great thread pete. i normally put a spot on my tennessee shad . others we depend upon contrast bars. we do put red under the throat and on the undeside of the tail. im still chuckling at your post .,,, about the girlies.
we use the same lacquers. they only require minimum heat to set for epoxys we run lo-heat thru the nites to barely keep above freezing. years back we constructed a 4byft box with heating bulbs and fans from the bathroom section. they heated the box very well and moved air. that was done for spoons on racks. for cranks it could be done quite easily. hope this gives you an idea.
you can do the base coat with lacquer. then apply crackle . let sit 45 minutes. then apply a water based color over. remember to let cure after the coats and the next day epoxy the bait. it holds fine.
normally honduras is pattern grade. its much more reddish. what we do is purchase from a mill. that way you see what you are buying. theres different grades in mahogany. the door jamb stuff in my opinion is not dense enough in what we need. cedar is basiclly the same grain and weights.. years back loke lures used the honduras now i know they have changed grades.. actually honduras in canada is approx 85 bucks for a 2by 6 by 8 ft., when it available.
if its honduras mahogany you have a fine piece of wood. it holds paint well. turns like butter and screws are never a problem. just make sure you seal it well.
a mac you mention 2 halves of balsa. i by no means know much about balsa, but bill crane a well known b8maker weighs his balsa before deciding which application he uses it for. all i can say is man its rocket science to me. good fishing
over the last 2 decades i have used dupont products. respirater yes sir. automotive topcoats are fine on plastic and metal products. on wooden lures you may run into un solvable issues. mixing at 4-1 mix its pot life is short, but on the other end its dry time is fast. we use lo-bake ovens and achieve excellent res.ults. we have some spinner blades that have been outside for 12 years. the paint has faded but the shiny clear is like day 1.
i see your dilema. i have been intrigued by jump rings, but they need to be silver soldered. i do have a few of the oval rings. there neet also. plus the hooks will hang a weee bit lower which in my opinion is cool.
some guys like split rings, some dont. the triple rings need more room on installation. some times hooks dont swing freely. after nearly 50 years chasin muskies i find drag settings to tight create most terminal tackle failures. just a humble opinion.
over the years. back in the early 80,s guys used to bring in pails of washed up lures. easy scuff and squirt them. the most notorious..back in the day we used epoxy primer. it is still holding to this day on re-paints. .. pradco g finish were the king of flake..
hi gang. normally i hang out on the hard bait forum.
question. does anyone have a line on nu. 10 colorado blades by the thousands.
thanks much appreciated.
woodie bait