RiverMan

The stuff is thin I will admit but if you wait a short period after mixing you can paint it on quite thick. This was probably the hardest thing for me to get used to after using Devcon for so long. I think you will be happy with the Etex Lite, particularly if you are going to be doing a large number of baits. Two coats does a great job. RM

Hey Island Bass...if you are making the baits for yourself don't be too worried about finding a "perfect paint job". The truth is that most of the lures we build are for fisherman, not fish. I'm willing to bet you could catch a whole bunch of bass or musky with with a totally unfished lure...bare wood. I have steelhead baits that catch a ton of fish and then entire back half of the lure is nothing but plastic...the paint has been worn entirely off of them. For your first baits try solid white with a black head, solid white red head, and solid black white head. If you toss in a mostly red bait with these combinations you will probably catch as many fish as anyone else. The most amazing thing happens when you put the clear-coat on (Etex or Devcon), regardless of the paint, the lure just "comes alive". RM

Bass......PM RichOC, he does alot of this type of work and can tell you the shortest route I am sure. RM : D

I ordered two quarts of the stuff, a half gallon total and the cost was just under 30 bucks...I believe that is two 32 ounce bottles. If we assume 10 dollars for shipping the cost per ounce would be: 40 dollars/32 ounces=1.25/oz The price you mentioned works out to: 20 dollars/8oz ounces=2.50/oz So it works out to half the cost through Alpine. It may be tho that you don't need a half gallon of the stuff so maybe it would still be wiser to take the other route. Ihave done probably 50 or more large baits taking two to three coats each and still have half of the material left. I am guessing that further savings would be seen by ordering gallon jugs. I had good luck ordering through alipine by the way, quick delivery. RM

Well if it was covered with Etex just peel if off. Devcon typically requires dyamite, sand blaster, guided missiles, etc. RM Boooohahahahaha

Wish my "first" had looked like that, heck wish my 101st had looked like that!! That's a great looking lure! Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone how you did it. Jed

That price seems a tad high to me. I ordered mine at the following link, you might do a comparison. www.Alipineimport.com I use the Etex-Lite and find it is actually very thin, it's not too much different than water. Because of this I like to wait a minimum of 15 minutes after mixing. If only doing one bait, I will wait even longer, up to 25-30 minutes before applying. By doing so you will find the stuff goes on thicker but still not too thick. I have also found that the "waiting period" prevents blurring of my personal signatures on the bait. I personally always use a minimum of two coats on my baits and often three but I am building musky lures. You may find for your use one coat is enough. Good luck! jed

Good to see you Splash! Jed

Hi Rob, Sorry don't have a stencil pic for ya but welcome aboard! Click on "tu search above" then go to "forums" then type in the keyword "stencil. This should give you a good start on what's been covered here in the past. Good luck. Jed

Yea, with paint, sawdust, and epoxy on them, hehe, hack hack, wheez, wheez. lol. :oops:

Hey Overkill....all the better, now we know where she lives! lol

Looking forward to seeing one you have finished up Rich. Jed

To see pics within the posts you must be signed in. Jed

Sorry I can't help ya GH but laughed out loud when you mentioned the "cave drawings", funny! I can relate! RM

I have considered making some foam lures again myself. The biggest advantage that I see with foam is that each bait is the same as the one before it. It also lends itself well to including "through wire" and "weighting" into the molding process thereby eliminating these steps. As far as speed is concerned, I still think wood is faster unless you are able to put together a multi-cavity mold. Without hurry I can cut out a bait on the band saw and run it across the router and have it ready for weight in just a few minutes, this is impossible with the foam. Each process, be it foam or wood, has its challenges. With wood you have all the sawdust, inconsistencies with wood grain, density, etc. With foam you must deal with mold cost and failure, time in making molds, handling the chemicals, etc. Either way it's alot of fun! RM

Wow...Jerry you have good taste my friend. I am going to keep an eye on her and hope it rains soon, yea baby!! Jed

Pick up an issue of Cabelas or Bass Pro and take a look at the baits they have for sale. Choose a color scheme you like and do what you can to get close to it. If nothing else, paint it a solid color, red, white, or black, all of these are good. RM

Lol, Coley I had to laugh out loud thinking about you swinging that poor lure into the pavement, stopping to inspect the damage, then slamming it again. I bet your neighbors were wondering what you were up to! The whole thing would have made a great "hidden video". Yikes! I have never used balsa because it seemed to be so darn expensive. I will say tho there has to be a reason why so many companies used it in the past and still use it today. Sounds like the dense stuff is the way to go! If you haven't tried it already western cedar is something you might consider too. A dry piece of this wood is as light as a chunk of foam, no kidding. You can shape it very easily and yet it holds together well enough to accept a screw eye. Western red cedar has a specific gravity of .34, from what I have read balsa is between .10 and .17. For comparison oak and maple are near .63. Yeeeeeehaw! Jed

Thanks for helping with this Chip. You know I can still remember reading about how to cut out a bait...this was before seeing one of your tutorials. I gave it a try one day in my garage and after about 5 minutes gave up thinking "this is impossible". It was only after seeing your tutorials that I started understanding the process and started thinking that "I might be able to do this". The tutorials are invaluable part of this site in my opinion and if Jerry can incorporate them into the design it would be wonderful...particularly for the "new guys". Jed

Yep, I have some tadpollies that have caught so many steelhead for me the paint is entirely removed on the back half the lure. I hang them in my garage where they can rest. These baits are not worth anything really but I would just hate to lose them. I also had a kwikfish that was magic on chinook and was nearing retirement. On an average day it would get 3 of the 5 bites in the boat. The last trip I took it on it was the only bait that was bit two days in a row! Anyway, right at dark after hooking the only two fish of the day, my rod dipped hard a third time, a monster chinook was on. The fish peeled out 50# braid in the heavy current and by the time we got the boat loose from the anchor it broke off my 40# pound leader, I almost cried...my lure was gone. I have tried several others that look identical to it and none of them have done a thing for me. Jed

Bud, One tool a guy has to have in my opinion is a band-saw. The band saw lets you cut out your baits and more importantly, cut a straight bill slot. Some guys here prefer to use a scroll saw...I learned on a band saw and really like it. I used to build them without a band-saw but half of my baits wouldn't run because the slot was cut incorrectly. You can buy a band saw new for about a 100 dollars, worth every penny. If you get one make sure you get a thin blade with small teeth, this allows you to cut around sharp corners. The other tools you will need are a drill, a wood file, some sandpaper, and a strong desire to learn. When you first start it seems odd, well it did for me anyway. I just couldn't fathom taking a square piece of wood to a fish shape that would swim. I can now have a chunk of wood to a fish shape in under 5 minutes, no exageration. You can buy wood at Home Depot or just about any lumber supply store. Good woods are cedar, poplar, basswood for floating/diving lures, mahogany and maple are good for sinking versions. If you just want to buy some wooden bodies to finish, do a search on ebay under the keywords "musky", you will note there is a guy on there with the username "hawaiisbest" that routinely sells just wooden bodies made from basswood...I have bought from him and he's reliable. Hardware such as hooks, split rings, screw eyes, bills, can be obtained through Janns Netcraft or Stamina, lots of others too. Carolina Chip used to have some great tutorials at his web-site that showed the process of building a wooden bait very clearly. Maybe someone knows if those links are still available for Bud? Hope I helped some bud, it's great fun and really makes long winters much more enjoyable. jed

When you get ready to give it a try Bud feel free to write me, would be happy to provide you with some guidance. One other thing to consider, I don't own it myself but have heard that the video produced by Lunge is quite good and spells out the process of building a bait in video form, something to consider. Have fun! Jed

Unless the person was a trusted friend I personally would not replace a bait unless they return the defective one. Beyond that, I would think that any reasonable person asking for a replacement would also expect to return the broken bait. You are exactly right, there is way too much work that goes into a bait to be just "sending them out" because someone said they had failed. By the way, like Skeeter and others I have never seen an epoxy go "soft" again. Jed

Buy some 1/2" cedar and cut them out yourself Bud. jed

I generally use one or the other, a split ring or a duo-snap, not both. I don't ever use a swivel on a crank tho, it's not necessary as the crank shouldn't be spinning, well unless it's one that I have built, lol. I fish for salmon and steelhead primarily and it used to be that the plugs we use for them all came with split rings.....hot shots, wiggle warts, hot-n-tot, kwikfish, tadpolly (my favorite), etc. Now tho virtually all of them come with a duo snap which I much prefer as it allows you to change plugs without having to retie, snap on snap off......did that sound familiar? jed