BobP

You can use anything heavier than wood for ballast. I melt scrap lead or lead solder into cylinder molds or use integrated ballast/belly hangers that I buy (or beg ). Some guys use finesse weights or round split shot. Whatever gets the job done and is evenly shaped so you can epoxy it in and it will rest on the centerline of the bait.

You can drill a hole and melt it in but the more reliable way is to epoxy it in. That's especially true with balsa. Hot lead burns the balsa cavity and makes it loose. Slap the crankbait on the water (not a good idea for any soft balsa bait!) and it will shoot right out the bottom. Believe me, I know!

No. It will get hard in 4 hrs if cured in a 100-120 degree environment like a heat box lined with foil with a few 100W bulbs inside. At 75 degrees it hardens in 6-8 hours. That's hard enough to touch and handle lightly, not hard enough to fish. A cold room retards the cure slightly. Regardless, epoxy takes about 24 hours to reach "initial cure" of about 90% and takes about a week to cure 100%. I'm like everyone, it would be great to get instant gratification. But it takes time whatever you do. After many baits, a few ruined and some with fingerprints in the clearcoat, you'll decide to be patient and let them hang for a day. If you're using Devcon Two Ton (not thinned with solvent) on bass baits, most consider a single coat sufficient. The stuff is pretty thick.

I apply Devcon in a cold garage and it cures right up. Devcon is on the ragged edge of being too thick to brush after 6-10 minutes at room temps. I just don't believe there's any way to stop the cure. Maybe at absolute zero? Epoxy generates it's own heat during curing and the larger the epoxy mass, the hotter the reaction. That's why guys spread it out on a sheet of aluminum foil after mixing.

Sorry, no, it won't store. I feel your pain! You can recoat epoxy anytime after it begins to set up hard enough for the new coat not to move it around on the lure - a couple of hours is enough for Devcon Two Ton.

I've never seen any #5's and use short shank VMC 4's instead. If you find out where to get some, I'd appreciate a follow-up post. Gamy roundbends are my favorite.

I tried Famowood Duratuff moisture cured poly before Dick Nite. The Duratuff was thicker. That turns out to be a disadvantage because it is more likely to pool somewhere on the bait and when that happens, it tends to bubble and blister the paint. The thinner, the better and DN is thin. The DN also has less tendency to begin curing in the can in my experience. The clearcoat is the last time you touch the bait during the build and if it screws up, it is the most frustrating. All said and done, Dick Nite is worth a few extra bucks to avoid the aggravation. You can dip finish a BUNCH of baits from one quart.

I always use a reversable stencil since it's the only way I can manage to get the gills on both sides of the bait the same.

There really aren't too many hard and fast rules. If you build a crankbait that is nose heavy it will swim with a head down attitude. That increases the angle at which water hits the lip, increasing drag and usually making the wiggle wider and harder. Crankbaits will dive deeper if they are chest weighted and ballasted to make the crankbait a "slow floater". If you make a sinker, you may lose it trolling before you get much use out of it! You can make a deep diver and a shallow diver out of the same crankbait, built exactly the same except with different size lips and lip angles. Big lip angles (measured from horizontal) will dive shallower. Lips that are close to horizontal dive deep. Long lips dive deeper than short lips. If you know of baits that are great examples of what you want in your bait, take a close look to see their weight, dimensions, lip shape and lip angle. That will go a long way toward getting you where you want to go. There are some outstanding makers of trolling baits here on Tackle Underground. Take a look at the Hardbait Gallery for pics and do a search on this forum for some specific building pointers. That should get you started.

Hollywood100, I buy Devcon 2T in 9 oz bottle sets from: http://www.texaswoodcarvers.com/tool_index.htm

I got a Taiwan ROC model AC-1011 Macro-Yang 115V, 50-60 hz synchronous AC 4 rpm motor from American Science and Surplus and it has worked great for 3 yrs on my 6 bait lure turner. I've also seen them sold on Ebay occasionally. They cost around $7 and have a surprising amout of torque for their small size. Nothing lasts forever and I'm sure it will fry itself eventually, but so far, so good.

You can often work out most of the info you want from a pic on the internet. Download the JPEG image and you can closely estimate the lip angle and lip length if you have a "given" like the published length of the bait and a pic taken broadside to the camera. The only significant thing you often can't dope out is the lip width and exact shape.

Rofish - There's little chance of Devcon sagging after about 30 minutes. But it is still a liquid (a very slow one) and will migrate a little - just like a glacier You can't handle the bait for 5-8 hrs anyway so why not turn it for an hour or two? I usually buy Devcon in the 9 oz bottle pack to save a few cents and I eyeball equal amounts out of both bottles simultaneously. The closer you are to 50/50, the harder it will cure. Properly mixed and measured Devcon cures to a nice slick hard surface. If you goof up, you will feel some drag when you grab the bait and run your fingers down both sides. The bait will also show hook rash more quickly when fished.

You can buy Envirotex Lite (aka Etex) at Michael's Hobby Shops. It is a table top pour-on epoxy finish. The Devcon Two Ton is sold at Walmarts, in a double syringe. If you clearcoat your baits and hang them up to cure, I recommend going with straight unthinned Devcon Two Ton. It cures faster than Etex and is thicker, so it tends to sag less. To "rotate" the bait, put a wire hanger on both ends and switch ends every few minutes for the first 30 minutes or so. Epoxy has to be measured properly and mixed thoroughly for it to cure to a hard finish It takes several days of curing to attain real hardness, and as long as a week to final cure. You should be able to handle a Devcon coated bait in about 8 hrs without leaving fingerprints. Guys being guys, we want to mess with the bait but just let the dang thing hang there for a day. If you need a second coat of Devcon to repair fisheyes or voids, you can brush on another full coat anytime after the first 2 hours. If you have bubbles, let it fully cure, sand them out and recoat after 24 hrs. You do not need to sand between coats of epoxy. Devcon 2 Ton is not better than Etex, it's just has different qualities.

http://www.texaswoodcarvers.com/tool_index.htm Here's where I order 9 oz (2 x 4.5 oz) bottles of Devcon Two Ton or Five Minute epoxy.

Yes, bass will eat a 5 cent cigar or anything else with trebles hooks in it at times.

I think it depends on the hook brand. VMC makes some "Rapala Inline Trebles" that lay perfectly symetrical when on the bait's belly. They're sold by Cabelas.

Pred, I dip a bait in and draw it out slowly so much of the initial runoff stays in the can. But once it's free of the DN, I let it drip on newspaper. I think most of your problem came from storing it in containers with too much air space and/or a less than air tight lid. I screw my jar lids down tight and then wrap the top with tin foil. I also store it in salsa jars that have a constricted neck, just large enough to dip a bass bait. Dick Nite says they store theirs in wine bottles. The whole idea is to minimize air (and moisture) infiltration. It's a bit of a pain but once you have a handling routine down, it's nice to be dipping rather than brushing.

Don't drip any back in the can! I decant a Qt of DN into 3 smaller jars, screw the lids on tight and then cover them with HD tin foil. Seems to be working so far. 'Course, that won't help you now:( But you can break through the crust, spoon some out into a jar lid, thin it with a little acetone and brush it on.

In my experience, Devcon tends to get thick quickly at temps below 70 degrees. It's not the cure rate, just cold liquid is thicker than warm liquid. There's nothing wrong with the epoxy. Just recoat it and it will try to level out over any bad spots, including the fisheyes. Also, take a look at today's post about thinning Devcon.

I build bass baits as small as 1 5/8". No routers for me! However, you can do a pretty accurate job with a Dremel sanding drum and a high speed cutting cylinder IF you mark off areas to be removed with a compass. If you hand build them, you should be marking a centerline around the bait anyway to get the hardware centered. It only takes a few seconds to mark the sanding guidelines too.

Loz, do a search of this section on specific questions you have regarding tools and techniques. The basic questions have been answered a number of times in the recent past and there are literally hundreds of posts on techniques and tips. Tools, wood, lips, hardware, painting, clearcoating, lure design are all covered in depth.

Heat can cure faster (marginally), but not harder. It can also cause air in the bait's wood to expand and appear as bubbles in the topcoat if too much heat is applied. I'm not in favor of thinning Devcon either but in winter when temps in my house are below 70 degrees, I do it so I can get 2 baits brushed before it becomes too thick. When I thin, I use denatured alcohol because it won't flash out of the epoxy as fast as acetone or lacquer thinner. After mixing the epoxy, dip your brush in the solvent and drop a few (3-4) drops into the mix for 2 baits, then stir. That's usually enough. I can't say that I've noticed any weakness in the cured coating, except that it makes a thinner film than straight Devcon. Many epoxies come from the factory with solvent in them - including Envirotex Lite, Flexcoat and similar "table top" and "rod epoxies". Remember to rotate your baits longer when using thinned epoxy. I spin straight Devcon for at least an hour, thinned Devcon for 2-3 hrs.

I just had my first fisheye in about 200 baits tonight. I waited about 2 hrs and recoated with Devcon and it disappeared. Fisheyes used to happen to me more often and I think both greasy fingers or a too thin coat of epoxy can cause it. As far as "stuff" getting in the clearcoat, the biggest culprit for me was using paper towels to wipe excess epoxy off my brush. Paper towels shed fibers like crazy that are quickly picked up by an epoxy brush. Now I use a lint-free old cotton cloth to wipe my brush after cleaning it in solvent.

Oh yeah! I have 6-7 4 oz bottles of Van Dyke's Translatex I bought on sale. I like most of the colors and they shoot well when fresh, but mine have thickened a bit over the past year. I suspect they were "old stock" when I bought them on sale (the bottles were covered with shelf dust). It does tend to adhere very well and I'm satisfied I got my money's worth. Most of mine are shades of green and I like them (bright green, dark green, dark fishback). The silver and mellow gold are blah. I find that I only like SOME colors in any brand. Over time, you have to choose specific colors from different brands to build a palette you like.