Travis

Watched that video a few days ago. Very interesting to see how they are doing it. I think they may have figured it out. Japan isn't exactly known for being inefficient. https://duo-international.com/concept/our-history/

Nice and clean. Good job.

The other option is just to make more lures. I did this a few times on some cranks I was wanting to slowly rise. Just weighted them differently. Didn't make much sense to do just did it. Suspend strips and dots way to easy to use for those rare times I thought I needed it.

Considerable difference. If you have a kitchen scale at home you can make salt water for testing. 3.5 grams salt then add water to reach 1000 g total. Brackish water, heavy rains, temperature, etc.. will also all play into effect. I personally would make a batch of ocean water and float test and take suspend strips when fishing to make any slight adjustments that may be needed if you are wanting to get a slow fall rate.

White pine is typically the best pine to use if carving. Different species of pine have different traits in regards to carving, density, resin, etc. I wouldn't be too worried about chasing wood species for lure making. Find a wood you like that suites your needs.

I typically used less than a gallon of plastic in the presto pot. As long as my stirrer kept it going good but definitely not something for small batch. Just go traditional.... electric burners were the mainstay for about everyone at one time. Lee plastic production pots (I never liked them). Long time ago guys constructed set ups with multiple heat lamps to heat pots. Might be able to find a few posts but these were a long time ago. Lots of ways to heat plastic.

Have not used the gel to seal a bait did use to seal a few pens I turned when ran out of the regular super glure. It won't be absorbed as readily as the liquid due to viscosity. Personally I find the liquid easier better to coat things and the gel reserved for applications where I need it to stay put (mounting coral frags for example). A finger cot or vinyl glove makes short work of coating a bait. On my lathe I have sealed much larger pieces (bowls) with superglue in no time. Apply in low humidity settings and cure times will slow dramatically. A dehumidifier in a bathroom or walk in closet will let most get down to much drier conditions, even in humid environments. One year we had a small lab space 8 ft x 8 ft approximately that the AC had issues in and had to do some work on some materials that were sensitive to humidity. I could start out in the mid 70% range and get down to near 12% quickly running two run of the mill big box store units.

Several colors I have used over the years seam to be fairly close to the base color. With some tweaking should be able to reach if from a few different directions. Most of the photos on the internet use the same stock image but there are a few that don't. A lot of the Arkansas shiner recipes would come fairly close (ditch the pearl in the belly color). I used to pour a lot of flukes and sluggo baits with backs in a cinnamon, root beer, brown pumpkin range and tweak to get the desired hue/transparency requested. On large orders would typically have them send me a lure or stop at the store and buy a pack of what I was looking to match. Even then you would find some manufactures colors varied. For some large orders would send several packs that were slightly different so they could pick but those were larger quantities.

That is Rainbow shad but I haven't ever had one in my hand. The 3 inch model looks completely different color wise. I think the photo makes it look purple because of the tail section and comparison with the light smoke/near clear bottom pour.

Five minute Devcon is fine for lips and line ties if that is the route you want to go. Other options will work also.

It gets difficult because guys use so many different things. "Solo" cup gets mentioned but individuals were using various different plastics. The same for the "virgin" lacquer thinner. Those also end up being different chemical compositions depending on location and brand. Reason so many hit and misses with the solo cup method. Propionate was easier for most because they were sourcing the same product from Swede or Palmeto Balsa for instance. Even then I was never sure what exactly propionate they were using. I assumed cellulose acetate propionate based on the initial Rapala reference and coming a few sites across the pond with google translate.

Response earlier was no. Might have to check LPO site to find out.

Plenty of information about performance and pros and cons for DN MCU. Personally I would buy a pint and be done with it. If I don't like it I am out 90 bucks. Figure I am saving a lot more making my own lures versus buying good custom baits or even good mass produced baits for that matter.

You are correct. They still can be bought from various vendors painted on unpainted.

Dark colors don't care about heat stabilizer... For old plastic make sure it is mixed very well. Stuff that comes out tacky has cured after a few weeks from my experiences but haven't poured much old plastic besides a few times (plastic was probably 8 years old).