Smallie

I was wondering when someone would clean it up. The idea was to post recipes, not ask questions. Questions can be asked on the forum and not the sticky. Thanks Woodsac.

Thanks Gon2long - I have been using OOMOO 25 for my silicone molds and it makes a flimsy two piece mold with it's 25 durometer. That quick set looks interesting and with the durometer at 40-50 will be significantly stiffer.

Does anyone know what the blue mold material is?

Coca Cola too!

That was my experience!

Here are some useful conversions. http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/conversion_charts.html

I don't think any of the big manufacturers use as much salt as Yamamoto. Look at the way the Yamamoto baits absorb moisture. I haven't seen any other baits absorb moisture like that. My brush hogs do not get any salt. I like the bait to float and don't see any advantage to adding salt.

I think you have it backwards Snowman. The injector got into our hobby because people wanted their baits to look like the store bought baits. It also made it easier to create baits that do not have flashing from pouring "outside the lines". I think both these points are so the baits will catch the fisherman. The fish do not care if there is a flat side to the bait. In reality, the flat side creates more action and shows the fish something different compared to the store bought (read fully round) baits they see everyday. I will admit that I own a few aluminum Senko style molds but that is the only fully round bait I throw.

I only put salt in one bait - the senko - and I use Diamond Crystal non iodized. The salt adds weight to make the bait sink. I don't buy into the "salt makes the bait taste real and the fish holds on longer" theories. Pay attention to line twitches or ticks through the rod and you will catch the fish. If I feel like the bait needs something else to attract fish, I use smelly jelly.

As you get started, keep a notebook in your pouring area. Keep track of the amount of plastic in ounces, brand of colorant, number of drops used, and amount of glitter. If you are making Senko's, you will also need to record amount of salt and amount of softener. I used MS Excel to make a spreadsheet. I printed a number of sheets out and keep them in a loose leaf binder.

If it is sand cast, the cavities will look like the cavity in a Do-It mold.

I agree Frank - I have been using that salt ever since you posted it it some years ago and it works great. It is also sweet to get it at the Supermarket. It was just on sale last week for 69 cents for 22oz package.

The polishing compound mentioned above is Simichrome. Mothers aluminum mag wheel polish or Flitz are two others that would work.

I like Sculpey because you can get it pretty smooth before you bake it and minimize the amount of sanding needed to get a really smooth master. And the ability to be able to add more is nice too.

There are sinking plastisols available which reduce the amount of a salt and in turn the distortion of your salt-less recipes but either way, you need to reformulate when you go with salt or from light salt to heavy salt.

A lot of people want exact copies, they just want a cheaper price because they think they are home made. The hand pouring movement was started by anglers wanting to make something different but the hobby has steadily moved in the direction of two piece, injected molds that mimic what is available commercially.

I found the cooler temperature to be key to getting build up. If you are at 325, it seems like each dip re-melts the previous dip and you don't build up. Go under 300 and see how you do. As mentioned above, a mini meatloaf pan is a good container and what I use for horizontal dipping.

SlowFish - what is DN?

Forgot to say that I thinned the epoxy with denatured alcohol from Home Depot when I was in the "its got to look like store bought baits" frame of mind. I haven't used Devcon in a couple of years.

Don't use the Mod Podge - that was surpassed by a few coatings including the 50/50 Elmers mentioned above. The Elmers is the easiest because you can take a container like a salad dressing jar, make the mixture and store it in that jar. When you want to use it, shake it well and then flood the cavity. I actually let it overflow slightly and use my finger to seal the flat portions around the cavity. I let is sit for 15 minutes or so and then put the mold upside down on a piece of newspaper with a couple of dowels under the ends to keep the mold off the paper. This makes a bait that is perfectly acceptable to the fish. You can make the baits shinier and thus more appealing to the fisherman by sealing with thinned epoxy such as Devcon Two Ton but it is more difficult to use and can wipe out detail if it goes on too thick. My opinion is it is not worth the trouble if you are only interested in making baits to catch fish.

If you take this one step further, you make an RTV mold from your hard master and pour 10 baits. Then you glue the 10 soft baits down and make a hard POP or Resin mold.

Or even using them for personal use - You are creating lost revenue for the patent holder.

Mike - The fan looks a lot like the one at my pouring station. I think it is just the right size.

I hope the new pourers on this site take note of this post. I shudder every time I see a post about remelting store bought baits. The most important line in this post is "If you can smell it, then you are breathing it". If you are going to pour, provide good ventilation for your work area. My pouring station has a 1500 cfm gable end fan in it and it can actually move a thin stream of plastic but I never smell a thing. My opinion is a 160 cfm range hood is not cutting it and you are risking your health.

I keep my plastisols and my softener in five gallon containers under my pouring bench. I saved empty windshield washer gallon jugs and keep a gallon of each blend in a plastic tray with 3 inch high sides. As DaBehr noted, there are not any health reasons to keep the material out of doors. As far as safety for children goes, I have paint thinner, acetone, denatured alcohol, stabil and a whole lot of other things that are not "kid friendly" in my basement and I am sure everyone else does too. Take the same precautions you take with these household chemicals and your children will be safe.