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I had trouble in Canada here finding a store that would carry it, I ordered some .051" safety lock wire from Malin. Expensive (had to ship it), and it was to soft for my liking (should have got hard drawn instead of soft, but it would work just fine for most lures). I just came across Stainless Steel Tig welding rod! Cheap, straight as an arrow. Lots of different sizes and strong. I bought some .062 for my big lures. If you are making smaller lures, there are all sorts of sizes.

The color will not be the same when you use the floating media. They are white. Just a warning.

Shipping isn't peanuts. When shipping is $8.95 for the order, soft plastics that are 35 cents each turn into 40 cents each. If you're reselling you have to raise the price by 5 cents to cover shipping. Meanwhile someone else bought from China, got free shipping, and is then able to sell for 5 cents less. If I'm just buying a lure to paint and to use myself, yeah it's not a big deal so just buy here in the US. But in the real world of sales and competition shipping means everything. As for supporting our country. It was our Federal Government that put us in the situation. If China sellers had to compete fairly with US sellers, we wouldn't have anything to talk about here. If you have a complaint take it to the Federal Government that is putting US business at a distinct disadvantage by letting China ship their goods here for next to nothing by using a program supported by US taxpayers. As a taxpayer you're helping support China's businesses by giving them an unfair advantages over American businesses.

But I'm not saying I paid $1 for a lure so I'll charge $3 to cover everything. I'm saying I bought 20 lures at $1 each and then paid $5 shipping. My lures now cost me $1.25 each. Or I buy 20 lures at $1 each with no shipping cost, and my lures cost me $1 each. From here I add in all other expenses, then calculate markup, and set a price. It's at this point I price the lure 25 cents higher to cover the shipping cost. But in doing this I am now 25 cents higher then the person that didn't pay shipping costs, so he gets the business instead of me. Sales is cutthroat no matter what you're selling, I've been in sales for 37 years. Once people buy from you and like your product, the 25 cents won't mean much. But to get that first sale from someone, that 25 cents can mean everything. I guess what I'm saying is we can blame China all we want, but it's not their fault. The Federal government has given them an advantage over US based businesses and they are using that. In 2017 Amazon's net sales was 178 billion dollars, and 1/3 of Amazon sellers are based in China. A large part of those sales come because they can ship here for next to nothing.

Cadman the only time I get the white residue is if I have gel glue that gets outside from under the eye and then it gets epoxy over that. If I'm careful and I'm using the gel glue with the fine/ultra fine tip I generally don't get a lot of seepage coming out from under the eye because it's pretty precise in it's application. The thing is with the Jell glues is the finer the tip the less glue you get per bottle for about the same price. So you want to use the minimum amount of super glue. Just enough to hold the eye on but not so much it seeps out around the edges. So there's kind of this trade off the finer tip is easier to apply smaller amounts of glue but it cost you more for the same amount of glue. Say I'm doing a large saltwater jigs with 9/16 size eyes it's it's a little easier to work with as a small amount of glue in the center leaves plenty of the outer part of the eye to cover up the glue. But when using small eyes on small freshwater jigs it's nicer to have the smaller tip as it's much easier to over apply the glue and get seepage from the smaller eyes. At least this has been my experience.

google clamshell packaging...print your own placards or info cards for smaller numbers

Lureworks uses the word colorant to identify a non-bleed color and dye to identify a color that will bleed.

Bubbles in KBS usually mean the paint still had moisture when you dipped. It's causing the reaction at the surface of the lure instead of from the outside and making a bubble. It can be really bad on balsa baits that were not sealed properly before painting. My first 2 did this, then I read on facebook about what was causing it and started leaving my baits to dry fully overnight before dipping. I have a dehumidifier in my painting area so its at 50% humidity. As for hanging lipless, I hang them by the line tie and let the excess drip off the rear of the bait. It will collect at the hook hanger and you can knock off the last few drops from between the hanger and the tail before it starts to set. After 12-15 hours or so I clean the hook hangers of excess with an exacto knife and then hang by the tails to cure on the curing racks.. usually 3-4 days or a week unless they need hooks sooner for some reason.

Just a word of caution, the new RCBS pot is a pain in the a$$. It is about 1.5 inches lower than the old pot and most of my custom molds do not fit under it and must be poured by ladle. If you try to use the mold holder it really doesn't work because of the u shape design. Any mold that has the hook protruding thru the bottom of the mold is very difficult to pour. THIS POUR POT IS BASICALLY MADE FOR THE BULLET MAKER AND NOT VERY GOOD FOR JIG POURING. Just my 2 cents. LOVE THE OLD STYLE

I believe you can find different sizes of blades at Barlow's. I think they call them shakey blades or something like that.

Pretty much nailed it, but I used heavy salt for the body and no salt for the claws.

I could show you lure samples in house that have recently been offered to me WITH HOOKS for .25 each painted . This is outright dumping on our economy. Someday some will wake up to this fact but unfortunately is already to late. Source your blanks in the US please.

BUY USA Who cares if it's .35 each. This is why this country is so effed up in trade. Everyone expects cheat stuff. Keep people employed at home. The costs of businesses buying offshore is much more than in USA to the economy. /Rant off Shipping is not an excuse to support your own country. Shipping is PEANUTS.

Normans, This is what I use: #2 Duo-lock Snap #2 Split Ring For the hooks, I use Eagle Claw EL 2706. The reason being is these hooks have a bigger hook eye, that lets the split ring move freely in there. In the 1/4 oz a 4/0 will fit, in the 3/8 oz a 5/0 will fit and in the 1/2 oz a 5/0 and a 6/0. These are very heavy strong hooks.

I cut my old plastics into 1"+- square chunks, add a bit of new plastic and heat stabilizer, and then cook it in the microwave until the new plastic kicks over. If, when I take it out to stir the colorant into it, there are still lumps, I put it back in for another 30 seconds, and it's usually ready to inject.

If my eyes won't stick then I use super glue to hold them on. I normally buy the WTP eyes from Barlow's and they stick pretty darn well on their own. but there are occasions when they just don't want to stick do to my paint job or if I'm using up some of those cheaper eyes I bought years ago. I like the jell superglues with the super fine tip which make it really easy to apply. I always top coat mine with epoxy. I was using d2t for several years but now I'm using Alumi UV. It's a bit spendy but it goes a long ways and I built a UV light box that cures them fairly quickly. I've got a 50 watt LED that sits on top of a light box which is basically just a plastic storage tote with a hole cut in the lid for the UV ligh. The entire inside is coated with foil tape to reflect the light all around and I drilled holes and placed all thread near the top so that I can hang the jig's from it and do multiple jigs at a time. This cuts down drastically on the time waiting for the epoxy to cure.

I'm lazy so I don't grind . I just pour the left over plastic on a cookie sheet. Roll it up and drop it in a zip - lock when its cool . When I'm ready to use it I roll it up tight like jelly roll cut it in thin slices with a sharp kitchen knife . Looks kinda like veggie pasta. Had no trouble packing it in a cup and heating normally around 2.5 minutes nuking it . Depends somewhat on the plastic.

If you put a strip of masking tape down on your work surface, you can put a drop of super glue down on it, and then use an opened paper clip to dip into the glue, and then spread a little in the eye socket. I usually do two baits at a time. The glue won't set that fast, so I have time to place the eyes. My topcoat holds them in place, and clear nail polish adds an additional layer of protection. Once you've used up all the clean parts of the masking tape, just peel it off and lay down a fresh strip.

I have been doing this for a really long time. Currently, most manufacturers of crankbaits are using 3D printers to make prototypes. They design the lure using a software like or similar to Fusion 360. Fusion 360 allows you to design a three dimensional lure and output it in the proper format to print one on the 3D printer. My printer can print ABS models perfectly. I can control all aspects of the design and have the flexibility to make any changes I might find necessary to achieve the desired result; buoyancy, wall thickness, ballast chambers, hook hangar location, etc. etc. Not that many years ago, it would take thousands of dollars to make a prototype. I can do it now for a couple of dollars in materials and a few hour of design work on the computer. If you would like to know more, email me.

Whackett: This is not the template you were looking for but a concept that can be used on any drawer. I too had a problem locating a bottle of paint that I knew was there. My storage was a long narrow shelf that held the bottles about three deep. My solution was an insert made of wood to fit drawers on a big box store storage cabinet. What would make a good storage cabinet for paint? I wanted to see most of the label to identify the opaque from the transparents and the other types as well as the various colors within the groups. Just putting the bottles into a drawer was a disaster. Thay all look the same, and to lay them on their sides would go bad when a lid didn't snap fully closed. I saw a kitchen spice rack that held the bottles at about a 45 degree angle. Problem solved except for modifiction to fit the paint bottles that we are so used to in our craft. Most of the bottles we work with are about the same size.(35mm dia X 100mm tall) or (1 3/8" dia X 3 7/8" tall) Get your self one piece of wood, 2X4 pine is what I used, that is as wide as your drawer and 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" square. Then saw at a 45 degree angle with a band saw if you can so you end up with two triangles. One triangle is used to start the run as is, it just supports the base of the first row of bottles. All additional triangles will have grove where the bottles will lay. The ideal if you have one would be a 1 3/8' Forstner drill bit. they cut with the rim of the bit and are capable of drilling the edge of a board. You could also sand, carve, rout or what ever your tools dictate. Long story short, every 1 3/8 of an inch cut a dip into the top edge of the triangle, repeat on other boards for as many rows as needed. You also need a piece of very thin ply wood or even foam core sheet or cardboard would work. Cut the sheet to fit snug into the bottome of the drawer. The plain triangle gets glued or double stick taped to the front of the drawer, angle facing towards the back. Next, one of the grooved triangles is attached and spaced back 3/4" from the base of the first one. Keep adding grooved triangles until the drawer is full. I got four rows in a drawer that was 12 1/4" X 11 1/2" with some left over space in the back. Total storge for 36 bottles located in a square foot and every label is partly visiable. The larger bulk type bottles will still need other storage but this cleared up some clutter in my shop, hope it helps you.