jigmeister

I'm not Ohio Mike but I did make a low cost vacuum chamber to aid in pouring some two-part molds I made . Get a 5 gallon plastic bucket (a square one works best if you can find and some laundry detergent is sold in these) . You will also need a shopvac to pull the vacuum . Drill a hole in the side of the bucket the size of the attachment wand on the end of the shopvac hose just above the bottom of the bucket. Instead of the lid I cut some plywood slightly bigger than the outside dimintion of the bucket out of plywood . Put some foam weatherstripping tape around the bottom of the new plywood lid to form a seal to the bucket. Drill a hole thru the lid that will line up with the sprue hole in your mold . You can use hi-temp silicon to make a bead on the bottom of the lid to seal between the lid and your mold . You will have to devise a way to clamp or attach your mold to the lid with wood, straps, etc. depending on the configuration of your mold. Get everything set and heat your plastic after lubing your mold cavity(s) liberally with Pam. Turn on the vac and pour . After cooling gently pry the mold halves apart . If you have any bubbles or voids in the finished bait scribe a fine line in one of the mold halves around the void area to the outside edge so the vacuum can pull the plastic in . Its a trial and error thing just be careful not to make these vents too big or the vacuum can suck about all the hot plastic out while pouring . Hope this helps ...jigmeister

I just finshed testing an AC type plug a made and it swims great with no ballast weight . (just have to paint it now) I finally got the round preshaped wooden bodies I ordered that I have to lay out and cut and was wondering if ballast weight will be required since this one will have a lexan diving lip on it? Thanks-Jigmeister

I just bought some full round lure bodies from Stamina and just like I've seen discussed here many times I had to figure out a way to cut an accurate lip slot in the lure. What I came up with was to use a block of wood wider than the OD of the lure body . Next I drilled a centered hole (slightly smaller than the widest part of the body) with a hole saw,vise, and drill press straight thru the side of the block . Size the lure body in the hole after drilling and the tapered shape should wedge the body firmly in the hole perfectly centered. Figure out what the desired lip angle is and trim the end of the wood block to that angle . This will have the lure body nose up at the proper angle and held securely. You can lay the block on its side for a table saw or standing up for a chop type saw . I put top ,bottom ,and side reference marks at 90 degree intervals on the fixture for marking the lure body for true accurate lines in relationship to the lip slot.

In the new Stamina catalog for 05 they have just what you're looking for (chartreuse w/ red flake) called "splattered blood skirts" Item # 392-10

Looks to me to be a "Scrounger" jig head that was made around the late 70's -80's . The plastic hood thingy was actually like a lip to make the jig swim back and forth ........

Magic Bob - Those are some awesome looking baits !!! Congrats on a most realistic representation of a trout . Are those mahogany? How about a better picture from the side profile ........Jigmeister

I bought a couple of these and tried one on an overhead type spinnerbait I designed that weighed around 2 oz . It did provide lift and vibration but even better was the wake it put out when cranked just under the surface .

I haven't tried it yet but the word on the street has it the way to make morning dawn is........one drop of red per ounce of plastic and one drop of blue per ounce of plastic . Fill the bottom of the mold cavity with the lite blue plastic and then fill it the rest of the way with the lite red. Where the two colors blend will be kind of a lite purple . I guess you could tweak the ratio of red and blue plastic to get the desired effect?

Dink , Bassmaster did a couple of articles around 1993 or 94 on how Fritts modifies his crankbaits . I played around with some Poe plugs back then and it was definately a trial and error thing . A swimming pool would be more beneficial for tuning than an aquarium . I took some Poe plugs and unscrewed the belly hook hanger eye removing it from the bait . I then took some round split shots in various sizes and pounded then flat with a hammer and drilled center holes in them the diameter of the hook hanger shaft. Try the various size lead weights by putting on the hook hanger and threading it back into the lure . Experiment until you get the desired bouyancy. If you get one that makes the lure slowly sink at the desired depth you can slowly file off lead from the flat side of the flattened split shot until it stops sinking and suspends . When you get one thats close suspend dots can be added/removed also to speed up the processor make adjustments for changing water temps.

Great Job woodsac! I'm attempting my first big wood lure too (if the rest of my supplies ever show up ?) Is that a Castaic trout tail on the back? Kind of curious how that will swim . I was also curious if you need to add belly weight for ballast with a big jointed plug like that?

Thanks guys for the feedback . I was thinking about making a jig to hold the lure level thru the centerline while cutting hopefully resulting in an accurate cut . I was also contemplating using screw eyes at the top and bottom (4 total) but I'm not sure if I will have room for this set up and if there is any benefit to it as far as lure action goes? Thanks- Jigmeister

I have never tried this before but I am planning on making a large jointed wooden plug similar the an MS Slammer or AC plug and was wondering what the nominal angle for the cut in the front half section of the lure . I have an AC plug and the angle apears to be a little less than 90 deg. (from the center line of the bait maybe 40 deg on either side) . The cut in my AC plug isn't symmetrical and I dont know if this is intentional or just poor quality workmanship . Any thoughts or tips from those in the know?

its pretty soft wood . I think it is pine but it could also be cedar

I too would like to know where to get this Hilts worm coloring powder. I found their website but it only had lead mold info?

seems to me I tried mixing up some by using fluorescent pink (firetail color) and fluorescent orange with good results

Hey Red/all , I was just thinking you could drill a hole out in your fryer for a short 1/2,5/8, or 3/4 inch brass bolt and either tap the hole in the fryer {if thick enough} or simply back it up with a nut . You could drill the center of the bolt out with the counter-sinking bit . to get a better seal between the tapered rod and and tapered seat you made in the bolt simply chuck the tapered rod in a drill press and use lapping compound for a precision fit The end of the bolt extending below the fryer would provide a nozzle so the plastic couldn't pool on the bottom of fryer..........Ken

It sounds a lot like "Iovino" hand poured worms from southern california to me but it could be another brand . The textured effect you speak of is definately caused by pouring salt on the hot plastic once the cavity if full . You could try using finer salt to see if that helps .........Jigmeister

are you getting bubbles showing up on the lure cavity itself ? Some baits like zipper type worms trap air like crazy resulting in bubbles in the cavity. What I like to do when pouring in the second half of the mold is to take a small paint brush and paint a light coating of plaster on the exposed worm halve. This will keep bubbles from sticking to the bait being molded by whisking them off the bait surface. Once you have the bait covered with a thin coat of plaster you simply pour the rest into the mold and this should solve the bubble problem . You can still tap the wet plaster to get trapped bubbles to the top . Home Depot definately carries the Durhams water putty so ask someone in the store . Its much easier to work with than plaster.......good luck -Jigmeister

I think the black grape is more of a violet than purple . I'm thinking adding blue to purple makes violet and then you can darken it one drop at a time with black (or just get some blackgrape /indigo color). You'll be needing some anyway for pouring "junebug" color worms.

its most likely made with "indigo" or "black grape" worm color

I've never seen this type material for sale in bulk but I think Barlows or Stamina sells something called "Starflash" skirts made from the same stuff. I believe it is really round silicone w/ glitter and not rubber.

I think the only two mad man types out there are the mad man and the one made by yum .

Another thought ???? with a crank bait the ballast weight(s) are typically positioned low and at the center turning axis of the bait (around the front hook hanger ). I don't know if you are positioning the lead you're adding along the length of the bait with the balsa models or not but from some experiments I've done it seems keeping the lead concentrated in the same low turning axis area gave me the best results . I compared it to one of those balsa glider planes I bought as a kid . It was lively and followed the weight in the nose but if you moved the weight back it wouldn't fly . The light weight wood will react to where the lead is placed and follow it . Keeping the weight in this turning axis allows the bait to turn easier and change directions while the heft allows the glide further.....

Jed , once you get a bait with the action you want I would try weighing it with a precision scale and they slowly adding weight to the front hook and recording how much it takes for the bait to slowly sink. These two reference weights will allow you to compare the finished weight after painting to the test weights . Putting weight on the hook until it just sinks should give you a reference to the buoyancy of the lure before/after finishing . if the lure is soaking up water during your testing it will both affect the lure weight out of the water and it's bouyancy in the water . I use a balance beam reloading scale for this type of thing and it can eliminate a lot of trial and error -good luck.......Ken

I have made two part molds from both Durhams and resin . The curing temp on the resin is a direct result of how much hardener you add. I think I went with something like 10 drops hardener per oz . of resin. This is also with TAP casting resin. the first molds I tried with polyester fiberglass resin got way too hot and cracked with the same 10 drop formula . The finished 2 part resin molds will soften up some and warp if they're allowed to heat up in the sun . I keep them clamped together when not being used. You can try heating the halves up in the sun , clamping them together until flush and then cooling and it might cure the warping(1/4" gap) between the two halves.