Does anyone know of a source for unpainted lead dumbell eyes?
Call me crazy, but I think powder painting some dumbells would make for a sweet-looking Clouser minnow. Much cooler than the cheap pre-painted ones, and I think the PP would be more durable.
Ideas? Sources?
Here is a link to what you want from a sponsor: Look about half way down this page:
Thanks Warren! I posted this, then grabbed my stack of catalogs and looked to see who had them. Looks like either J.Stockard or FeatherCraft are the places to go.
Zac have you tried Cabelas or Bass Pro? I saw some at BPS last night when we were tying. The one thing I would tell you is to get a size or two smaller eye than what you need, because when I tried painting the eyes with that powder paint, it will add alot of bulk to the eye. It is real hard to keep it as thin as you need, and to give you good color. Give it a try let me know how it works for you.
Larry, I use “small” eyes 99% of the time. I’ll get some and experiment. Some pink or sapphire (dark blue with a lot of flake) powder painted eyes would look awesome on the right fly.
PINK??? Did you say, PINK"???
Yep, to go with his rod wraps and tutu…
You got something against pink toads?
Ed
When you paint them using powder paint do you just heat them one at a time with a torch or electric heat gun???
Betty… 
bass, I use a torch that fits on those little green Coleman propane bottles. Works perfect.
You can also use a butane lighter to heat the lead. Heat it a little on each side (I hold it with copper wire and make six ‘passes’ with the lighter on each side) and then let it sit for a couple of seconds. Dip it in the powder paint and shake off the excess. Then a quick pass through the lighter to set the paint. Just be very careful to make sure they are lead and not brass - I’ve had brass eyes explode during the heating process. Not sure why but I suspect differential heating of the material. If you use a butane torch, do it very quickly. Those torches are a lot hotter than a butane lighter and can overheat the lead. When you dip the overheated lead into the paint, you get a big blob out that’s no good to use for tying.
Another technique for painting the eyes is to put them in a shallow box and paint with Krylon paint on one side. Let them dry then give the box a shake. The heavier painted side will go down bringing the unpainted part to the top. Then paint the other side. You can even make two-tone eyes this way by using different color paint on each side.
To keep the ‘bulk’ down…
Heat the eyes in an oven ( a cheap toaster oven works great). This gives ‘even’ heat. I use 400 degrees.
Spread a pile of powder paint on a hard flat surface (I use an aluminum block that about 3/4 inch thick). You want the thickness of the pile to be about 1/32 to 1/16 inch.
Use a set of tweezers to grasp the eyes in the middle.
Quickly dip each end into the paint.
Drop into a cup of water. This cools them quickly…by the time they hit the bottom, the paint won’t come off.
Now to ‘set’ the paint, place them onto a non stick pan back in the oven for a fifteen minutes.
Nice thin coat, won’t come off.
Buddy