blackjack

http://www.blackjackbaits.com/images/Newbaits2006.JPG

Here is whats been cooking in the old labratory!! Top one is a remake of an original Blazer, next up My deep Smoker, next a combo of my old petey and my lil runt, next up a combo of a bunch of different baits and finally my new shallow runner that runs 18" on 14 lb mono, Hope you all like!! http://www.blackjackbaits.com/images/Newbaits2006.JPG[/img]

screw eye is banak wood the other is foam

Personally I would not use a bait with any epoxy finish unless it has fully cured about a week. If it was an emergency then 24 hours in at least a 70 deg. environment. I think you may have pushed the envelope on the cure time.

Jann's Netcraft seels crankbait lips cant, say that they have the exact lip you are lookin for. You might get a few more responses if ya introduce yourself to the group and tell us a little about yourself , you will find that most everyone is pretty accomodating around here!!!

There is no easy method that I know of because each piece of wood has its own density and weight, you can cut 2 blanks from the same board and they both will have different densities, best bet is to experiment and get a feel for the material that you are using

I don't know about you guys but I could not get to this site!! I was going through withdrawls. Posted something on the Bash Fishing Homepage and of course the Board Nazis pulled the post. I just dont get that site, the board Nazis let all kinds of other posts go about shamless advertising for their buddies sites but post something that is not in the "loop" and it is gone!! Thank God T.U. Lives!!!!!!!!!!

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Personally I have used both for glueing purposes and both are excellent. I prefer to use the 30 minute as this allows for last minute tweaks of the position of the lip and bellyweights, line ties etc. I usually install them then go back after the batch is done just to double check to make sure everything is aligned properly!

Take a look at the deep Bagley Killer B It has the a similar angle lip as the Big O but has a longer lip with the line tie on the lip instead of the body, the killer B has a nice distintive thump when it is tuned properly and just flat out catches the snot out of the fish!!Hope everything is well with your health!!

Is it a crime to make a bait that is not in production?? Or Taking a bait and modifying it to make it better?? I currently sell several baits that were not my sole creation. I purchased baits that I liked and modified them to my specs and made them better. Did Fred Young balk when all of those companies came out with alphabet plugs.?Did Jim Bagley or Lee Sisson wake up in the middle of the night and shout "Eureka!! I just thought up the B baits." Every lure in the marketplace today owes its success to another bait.(Also called borrowed technology)Sometime when you are bored go to the US patent office site and type in fishing lure and see how original your best idea is. I bet dollar to donuts that someone already thought of it. If we all had such great ideas we would be rich and having someone else do all the work for us. I am constantly searching the internet for new ideas or looking for out of production baits that have a following so that I can scratch and claw out my own little niche in this industry. I started out in the Business in 1994 doing repaint work, I have stripped down and taken apart almost any commercially made bait out there. Wanna know why I started making baits because when I was doing all of this tinkering for the repaint business I looked at all of the baits that I was working on and said, I can make better baits myself, and that is just what I did. Am I a lure innovator? I think Not. Am I a shrewd and unscrupulous business man? I think not. I am just a guy that likes to make baits that catch fish. That's my story and I am sticking to it!!

Been there done that, sanding not good enough for me, get a heat gun and an exacto with a #11 blade and heat the epoxy up right to the point where tiny bubbles form, then take your exacto pop a bubble and peel the epoxy off like a banana, there is not a bait that i can't strip down to bare wood doing this, poes, bagleys, rapalas, you name it even regular auto clear bubbles up and you can remove it this way!!

That would'nt be a hidden weight spinner bait mold, would it??

Ever mix up a bunch of meatloaf?? Well this may be extreme but it is the same thing as not using gloves. I wear latex gloves through all stages of making my baits from the sealing process right through the clear coating process.There is oil exuding from your skin and it will cause the epoxy not to stick to the finish, that bait does not look to be ruined though, try wiping it down with a solvent to remove any trace of the oil residue and re-coat. When I first received the clear coat epoxy formulation from the company I buy it from, I had a similar problem, called the guy up and he told me the hamburger/potato chip hand story.Since donning the gloves have not had one problem!!Good Luck

Wow we got ourselves some cheap prescription pills, Anyone need anything to make their wood harder???

Bob, The yellow color comes with age, I have noticed the same thing with stores that do not move alot of product. I only purchase from the Sears Hardware store as they replenish their stocks quite frequently

I would not put Ed Chambers in the same boat as us, Anyone that has 50 drill presses in his shop set up for individual drilling operations does not qualify as a hobbyist to me. He makes mean baits and is as close to a production facility as anyone. He owns more patents than most conglomerates do. He strives for perfection and is usually very quality control minded, that is what makes his baits a step above the rest. Are his baits any better than most of the regulars here?? I doubt it, but he he has come up with a way to make a high quality balsa lures at an expedited rate!! Just my humble opinion!!

I tried the Minwax Wood Hardener last fall with some mixed results on balsa baits. The problem I ran into was with my epoxy sealer not adhering to the balsa if it had been treated with the MWH. It certainly makes for a nice base for the epoxy but had quite a few baits that the sealing coat of the epoxy seperated from the bait after heating up in the sun on the deck of the boat! I reverted back to the old way of thinning down some epoxy with MEK and rubbing it on with a clean rag. No compatability issues doing this.

Kinda in between for me I can crank out about 100 per month if I push it, but that is every night in the shop till 1130pm . I have a real job that affords me the luxury of plenty of time off so that helps. I would try a different name for your baits as there already a Flat Shad, owned by Sonny McFarland

Just did my first pours with my new mold. I was purchasing my old weights from a manufacturer and about 1/3 of the weights were defective. The Inserts were not centered properly so I had a ton of waste. The old weights were supposed to be 1/4" diameter but were slightly larger. This made for alot of fudging the weights in the hole that I drilled. This is gonna save alot of time and wasted money. Gonna speed up production significantly(pic is in gallery)

RGR, I hope that I did not offend anyone with my rant, BB if you do a search you will find a wealth of information that has been given by some of the most talented people in the US and abroad

There used to be a person that frequented this board,that asked tons of questions and received alot of help,info and crank bait patterns and then took them as his own and went commercial on us. We share alot of info here, the majority of it learned thou trial and error, when someone takes the info given for free and uses it for their personal gain I guess it kinda makes the blood boil. Imagine having the gall to manufacture and name a bait exactly what the originator of the bait had named it. To me that takes balls, big hairy dog balls!

I have a question... Why is it that you are printing onto the tissue and not printing directly on the foil??If you spray Bulldog onto the foil the ink will stick and dry, then just spray a acrylic sealer and presto printed foil, did you guys try something like that or did I miss something??

Mark do you think those punches and press would be able to punch out circuit board??

Why are you guys leaving the tape on after painting?? Remove the tape after you get done painting and clearcoat, I overlap the clear onto the lip about 1/16". this will further strengthen the lip in the slot and also prevent any water intrusion that might seep in if there are any areas missed when sealing the bait before priming. Also if you are experiencing problems removing clearcoat from the line tie and hook hangers take one of your old dull exacto blades and heat it up on a propane torch and purge it through the hole in the hook hanger, then clean up the remainder with the dremel wire brush, works like a charm and leaves the hook hangers and line tie intact without any cuts or blemishes