Part 4

 The excitement continues to build....read on it will be worth it.

The moulds are dry. Hurray!!!! Luckily I have a large stock of old lead. On it's way to be turned into cash at the scrap yard, luckily it didn't get there. Rather ironic that the lead was in its former life chimney flashing at the very house where 'Cats Paws' is destined to be one day moored. A melting pot?? Not willing to sacrifice any of the kitchen cookware the cheapest saucepan I could find was sourced from China. I did check local charity shops to no avail, a national shortage obviously. £8 inc carriage to progress the project I thought was ok.. The heat source? A vintage Gaz Bluet. Think that's everything, light the gas!!

The moulds were lined up and the cleanest bits of lead flashing were thrown in the pan. Some of the flashing had years of moss growth on it and I thought better of adding even more contamination than necessary to the pot.

Took a while to get the lead puddling, the luxury non-stick surface soon cried enough is enough. No worries this pan is on a one way journey. A brief moment of stardom before total pan oblivion.

Scrapping the crusty bits off the boiling lead surface reveiled lovely shiny molten metal underneath. Time to pour, stand back, the pan handle is starting to spin....oh blimey..Quick...Quick...

Just before the first mould was filled it cracked....damn...keep going......second mould wedge between bricks to hold if cracking occurs...damn not looking good, another cracked.....keep going, wedging the third mould between bricks again I had just enough lead to fill.

Close inspection...looks like there's gonna be some filling action to follow once these have cooled. There was no way I was gonna go through the whole process again and make fresh moulds..

Filing I did...and quite a bit of it too. Eyeballing....filing....eyeballing...filing....Fill holes with epoxy and lead filing dust....The desired shape appeared eventually with only a small showing of epoxy. The second mis-shaped lead form got the same treatment until I had a matching pair. Rub with sandpaper for extra smoothness. Polish with a big dollop of 'Mothers Metal Polish' and hey presto. 

Perfecto!!!!! What once graced a chimney in Luddenden now will stop a sleek racing yacht from capsizing....

Yeah, like no one will ever know the pain I went through to make these. Only us!!!! You've made a silk purse out of a sow's ear once again Uncle Alb.

What do ya think? Fun? Well yes it was........there was risk of both poisoning and deep burns...

Next step, drill and fix to the keel fin.

Keep looking in for more news on 'Cats Paws'