick were all around 1.5lbs and the six thicker ones about 2.5lbs.