Smallie

Last night, I coated 2 waterputty and 2 ultracal30 molds with Devcon 2 ton. I put about 1/4 inch of Devcon in the bottom of a little pill cup. It was about an inch from each of the tubes in the Devcon. Into the Devcon, I put 6 drops of rubbing alcohol. The drops were obtained by dipping the end of the paint brush into the alcohol and then letting one drop run down the stem and into the devcon. I also added 2 drops of red food coloring. The mix seem to drip off the end of the brush freely after stirring. I painted as thin a coat as I could and still see red coverage. This morning, I went to look at it and one obsorbed the devcon and the other three have a very shiny coat. I coated two molds with the mix above and then threw it away. Then I mixed another batch for the second two. The first batch produced the dull and a shiny finish. I did the dull one first. Question: Did I put enought alcohol in? I expected more obsorption. I tried to put the thinnest coat I could on each mold but the shiny molds seem to have lost the detail. They look great and feel smooth but I think the baits will have the shape of the mold but a smooth finish. Any comments? Dave

Saint, They look great to me. You said the holes are clogging which infers a two piece mold but it looks like the bottom is flat ala Zoom. Is it a two piece mold? Also, I see posts about molds from Shawn that aren't on the website I look at. Are these custom or are there molds available that aren't on his site? Thanks, Dave

I ordered 2 oz each of Magnet, Bass Sauce 1 and Hawg Sauce earlier in the week. They arrived yesterday. The packaging was excellent and the scents smell great. I hope to pour this afternoon.

I coat my Sculpey masters with Devcon. Works for plaster molds, don't do resin so I can't speak from experience. I would expect it to work fine though. Dave

There have been some threads that have mentioned what was called a poor man's patent. The thought was that you could document your idea for a custom bait and mail that documention package to yourself. By keeping the envelop sealed, you would gain some protection should someone patent your idea. Here is something I just stumbled upon. It calls it a poor mans copyright but the idea is the same. http://www.snopes.com/legal/postmark.asp Hoping that this just affected copyrights and not patents lead me to: http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2004/11/the_poor_mans_p.html So it appears that the poor mans patent won't offer protection. BUT, it may be worth doing it so you can at least establish when you started making it. It might help for something. Dave

If you go to the bottom of the BPS page Joe linked to, you will see the at the name of the bait means Bass Pro Shops Branded Item.

PLT - Are you saying that immediately after pouring, the line exhibits the strength you would expect but if you let the bait sit, the line seems to weaken to the point where it breaks easily? What is the time frame over which the line degrades?

How do you order these? The shopping cart is not working.

Doubling up the skirts is a great idea. Really fills out the tail. Nice work too! Dave

dtrs5kprs - will Devcon hold up better when doing multiple batches? If not, will something else or are plaster type molds not suited for multiple batches? Thanks, Dave

The Dollar Store and super glue gel work for me. I figured if it glued the baits to a lead jig, why not flat steel. Sometimes the oil on bait slows down the set so place the bait and leave it there for 5 or 10 minutes. Also, thin baits can stretch so be careful not to elongate the bait while smoothing it or straightening it out.

I think Jensen Jigs offered a tube offered something like this but I don't think he is tieing anymore. Can you post a picture of it wet so we can see how the marabou compresses? Dave

It doesn't work for me either. Says "cannot find server".

Thanks for the reply, Ledhed. Do you know which size I should order?

Hi - I am building a fluidized bed. I have searched the forums and found reference to Small Parts Inc as a source for the microscreen but I have not seen mention of the size. Can someone recommend a mesh opening or mesh count or percent opening. I plan to make a square cup about 3 x 3 inches. Thanks, Dave