Salty's

I once got the first 3 "infractions" given out by a fishing website owner who shall remain nameless. I took a picture of the screen, put it on ebay and gave away a free lure to anyone who bought one for $1...then I emailed said host and asked if I could have some more. He didn't like that hehehe

Old plastic spice jars are your friend. Put flake in there and sprinkle like your putting salt n pepper on your lure. Works pisser. If the holes are too big then put a piece of tape over some of them. Use an old ziplock style plastic box and put the cover on it when not using so it doesn't get dusty then you can empty back into your container and use again. Or if you want to get REAL fancy google GLITTER GUN

Krylon= lacquer Others= 95% enamel lacquer+enamel=recipe for disaster Any paint that has acetone in it will cause water based to lift and delaminate...wrinkles and bubbles. It acts as a paint remover.

Dunno I'm not a paint chemist. I paid someone many years ago to address some issues I had and this is one thing I learned. One thing I have always found with finishes is what works for one doesn't work for another.

It acts as a sealer/tie coat.

I lay partial blame on them. I lay more blame on the American people and govt. If Americans didn't buy the stuff there wouldnt be a market for it. If the govt didn't let them do whatever they damn well pleased there still would be no market for it. Look on ebay, you got 1000's and 1000's of small chinese sellers mailing things in china post packets for next to nothing. Their govt bankrolls their little businesses and promotes it. Ours doesn't. They just tax the crap out of us and this sets most up for failure.

Your not supposed to put a solvent over a water based finish. It will wrinkle it to the core. There is a solvent in water based stuff...it's called ethylene glycol. It's part of how a water based finish dries. Solvents do nasty things to other solvents. Picture two drunk chicks in a bar...well maybe that isn't such a good example LOL but you get the idea Keep your coats really thin or put a tweener coat in there like krylon fixatif misted on etc.

Chinese people making fishing lures make .25 A DAY. You can buy chinese lures for .50ea with hooks delivered to USA...It's ridiculous.

Jdee if that was directed at me all I can say is I fear no-one. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone I'm just saying go into it knowing first what your getting into. The kid is green behind the ears. He's got alot of learning to do if he thinks this is a profitable business to be in or that he "can make the numbers he needs to be profitable" Last thing I would like to see no matter how much I detest people who don't do this on the legal level is for them to get caught up in an irs audit because someone dropped a dime on them. As I said I'm sure his dad wouldn't like to see his house get attached...and a 16 yo isn't going to proffer up the kind of money they'll be looking for if he's out there selling lures to shops or people and not paying his taxes.

Rickimaro you think you can make the numbers of lures to make a living at this? Didn't you say you were 16? I got 9 cnc machines in my shop and I'm the largest fishing lure kit mfg in the world.... I ain't drivin a new car, I don't have a Lear jet and my kid gets partial assistance to go to college. I have 13 years of busting ass in this business. I live in a modest house, most of my stuff is paid for...still got a truck payment out of 3 vehicles in my driveway. It costs me $3200 a month BEFORE I make a single lure. Do you have any idea how many lures it takes to MAKE $3200 in profit just to pay the rent? It ain't what you think kid. I'll go back to what I said before when you told me not to plan your life....Give it a few years then once you got a little more hair on ya sack go and revisit if you still think you want to start a business. Just do it on the up and up. I'm sure your mum and dad don't want their house attached by the irs because you got caught cheating under the table.

But getting said stores to pay for product is a whole nother topic 9/10 bait shops can't pay their bills. The ones that do take you out 6 months or a year. Many times poorly managed with no business experience. I don't sell in many bait shops anymore. If you don't pay your bill I don't work for you...

Tnx for pointing that out. I'm old enough to be your dad almost twice over. I been around the block. Trying to help you. You are 16...plenty green behind the ears. Good luck. Just do it right.

And I've said it before and will say it again. This is the A#1 problem in this business and why people fail. Everyone thinks there's money to be made in this. Your 16 years old....Do everyone a favor please. Do it right. Get your tax number don't just think you can start selling to tackle shops without being on the same foot as others. You'll be out of business in 6 months once you realize how much work it is and people don't want to be guinea pigs to a 16 year old selling lures that doesn't have much experience. My advise? Save for college, Give the fishing lure stuff a few years. Get some research under your belt, talk to others who do it legit. Then decide if you want to do it. I'm sure your mum and dad will agree when they find out they are liable to uncle sam for taxes and penalties because you got caught with your finger in the cookie jar...

Seriously there's alot of good answers here. Your not going to find it easy and your going to waste alot of money. Don't forget that address

Here I'll make it easy for you. Gimme your address and I'll send you blank envelopes you can fill with cash. I will send you jokes with the envelopes...you'll laugh and be happier than the headaches you'll be facing otherwise

title...hahahahahahahahahahahahaha ahhh ok lemme compose myself LOL I spit my coffee on my monitor First lemme just say after 13 years of "making a living" in this business there is nothing new. People told me this back then and it holds true today. It's all been done before. Ok, if you think you are going to "make a living" in this business, figure out what your going to invest in the first year or so and then go down to the corner store and buy scratch tickets with it all. Cuz it ain't what you think it is. First you will pay self employment taxes etc that are so high it's ridiculous, then there is the FET and everything else you need. Add liability insurance, and monthly overhead....faaaggettaboutit. I can show you wholesale catalogs and pricelists from 50 years ago that have higher prices than what stuff sells for today. Meanwhile the cost of living/raw materials continues to climb, and fishing lures don't appreciate at the same level. Hence my comment abt buying scratch tickets. You would be better off LOL You will compete against hundreds and thousands of black market businesses who couldn't care less abt taking money out of your pocket or what their "business" does to anyone else. Fishing tackle is a money LOSING business. You will put more into it than what you will get out of it. Trust me when I say this. I'm sure others will echo most if not all of these comments. If you don't believe me then make the investment give it 5 years and come buy me a beer and tell me your success story.

kbs is anti graffiti paint repackaged.

Why make one. Depending on the size you can find a small kick press or rotary press on CL or freakbay. Have a steel rule die made to shape. Pieces will be best looking. I wouldn't think you'd want to mash it...I think it would destroy it.

LOL that's because they probably have 10-13 yo kids cutting them out on bandsaws for .20 a day pay....hey wait that's more than I make some days wonder if they have any openings

Robalo good luck with both recovery and your business! Griffond that wouldn't work very well. It would be very difficult to sand it after it's off the lathe. You would have to deal with runout etc and the body probably wouldn't end up very round. You wouldnt save anything. Sandpaper is cheap and only takes seconds to sand.

I'm right there with you. What seems to have happened in the last few years though is a HUGE uptick in the amount of this "cottage industry" stuff going on with a large amount of websites geared towards helping these guys pawn their wares. Yes it's not ever going to go away but it's so blatant now that it's really a kick in the teeth to guys that do this legitimately. Why should I have to deal with paying the tax when all these other guys don't and drop their prices and chop my balls off (like this pebble guy in this thread) Just because it's going on doesn't make it right. I'm stuck competing against someone bringing tackle in from India that they're not paying the tax on that I'm required to pay yet they're selling something for $1 that I got to sell for $2? I can rail about this all day. I've dealt with it for 13 years now. I'm at the point though where I'm pretty disgusted and getting ready to do something about it.

What you guys are talking about is called a steel rule die. The dies are not expensive...the press can be.. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=steel+rule+die

google the phone number. You can tell where the stuff is from. Need say no more. It's all illicit. Nathan LOL they're like poptarts in a toaster. Unfortunately you can only fit so many people in a bathtub before the water is all gone...

Tnx for the comments guys... One of the problems in this industry is there isn't anyone enforcing the IRS taxes that legitimate tackle mfg have to pay...so there's been a HUGE amount of websites like this popping up all over that offer "pretty cheap prices"...unfortunately myself as a legitimate registered mfg and others have to compete against this stuff every day and it's getting harder and harder. If you have a lathe, a bandsaw, and maybe a drill press you are an instant lure business...everyone thinks there is millions to be made doing this. Far from it. Just 5 minutes before I read this post I saw an ad at the top of this forum... FishingGear.com , A site/business created to be "A marketplace for handcrafted gear"....and these guys think they're ok putting this together to let people skirt a tax that that legitimate people are required to pay? I can't compete against this stuff at prices like this....and neither can anyone else and it's getting pretty frustrating.

I don't know what your mold looks like so hard to say.