Senkosam

Vaseline works! Put al foil along two of the longest sides and tuck into the right angle with the container and up the side of the container. The foil that lays on the surface of the first part has to be greased also. If you haven't done so, use a thin flat head with shallow inserts at the foil's line with the first pour, working it by pushing it around the mold's dividing edge once or twice all the way around and in different spots. One twist will tell you when the parts will separate and that you should keep going around with more twists using a larger head or butter knife. Gentle is key. I can usually separate a 2-part in one hour after the second part dries. 2 hours is safer. I'm talking 5/8" or thicker per part. Too thin and you risk cracking. I coat both sides immediately.

I used to use floured salt (in fact, I introduced it to TU a few years back), but if you can find super fine salt (ie. Diamond - The Finer Salt at 79 cents for 26 oz.) , not only does it suspend much better than large crystal salt, but gives you a translucence not possible with floured salt. If I want an opaque bait, I will use floured salt and sugar flakes, which produces a nice, skim milk appearance that reminds me of the muted belly color of fish and rates right up there with white pearl.

When in doubt, buy a candy thermometer. If the temp is not 300 degrees give or take 10 degrees, you have a problem. Stirring keeps the plastic uniform in temp and clumps should be melted or removed before pouring so that the thinnest details can be poured. At present, my basement is 55 degrees and using my microwave, I can still pour 8 cavities - single or 2-sided. The more pours or the thinner the plastic detail, the hotter the temp. needs to be. My two burner hot plate sits collecting dust.

Elmers doesn't peel? That's the main reason I don't use ModPodge.

Nova, I recently made a two part mold for the same design and I no longer worry about ripping the thin tail connection or leaving half of the boot in the cavity. I suspect you use oil for easier release. I put the shad on its side into wet POP, grease the surface, and add next layer of plaster. The tail pours fine with one, hot plastic pour because the boot isn't deep in the cavity. Larger shads are okay; it's only the small slider grubs I have problems with, which is why I'm investigating using RV. BTW Tubeman, what do you rig those giant muthas on.!

Thanks so much! Sometimes I must use a flexible mold for deep details. I'll also check Michael's Crafts located locally before I order.

I've found that for certain lure designs, I need RTV silicone versus POP. Where do you get yours?

Lurecraft has quite a few shad molds in different sizes. You might want to ask them to look at the photo to see which one they sell. I would thing the mold would have to be made of silicone to get the boot tail out.

Looks Like It Will Have Excellent Action

Super Glue, flame and soldering iron. Another suggestion which I came up with a few weeks ago is to add bbs to the hot plastic. 3-4 bbs adds 2 grams; one ball bearing adds more; and for maximum wt., one sling shot ball works good (they come in different sizes). Best yet, they don't react with plastic and oxidize like lead will. I use these wts. in place of split shot or mojo sinkers and may stop adding salt altogether.

laminate preferred: pearl or sugaf flake belly .015 gold, chart, .015 lime, .040 black flake in clear plastic Old camera doesn't do justice to colors.

Short starter list: plastic (soft or mid grade depending on the action and amount of salt added); usually no less than 1 gallon; M-F, Ozark or Lurecraft softener (buy only if you use mid grade and need to soften for stick) dye (brown watermelon, black, chartreuse, pearl dye, pumpkin, white) glitter (.040 and .015 in black, gold, kelly green, blue, silver) fine salt (Diamond at 79 cents a 26 oz can) metal or silicone molds (Lurecraft.com, Delmart or Bob's) depending on bait style and cost; some baits can be made as good from silicone molds, as metal plaster of paris if you want to copy jig trailers and many other bait styles by making your own molds. Check prices on-line at Lurecraft.com, Delmart, M-F Industries or Bob's Tackle Shack.

Same here. How soft? Salted?

Agree with using a microwave over stove top, but I heat plastic in the basement workshop all the time with no problem unless I accidentally start to burn the plastic. You can choke on smoking plastic fumes and must vent and evacuate the area immediately. It pays to heat the plastic a little at a time and make sure it doesn't smoke. Once clear plastic turns amber, you've overcooked it and reused plastic takes half the time to get to a pouring temp of under 300. A candy thermometer is a good initial investment and gives you an idea of the lowest temperature range you can pour at (which is also better for color brightness and glitter stability). Heat stablizer can only do so much.

TT could you give me a source? I bud of mine used the BB's I suggested and I was surprised at their size (I only use a pellet gun) when he showed me some new pours this morning. The proof will be the scale (in grams) and sink rate comparisons in my aquarium. Brass and nickel beads may be comparable to BB's - thanks for the suggestion. Now if my brother-n-law would only remember to give me some of his steel shot that he uses for buckshot reloads. McMasters is amazing, but I wouldn't know what to order. Thanks

I have to check the supply where I work. It's in storage and not used anymore because of Fed safety regs. I might be able to get hold of about 40lbs and it would go for the same price as sugar, if I list it. Once it's gone, that it.

Sounds better than Pro Tek, though maybe a coating or epoxy over that might keep the plastic from contacting the lead. I have some Two Ton Epoxy. Thanks

One of my best techniques uses a super light weight ahead of a short stick. An idea I had is to use steel shot or steel bearings, embedded in hot plastic. Their position and number would be based on lure usage. For example, forward weighted for jerkbaiting and bottom dragging and center weighted for a faster, wacky rig drop. BBs might not be heavy enough to get away with using one or two, but steel bearings might and are slightly heavier. I'm guessing they would not interact with plastic, at least not for a few years. The problem is finding them. Any ideas other than crack open a Rat L Trap?

I was thinking of embedding a jighead in plastic (the usual grub or shad lure designs ). To prevent lead interacting with plastisol, would a powder paint coat work to prevent lead oxidation? The reason for doing so would be the change in action and profile vs. the usual lead-on-the-outside rig.

I recently came across a source for ground glass, which differs from sand and fine salt in that it suspended nicely and added weight. It doesn't affect lure softness and has that grit you find in GY lures, especially Senkos. Of course, the translucence is better than sugar, but only a little, and the periphery of the plastic near the skin is translucent. Added to a short stick, there was a 1 gram increase per bait and a stick sank fast in a horizontal fall. Less glass is needed than sugar, but the same as salt. Ground glass can be dangerous because of the tiny grain size and I'm careful to not let my fingers get close to my face or eyes and to wash my hands after using it. Cool stuff none the less.

Sugar flakes, bronze and black glitter with a few drops of brown.

An easy way to pour a laminate Beaver would be to pour half with the mold open. Next, pour the body only and with flat side down of the first pour, press it down on top of the hot plastic (body only). Below are full round baits using a one part mold.

Price of gypsum must have gone up because $7.50 is what I paid at Home Depot four years ago for a twenty pond bag.

Durham's is a bit better than plaster, (though more expensive) and for the following reasons: Finer grain means better detail (BTW, the plaster looks like yellow flour in a can) Less shrinkage means the cavity is closer to the original lure dimensions once the plaster hardens. It's a bit harder than plaster, but that's never been an issue IMO. I'm still using plaster of Paris molds that are 5 year old and have the original Valspar sealer. If you go the resin or RV route, ventilate big time!

Aluminum creates the manufactured look we strive for when selling lures. Produces good one or two part mold lures if the design cut into the metal was good to begin with. Plaster does fairly well with lure detailas, but no where near as nice as metal because the super fine details are covered by sealer. Silicone falls into the same category and is generally sold as a one part, producing one flat side. Plaster is the cheapest and easiest to use (20 lbs for 7 bucks!), sets up fast (allowing a pour with 1.5 hours) and doesn't degrade like silicone. The glossy cavity coat produces glossy baits, which is a failing of silicone IMO. Resin and POP have fans, but AL is still superior.