alsworms

Now what are the odds of that??? A foot in the mouth is worth two in the bush........or something like that. :oops: :oops: :oops:

You can get Pro Cure directly from their website at www.pro-cure.com . You don't need to use much; about a drop per ounce of plastic for any of their products. I don't know what scent you ordered from Lure Craft, but double check the invoice. Sometimes they don't have the product in stock and there will be a post on the invoice saying B/O (backorder). Either that or make sure you talk to Dave. He's a lot more knowledgeable than......well......I won't mention her name. Chris

Hey Red, I love the looks of the squirrel mixer!! I can't find the prices anywhere on their site. Did you check into that? Chris

WOW!! Very Impressive!! I'll bet they make a mean bait too.

Hey Pop, Bring on the questions. I don't mind a bit. Plus my wife likes me right here in front of the computer where she can she what I'm doing. There are 2 stainless steel paddles that cross each other in an "X" pattern. They are 15 inches tall (bottom to top of the jug), 1/2 inch thick, and 9 1/2 inches wide, cut to miss the outer walls of the jug by about a 1/2 inch. I got the paddles from a machine shop at school. I'm not sure what they were used for, but I'll bet it wasn't mixing plastic. At the time, my mind was spinning with ideas and I thought those would be perfect for what I was looking for. All they needed were just a little trimming. There's about 3 gallons of plastic in there now, but when I get it down I'll take a couple pictures for ya. The paddles and motor are plenty strong to keep the plastic mixed well. In fact, there is absolutely no hardener on the bottom when it's empty. I bought the motor at a place that specializes in small machinery, but you might be able to pick one up at a hardware store. Here's the specs. on the motor...... Dayton brand Shaded Pole Gear Motor 115 Volts AC 12 RPM .49 Amps And there's another novel. Still awake?? Chris

No problem Pop. I should've explained this a little better. I bought a blow hose at Home Depot for the 55-gallon drum. It circulates the plastic fairly well, but there is some inconsistency. It's designed to suck the plastic in and shoot it out at a pretty good rate, but I still notice some hardener on the bottom. Maybe I'm not doing it right, but it's just too much of a headache. That's why I decided to stay with the 5-gallon jugs, plus I just don't have the room for those big drums. With the 5-gallon jugs, I mix it one time and transfer into the auto mixer by way of the funnel (see the third picture). I use an old sanded piece of wood with a handle (kinda like a baseball bat) to work that hardener loose, add my softener and stabilizer, mix it until I feel no hardener on the bottom, then transfer to the auto mixer. It takes about 5 minutes and I'm done with it. The motor on the mixer is not powerful enough to work the hardener free, but it sure does a great job keeping it mixed. Now this is not necessary if you're using MF plastic. All you need to do is shake the 5-gallon jug once in awhile. Don't know how they do it, but that stuff never settles. I use Calhoun now and it doesn't settle as much as Lure Craft, but I still need to keep it mixed. So........sorry about the novel, but Yes....you MUST mix your plastic before you transfer it. The idea is you don't have to continue to mix it manually. Chris

Yep - those containers are perfectly fine. One thing I forgot to mention is make sure you really clean the container and dry it thoroughly before adding plastisol. Any moisture will make the plastic bubble. Also keep it well sealed. Shaking the container will not cause bubbles; only excess moisture will. Craig.....I wish I was pouring that much plastic. I talk to some guys who run several 55-gallon containers at one time. I don't ever see myself doing that. I did purchase my first 55-gallon drum, but it's easier for me to work with the 5-gallon jugs. I just don't have the equipment to make it effective. Chris

Sometimes I hear about guys who buy glitter from craft stores. The one thing I can recommend is you MUST buy a glitter that's polyester coated. Otherwise, every color you mix will burn and turn brown. I learned this the hard way when I bought glitter from Walmart one time. Just make sure you read the package and look for that key word......"Polyester". Chris

Hey Craig, You ever tried the Pro Cure scent? I know guys are probably getting sick of me talking about it ( ), but I'm flat sold on the stuff. You can check out their website at www.pro-cure.com . The 16 ounce size is about 32 bucks. Their garlic is the best I have used. They also have a killer Threadfin Shad and Anise scent. Chris

That's quite a find. Man I'd love to get my hands on that, but Momma would kill me. I put it on my watch list just for fun. It'll be neat to see how high that sucker goes!! Chris

Hey Nathan, What's the item number or seller name? Chris

Here's some shots of my funky contraption There's a large ice-cream type mixer inside the jug. The timer is set to mix one hour 4 times a day. I bought a basic timer at Walmart for 10 bucks. The spicket is tapped with allen screws under the base. It doesn't look like much, but it works great! The pictures are pretty explanatory. Chris

Haebar, I used old milk carton containers. They work great. I would not use glass or solid containers because you need something with a little "give" when you shake the container, plus there's no chance of having shattered glass on your floor when you drop it (like I've done ). As for the hot plates, I pour directly out of the old tin cups. Lure Craft used to make wooden handle cups, but good luck trying to find any now. I saved a ton of the old ones and still use them for small amounts of plastic. Keep in mind that this is only for orders of 10 or less. Anything more than that and a pro pot or microwave is much more effective. Depending on the bait, I just heat up about 1/2 ounce per cup (if it's a dual or vein color). The trick is to get both cups ready at the same time. Sometime you gotta mess with it a little. A note on the microwave: not sure if I mentioned this, but I just use a pyrex cup to heat, NOT to pour. Some guys pour out of the pyrex cup and they have no problems. I don't like trying to pour into small cavities with a pyrex cup, so I transfer the plastic to the tin cups. Pop...... there is quite a story behind my auto mixer. A good friend of mine asked me the same question this morning, so I took a bunch of pictures. I'll get them posted with a better explanation as soon as possible. Chris

I'll do my best Chirmy

Chirm, You know how I feel about this. Just yell, and consider it done.

It's best to mix your softener and heat stabilizer in the 5-gallon jug before the transfer. That way you don't have to do it 5 times. Just make it one lump sum and you're done with it. Don't ever mix your color until you're ready to pour. I have better luck if I add my color after the plastisol has been heated for a couple minutes. Once the plastic is transferred into one-gallon jugs, all you need to do to keep it mixed is shake the jug once in awhile. You might run into problems if you leave the jug on the shelf for a long time without pouring. I only had this problem with Lure Craft. As dumb as it sounds, I bought a 16-inch screwdriver and forced the hardener up that way. Now I have an automatic mixer on my 5-gallon jug with a built-in spicket, and it's just heaven. As for small orders, I still do it the old fashioned way.....a hot plate. If I'm making 10-packs of different colors, it takes more time to work with a microwave or pro pot than to just cook an ounce of plastic on a burner. Of course, I try to keep some of my more popular baits and colors in stock. I don't even mess with a pro pot unless I have to make at least 100 baits of one color. This is why lots of companies are going to bulk orders only; 50 baits or more. Hope all this makes sense Chris

Thanks fellas. I sure appreciate the kind words. It took me 5 years to build up enough courage to make this a full time venture. There are ups and downs, but overall I'm happy with the decision. Plus Momma still works......and that's always a good thing. Good luck to all you guys as well. Chris

Just in case you're not busy enough Del, you can chalk me up for third Chris

I listed my favorite hi-lites in the other post. As for MF and Lure Craft, my opinion is they are exactly the same when it comes to the hi-lite powders. I do, however, like MF's white pearl much better. Lure Craft's tends to dull with high heat. Chris P.S. If you want to make a nice Red Shad color with a single pour, just add red hi-lite to black. It's not as fancy, doesn't look as good, but it's just as effective.

I use them all, but I would say blue and green are tops on my list. You can get a really nice neon color by mixing blue, black, and blue hi-lite. Same thing goes for green. Violet is great mixed in purple and red color. Gold is sharp in black and watermelon. Orange is nice in amber brown (very good crawdad color). The list goes on and on and on Chris

OHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!!! Man do I EVER use those hi-lites!! They are excellent for giving an irridescent look. The possibilities are endless with hi-lites, but here's an example; Take a couple drops of black (smoke) in 4 ounces of plastic, add some black flake and just a touch of blue hi-lite (1/8 teaspoon). The end result is a worm that looks almost like a blue neon when held up to the sunlight. In muddy or stained water, the smoke will be more dominant. Take that same worm and put it in clear water and the blue really shows, giving the worm a nice shad color. Again, this is just a simple hi-lite worm, but very effective. You can have hours of fun when you get into using hi-lites. I don't know how it's done, but it's simply amazing what those hi-lites can do to the plastic. Chris

Sure Craig..... Calhoun Plastics P.O. Box 1295 Calhoun, GA 30705 1-706-629-9077 I spoke with Ken Parker at extension 102. Prices are about 1.00 per pound; about half that of Lure Craft or MF. Chris

You are so right Rick. Those bags get used up super fast!! Luke...... I forgot to mention that those 6x4 bags are also 4 mil, which is an excellent price. Chris

Hi Luke, I think most of them want you to purchase a minimum 1000 bags, but check out www.veripack.com . They sell the 6x4 bags for 20.43 per 1000; best price I've found yet.

I have finally given up the day job, and I'm not regretting it.........YET Just hope I stay busy or I'm in the dog house Big Time. Momma does my books, and she loves to spend money too! Chris