Travis

It is possible the key is to find the correct addtive that would be both user and enviromenally acceptable. The most obvious one would be to look at different salts besides sodium that may be useful. Ideally you would want one that crystallizes into flakes or sheets. Something that would easily displace its weight and remain "afloat" in plastic.

Finally made my first foam lure. Made three molds of the same bait, one mold has the lip molded in, but I used the original Poe's lip, so I will have to head to the shop and make some bills. Overall pleased didn't encounter any trouble. One minor problem was demolding the lure, what a pain, used vasoline/mineral spirits will apply a lilttle more next time.

Joe, when I pour laminates with the white belly I generally add 1/8 teaspoon of LC white pearl powder to every 4 oz of plastic. It gives a nice pearlescent belly that is slightly transparent it will slightly pass the color of the top portion of the laminate. Add a little less and more color comes through.

I will be the devils advocate on this one. I pour only because I enjoy it and it fills the winter months with a fishing related activity and after doing some research (buying) decided I could break even and do it cheaper after a year of fishing. I have not observed a difference in the quality or quantity of fish I catch on hand pours versus mass production plastics. I fish them interchangeably. I purchased a lot of different hand pours from many individuals to truly see what was out there and was very impressed by some of the baits but just as many were inferior products in my book (bubbles, air voids, fingerprint impressions, seperation between layers, etc..) Just like mass production baits you come across some crap. The last Ika's I bought looked like swiss cheese. As others mentioned just make what the client wants. Thankfully anglers are some of the most superstitious group of individuals on the planet. I think we would give the little old bingo ladies a run for their money. If you can make that guy that "special" 3 inch craw in cajun gumbo color with molases scent then you are going to make that sell.

I stand most of the time at my bench also. When I first got my workshop (came with the house) it had no workbenches I looked at the ones at Lowes, Menards, etc.. an thought for the price not that great. I went the cheap route and used plans for a work bench in Wood (November 2002). It is not a heavy duty type of bench but it has worked fine for me for 2 years. For the price it is hard to beat. The bench is 40 inches high. It works great height wise for me but I am only 5 foot 9. Overall price would be around 60 dollars to make (3/4 particle board). Seems to plenty stable and was easy to knock out in a couple hours. I have at least 400 lbs up on the bench several times. My bench has my mitre and scroll saw along with my drill press. There is ample room for pouring worms, making crank baits, painting etc...

I was going to purchase some tubing on Monday. Local hardware store going out of business (Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc....) 50% off all their copper, brass, and stainless tubing. Up to this point I have made rattles out of glass because it is so easy to used. Pic posted in terminal tackle.

I ended up chucking the mold after posting, I went to look at it again and just didn't really like the way it was looking. I also need to figure out what type of lip I am going to use or make the mold so various lips could be used. I had used 19 gauge stainless steel for the harness.

I just got done modifying my first bondo mold last night to except a lip, I drilled a hole through the lip and attached it to the entire wire through set up. After seeing your test results won't be as worried.

All right you made it look too good and then after taking a peak at the tutorial I went to Lowe's the first thing this morning and bought some bondo. Mold is setting as I type. Now to order some foam.

Grinding any salt is going to make the bait milky. By grinding you are adding millions of additional facets, fractures, imperfections, etc... to make the salt crystals opaque/white. Unfortunately in order to make it feasible to get the salt to suspend in the bait it has to be broken down into smaller pieces or a more involved stir method needs to be employed. Most manufactuers don't grind their salt anywhere as fine as many try most seem to use much larger salt. I wonder what the average size of the salt crystals used by most manufactuers?

Thats pretty cool. Looks like the spotted salamander.

1. you are just creating an air bubble when you are pouring. Try to consistantly pour to one side of the opening at a rate not to cause a jam. I don't ever want the mouth of the opening to be filled with plastic until it is full. Get a consistant stream pouring in to one side until it is filled then filll the mouth. I don't ever want to have to stop to let plastic fill the mold. Just make sure you always have and area for air to escape and you will rid yourself of this air bubble in the neck of the bait. Although I do this intentially also to create a rattle chamber or a void to fill with attractant. I like my plastic as hot as possible.

just search "clam shell" packaging and you will find plenty of places

If you are getting lumps you may be adding too much water at first. Add just a little mix until thick paste add a little more and continue until you get the consistency you want. You shouldn't get any lumps this way. At first I got lumps also until I did this. You can also use your shopvac to make a simple vacuum chamber out of a five gallon bucket or I took a piece of rubber and made a "gasket" that fits along the edges of the bread pan I pour most molds in and with a piece of Lexan with a make shift hose attachement does a fairly good job.

Let me guess your prototypes are baked or "hard" form. These are the worst to demold and often cause problems from my experience. I leave the sculpey unbaked myself. It peels right out easily. Also when it is left unbaked it adhears naturally to the bottom of the pan. When using a hard baked sculpey, I coat it with vasoline. I also before hand drill small holes in the flat side and devcon a couple pieces of skewers for handles and leverage. Of course using this type of prototype has to be pushed down into the paris, puddy, etc....

I wrap them in a single sheet of paper towel and stack them in small cardboard boxes.

Some beautiful paint schemes, very impressive you guys have some amazing skills and make some very beautiful baits. But who are we trying to catch here fish or anglers? A lot of the baits I see I would buy and place in a frame for display. I find a lot of the baits presented more of artwork (honest complement) but when it comes to catching fish aren't a lot of these details lost? I am a hard sell on this manner just wondering if the detail and time spent in these beautiful baits is warranted on the basis of catching more fish or just in distinguishing a product.

I have transferred some of my plastic to quart aluminum bottlles. They have teflon lined lids and work great. I need to get some larger ones though quart is a little small. They mix up well by shaking.

I haven't baked a mold yet. It probably will bite me one day but basically I coat with devcon 5 minute and pour. I have gone from pouring plaster to plastic within an hour with no problems. I will say the rock puddy or similar stuff seems to need the extra curing but I have done the same with these products also. I just place a stack of paper towels under the mold to soak up residual water. Most of my first molds I poured the plaster and then pushed the baits down also. After doing it the other way I trashed my first molds and did them over. I found I had a lot less (none) trimming to do based upon the imperfections typically observed when pushing baits from the top. It wasn't a problem as long as I did a lot of sanding after the mold set but that got old rather quick. I haven't tried the heat resistant paint yet (have a couple cans), does it give the same slick surface like devcon. I would think that it would also not cover up as much detail as devcon.

I keep mine flat. I generally want a little to spill from opening. Once I pour the first layer I then assemble and set up and pour vertically. Only time you run into problems if the platic is reel warm and it will run down into the "tail" of the bait, but then you just get a nice colored tip on your baits instead of the two tone laminate.

Glue the baits down in the container you want to cast in. I find for trailors I don't have to glue usually. Pour your plaster carefully over the baits. I usually take a spoon and spoon plaster over the baits then pour the remaining plaster carefully so not to disturb the baits. Let it set then demold. I then lay a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and work out any inperfections and make sure I have a good flat mold.

As mentioned earlier purchase some baits from different places so you can judge the quality versus yours and that might give you an idea what your baits might be capable of bringing. You will find those guys that want a special color because they believe it gives them a competitive edge and they will pay a little more to get this "one of a kind" color and even more for a bait. Just a quick check at member's sites here and you will find depending upon the type of bait and size, stuff going for 0.23 to 1.00 a bait. I have found a lot of guys are willing to pay mor, if selling in person, because if they have to purchase it over the internet and have it shipped that 5 dollar bag of 10 hand poured worms just has increased 10 + cents per worm at that point.

As far as the molds I would essentially say I want to recoup my cost in X amount of worms. Of course we wouldn't try to recoup the cost in three or four worms but in several hundred is a completely different story and perfectly feasible since writing off is only going to bring in a fraction of the original cost. All I am out to do is break even. Essentially support my hobby. If I was looking at it from a business stand point it gets a little dicey. Lot of expenses, then from what I understand you also have to take in account Wallop-Breaux taxes.

From early chemistry class if I recall wood stir sticks have this problem. Air is trapped in the wood and as the stick heats the air expands and escapes into the plastic.

I would count the cost of the mold. If I was selling them then the everything envolved would have to be covered. Microwave, bags, pyrex cups, etc.....