Chonch12 Posted February 25, 2020 Report Share Posted February 25, 2020 Hello! First thank you for all of the incredible information here. I picked up making my own custom lures as a hobby this winter and really fell in love with it more than anticipated. Just picked up a used Lee Lead pot! No more random Terminal tackle haha. I really enjoy crafting and coming up with something super unique. With every batch (about 3-4 I do at a time) I learn and see big improvements from the last. One thing that I have been struggling with is seeing Grain imperfections even though I will have it as smooth as possible with 400 grit paper. I have been sealing with Super Thin Super Glue and giving it another light sanding but when I paint so many imperfections some through. I am looking to get that super smooth glass like surface to paint on, I've seen it on so many incredible custom lures. After a lot of reading there was some great advice to do a 2/3 Etex, Alcohol mix as a seal and undercoat. This works well however takes a long time on the turner to cure. I was reading about Solarez and decided to give the POLYESTER UV-CURE GRAIN SEALER a try. I just got the small bottle the other day and did a quick test on a piece of scrap wood. Dug my fingernail into it, made some other marks to see how it would perform. I was really impressed. 2 light coats, a super light sand and it was super smooth. I was not able to get a coat of paint on it yet to see if it really hides the imperfections. Anyone else use this product as an undercoat and sealer? Any tips or tricks? I know it says do a thin coat and basically “Squeegee” off excess, however that isn’t possible with lures or non flat surfaces. Anyone have some recommendations? I mainly use Basswood and Pine as they are both cheapest and easiest to come by for me. One last question, I recently tried carving some fins and gills into a swim bait I was making. When I seal the bait I am worried this will seal it flat and take away all of my work. Should I just use a basic polyurethane to seal this wood or will a really light Super Glue or Solarez do the trick? Thanks in advance, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGagner Posted February 26, 2020 Report Share Posted February 26, 2020 (edited) I've began putting a topcoat of UV resin over the white primer coat on my baits. I used to use superglue the the white primer, or dipping in some sanding sealer then the white topcoat but that only sealed the wood. Now I've begun spreading a coat of UV resin over the white and putting it in my UV light chamber. All th imperfections get filled and I have a nice surface to paint on. I'd imagine another topcoat like yours or even epoxy topcoats would do the same thing One thing I found out though is that if I carve gills into the wood I have to exaggerate the depth of the carving as the coating seems to smooth it out just like it does the imperfections. If I don't carve deeply it's almost like I didn't carve much at all. I use an alumilite-UV or equivalent. I found that solarez, cures quickly but sometimes thickens up in the bottle just from opening and closing it and being exposed to ambient light. Other resins take about 30 minutes under uv light to harden so even a large bottle stays fairly fluid over time. Edited February 26, 2020 by DGagner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
