BobP

I think we all tend to over-think topcoats. There is no perfect topcoat and no crankbait is eternal - that's just not in the cards. Choose one, or even two if it makes you feel better, and have at it. I like epoxy. I like MCU. I like concrete sealer and UV cured polyester for some applications. They all have different qualities that can suit a particular bait build in regard to how I want them to perform, how I want them to look, and how I want to build crankbaits. The nice thing is there is an array of choices. The bad thing is you can screw up until you find the pitfalls inherent in each choice. Combine choices? Expect more pitfalls. JMHO

1. Lightly sand a topcoat to remove all its gloss. Problem - the water fills in the sanding scratches and makes the topcoat clear again as soon as it hits the water. 2. Use a low gloss topcoat like Solarez UV cured polyester. Problem - the low gloss is caused by a wax blush on the surface that tends to obscure paint detail. 3. Find a very low gloss polyurethane. It won't be as durable as other choices - but understand that "There's no Free Lunch". 4. Investigate applying a softer polyethylene topcoat over a hard topcoat, like you see on some matte finish baits from Lucky Craft. Problem - the matte finish LC baits I bought eventually started to shed the matte coating. Honestly, I think matte coatings are almost entirely about the fisherman instead of the fish. It's a novelty thing to me.

It's an oil-modified water based coating. Personally, I'd be concerned about anything with oil reacting with a solvent based topcoat, and of any water based product intended to protect wood from water intrusion. But it depends on what you want a raw wood coating to do. If it's just to prevent wood grain from rising when hit with water based paint, that's one thing. If you want it to add durability to the finish and act as further protection against water intrusion into the wood, that's different. So I have a "wait and see" attitude.

Nail lights have the bulbs on one side and a mirror on the other. I hang them in there for 3 minutes and they come out hard all over. It's even simpler doing them outside - I put them on a turner for the Solarez to level out before curing, then sit the still running turner out in sunlight for 10-15 minutes. I'm not sure if temperature has anything to do with the cure process because I haven't done any in winter. But even on a cloudy day, plenty of UV rays hit the earth. However, the UV rays hit the earth at a different angle in winter and are more attenuated by the atmosphere. But it's nice not to have to fuss with the nail light if I don't have to.

"Bone" is in the eye of the beholder. I like a light bone formulated along the lines of what Mark uses. I start with an ounce of opaque white and add a squirt of yellow, then darken it slightly with just a drop or two of brown. A former archaeology student, I've seen lots of bones from off-white to dark brown depending on their age and the soil they were in!

A little wood, something durable and clear for a lip - voila. Plus all the hardware and finish, of course.

Don't see why not, but I bet it's expensive in any volume.

If the lip was covered with a topcoat at the factory, it can yellow over time - just like on the paint where you don't notice it as much. If you are afraid acetone might eat up the plastic, you can also sand off the topcoat, smooth it with 400 or higher grit paper, then recoat the lip with new topcoat like MCU, concrete sealer, or lacquer (don't use epoxy) to make the sanding marks disappear. If the plastic itself has yellowed, you're out of luck.

Mark, I'm a practical-minded crankbait builder. I want a bait with a tough finish comparable in looks to typical U.S. factory baits. But the action is really critical. If you can't get that right, you're just prettying up a pig's ear. It takes me a few days to build a batch of crankbaits. The building is part of the fun and I want to squeeze every drop of fun I can from it. From reading years of posts, I'm thinking you take "practical" to a whole 'nother level! Wham, Bam, fish it today!

Joe, My guess is that it will work but no guarantees. Just have to try it and see. Mark, I haven't had as much white blush since I started rotating the baits. If the Solarez doesn't migrate toward the tail of the bait, there is less wax to accumulate and cause the blush. But regardless, the lack of gloss compared to other topcoats is a big drawback to me and the details on the baits look rather muddy compared to other topcoats. I don't think Solarez is better than other coatings, it's just really really fast. And I'm not in that big of a hurry.

There's definitely something to be said about using only a few types of material for crankbait bodies. Once you get familiar with them, shaping, sanding and ballasting the material you choose becomes almost second nature instead of an "adventure in lure making". I just can't limit myself to only one crankbait material so have to have a very light wood (balsa), something light but durable (paulownia), and something moderately heavy (basswood). Since I shape and sand crankbaits by hand, I just don't like PVC board because of the electrostatically charged dust it produces - gets everywhere, clings to everything.

Yes, it's a PITA but I also use painters tape - I start with small strips near the nose of the bait and work my way out to the end with larger pieces. It often takes 8-9 pieces to do it all but I haven't found a better way to get it done. I take it off by lifting edges of the tape with an X-acto knife before I topcoat the bait.

The nail salon light that Mark is using works just fine - that's what I use when it's too cold to set them outside to cure. It is a little awkward to use since we are turning the light on its end and suspending lures inside, but you can easily work out a way to get it done. I just bunch up a towel on the bench until it sits erect. UV cured polyester resins require specific wavelengths of UV light to cure, so you can't predict if a specific light will work unless you know what wavelengths it puts out and how that matches the UV finish you are using. Sunlight contains a wide range of wavelengths, so it works. I brush on the Solarez, then put it on my lure turner for a few minutes to level out before starting the UV cure. When weather permits, I just sit the still turning lures out in the sun for 10-15 minutes. I haven't figured out how to avoid the dreaded white surface blemish on Solarez so I just use the stuff for undercoating wood lures. The white blemish is wax flakes that Solarez contains. When you apply Solarez to a lure, the wax rises to the surface and is there to make the surface of the Solarez cure to a smooth hard state.

I think wood baits are a special problem for clearcoats since differences in temperature cause them to expand and contract more than plastic baits. A coating on an expanding/contracting object needs to have some flexibility or it will crack from internal forces, or alternatively it must be strong enough to resist the pressure.. An egg is able to withstand considerable pressure from the outside but will break easily from the inside. That's Mother Nature's efficient design. So at least one component of your finish needs to be very strong to withstand internal pressure or your topcoat it needs to be able to flex along with the underlying wood surface and paint layers. It's true that acrylic latex paint does not adhere as well as urethane or lacquer. But that really seems beside the point for this particular problem. I use epoxy to undercoat or topcoat, often both. And since I have them on hand, I also use Solarez and sometimes multiple coats of propionate for undercoating, followed by epoxy, MC urethane, or concrete sealer topcoats. I haven't had any problems with finish cracks on any of those.

I don't use auto clears but I bet you could add something to them to facilitate flexibility, like whatever is used to clearcoat plastic auto bumpers.

Yes, denatured alcohol works very well to thin epoxy. Linseed oil is used by some saltwater wood bait makers to "deep waterproof" lures but I think they immerse them for days and dry them for weeks before painting. I think any quick drying lacquer or polyurethane would work for what you are doing, as well as concrete sealer or propionate. I like the concrete sealer since you can dip it and hang it up to dry overnight, and it gives you a thin waterproof coating that will keep 3D details intact.

"May be tinted with chalk or pigment" That may suggest that the user can tint the epoxy, or may mean that the epoxy you get may be tinted with something. I assume you would be able to see it if you were buying pre-tinted epoxy.

Ben, as hooks get smaller, the quality or lack thereof really begins to show. The best I've used are the #8 Gamakatsu round bends. Same hard tempering as their other trebles, which means a lot on a smaller hook.

As far as I know, any epoxy will cure over any other kind of cured epoxy (or other type of topcoat) just fine. You would have to examine it microscopically to determine if it created 2 separate coatings or chemically bonded into one monolithic coat. It is said that epoxy takes about a week to final cure and if you recoat within several days, you get one coating.

One thing I want to address is your Devcon versus Etex supposition. I think if you are experienced in using Etex and have been happy with the results, there's no reason to switch to Devcon because you are building diving instead of topwater baits. Anyone who says a Devcon topcoat is stronger than an Etex topcoat of the same thickness is wrong. Etex is the favored epoxy topcoat for many musky bait builders, which says a lot to me. The real difference is that a single coat of Etex is going to be much thinner than a single coat of Devcon due to its thinner viscosity - unless you let the Etex begin to harden for 10-15 minutes before you apply it. If you delay application, I doubt anyone would ever be able to tell the difference. I build bass baits, use Devcon exclusively, know how to mix and apply it, and am very happy with the results. I prefer it because it's quicker to apply, quicker to harden, and the end result is a great topcoat for wood bass baits. But it also requires an expeditious mixing and application regimen compared to Etex. I usually try to coat only 2 baits with Devcon at a time. There are very good Member Submitted Tutorials on both Devcon (by Skeeter) and Etex (by Fatfingers) here on the site. They are worth a look!

Mark, circuit board is very different from Lexan. It is much more rigid and I use circuit board that is half the thickness of the Lexan I would otherwise use. The thinner lip gives you a little quicker dive and its rigidity imparts what I feel is a slightly sharper thump to the bait. But the big practical difference for many guys is the way circuit board rebounds off cover, especially rocks, with a sharper rebound and different vibration that many think produces more bites. That is really what made it popular among tournament anglers. I've never broken a circuit board lip, nor have I broken a Lexan lip, so can't really comment on brittleness. Either material will eventually be worn down from grinding over rocks. Since circuit board is usually thinner, it probably gets ground down faster than Lexan. At equal thicknesses, I don't think they would be much different and the particular type of circuit board would also be a factor since different types have very different physical properties. I use G-10 circuit board which is a fiberglass cloth substrate with a thermoplastic covering. It is usually the least expensive circuit board type.

Don't know why but 'they' say to breathe on an epoxy bubble and the CO2 in your breath will cause it to pop.

Well, the deal with circuit board revolves around the color. It comes in a wide array of colors and if you want the white/slightly green shade that you see on commercial baits, it's often hard to find online. Mcmaster.com carries circuit board under the generic name "garolite". Alternative names are micarta, G10, G11, FR4, etc which are tech specs for various formulations of garolite. The Mcmaster-Carr G10 has been what I think is a rather ugly dirty yellow color. Their G11 is a little more expensive but is an attractive light green color that matches well with most lake water. You won't know the color until/unless you ask for specifics or they are provided in the online description. I buy the 1/32" thick stuff. I shape circuit board the same way as Lexan and it's even easier to cut and sand. No need to burnish the edges after sanding to final shape.