BobP

Hey, if I were mounting a fish on my wall, it might be a good option. But impact resistant and waterproof don't seem like attributes that a taxidermy coating were designed for. I'm gonna wait for you to buy some and report on it.

PondBoss, I think you are lucky if the Gorilla Glue epoxy has worked for you. In my experience, 5 minute epoxies are very prone to turn an ugly brown from exposure to UV light. That's a function of the different hardener they use. And they cure too quickly to level out like slower cure epoxies. Even if you found one that doesn't have these bad qualities, I wouldn't look forward to "panic application" sessions with an epoxy that cures so fast. I even wish Devcon Two Ton would cure a little slower - just not as slow as Etex! That's why I add a few drops of denatured alcohol to my D2T mix.

Ben, I know your build strategy and based on your baits it obviously works great! I was just commenting that getting the shape and size exactly right isn't enough if you want to truly copy a bait - you also need to know its overall weight, the material it's made from, the balance point of the lure, and anything else that won't show up in photos. Even then, it can be difficult unless you also have an Xray, a schematic, or are willing to destroy one to see the innards. Like most, I don't usually get into that level of detail when "copying" a bait. I use the original as a departure point and build a series of prototypes from there to get what I want - in which case your method is a great way to go.

JMHO, if you use water based paint on a lure and the topcoat is damaged, water will migrate into the paint and will try to push the finish off the surface. The only topcoat I've used that avoids this is fresh Dick Nite S81, which wants to soak into acrylic paint and change its water attracting properties.

You can't get all the data you need on a crankbait from just an advertising pic. I'm not a digital guru by any means. When I'm sitting in the garage and want the profile of a crankbait, the method I use is simply tracing the outline of an actual bait on a piece of paper. Remove the trebles first. If the bait has a big lip, hold the bait with the body on the table and the lip out past the edge so it won't interfere. I always want a commercial bait in hand if I want to copy it. That way, I can weigh it and take careful measurements, paying particular attention to the lip and the angle of the lip. I don't copy baits unless I've owned one, fished it, and want to make clones to fish or to modify to change their performance (and no, I don't sell baits). I do use drawing software to create lip templates. I've not found any manual method of drawing a lip template that is accurate enough to suit me.

I think definitely yes - the lip will be heavier and will change the balance point of the lure. Whether for good or bad??

I just coat them once and they have lasted well - no chips, etc. And that's on very thickly applied glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint. If you feel the need to coat twice, I'd wait at least 24 hrs or you can get bubbling.

I love dipping but storage is always a problem. When I buy my next can of DN, I'm planning to use the tap the can method too. I plan to brush it on quickly and liberally with a soft brush and hang the bait up to drip dry. No thanks on trying to shoot it through an airbrush - I don't need more ways to screw it up than already exist.

Smaller airbrush tips equal finer lines but it is as much about technique as it is equipment. Lower air pressure, tip close to the surface with the tip shield removed, thinned paint, and fine trigger control are also important. I'm lousy at fine line detail and don't have enough fine motor skills to hack it. I have an Iwata HP-B airbrush with a .2mm tip and on the test paper that came with the brush, the factory tech shot a line finer than the lightest, smallest ink pen could ever achieve - and certainly finer with more control than I'll ever be able to do. I've pretty much given up on trying. Fortunately, I can use templates to get the fine line effects I desire without driving myself crazy. Remember - you not only have to do it - you have to do it AGAIN on the other side of the lure just the same. I've seen mighty nice lures painted by guys using VL's and similar airbrushes. Is detail easier with a smaller tipped airbrush? Yes, in that shading and light layering of paint is easier to accomplish. But fine lines require lots of skill regardless of the equipment.

Another thing I like about Rod Bond is that it does not turn brown over time. I tried 5 Minute Devcon when I first started and soon saw that I didn't want to use it anywhere on a lure that might show because it will eventually turn a dark ugly brown from exposure to UV rays. I still use it to glue lure halves together when thru-wiring but that's all.

Dip them in there. Pull them out so you get minimum drips back into the jar (the baits don't care but it will delay having your jar of DN turn hard). Then just hang the spoons up to dry and cure. Do no rotate them like you would with epoxy coated baits. Any excess will drip off of the spoons. You will have a great finish. Nothing else is needed. Keeping your DN from curing in the storage jar is the hard part. Read some of the DN posts for ideas. If the idea of losing some of your DN to hardening while in storage bothers you, you can opt for the "tap the can method". Then you would probably want to dispense just enough DN to brush on your spoons instead of dipping. I suggest brushing it on rapidly and then hanging it up as before. The solvent in DN dries very quickly - quickly enough that it can begin to skin over before you can paint it around the lure if you go too slow. No need to be in a panic or anything, but it's not the time to dawdle either.

Stripers Online has a pretty good forum. Bassresource.com and Bass Boat Central also have forums but they are secondary to the main thrust of the sites. There are a few sites that concentrate on pike and musky lures. None of them contain the detail available here on TU.

You can thin D2T with denatured alcohol and it will keep its typical cure time. It won't damage the paint but a thinner coating is of course less durable than a thicker coating. I've never been satisfied with using D2T on spoons for a couple of reasons. If the spoon has edges, and most do, epoxy will draw away during curing and will chip off easily during use. The holes in the spoon are also a problem area for me and finally, I just don't think a thick epoxy topcoat looks good on a metal spoon. I solved it by using Dick Nite moisture cured urethane on my spoons. It's the perfect topcoat for this application, which is reasonable since it was formulated for spoon manufacture. I also think Solarez UV cured polyester resin is probably a better option than epoxy if you can avoid the white haze problem.

There are various brands of epoxy that guys like: Devcon Two Ton, Envirotex Lite (aka Etex), ACC, Nu Lustre, and Flexcoat to name a few. There is also Solarez UV cured polyester resin, Dick Nite moisture cured urethane, and two part catalyzed auto urethane clearcoats. I've never heard of a standard one part enamel or urethane that is considered adequate for use on crankbaits and which you can buy at your local home improvement center. All clearcoats have their pluses and minuses, you just have to use the search function to investigate each one and decide which suits you the best.

I've used it and yes, it is thicker than I think is ideal but it does work. I much prefer using Venture Brite-Bak tape, which is a tape designed for stained glass artists. Much thinner, just as strong. If Solarez covers up the edges of the HVAC foil to your satisfaction, there's no reason not to use it however.

I cut a couple of slots in the back of Lexan lips to provide extra glue surface and can't remember a lip breaking free using that method. I've smashed a Devcon coated balsa bait on the boat motor and had it chip off a large area of finish. Would that have happened with another brand of epoxy? Don't know. But I accept that a crankbait can be damaged by extreme abuse. I've continued to use Devcon Two Ton because I like its relatively quick cure time and appearance. Frankly, I haven't tried Flexcoat UV because, at $23.35 for 8 oz, it is almost twice the cost. I'm certainly not trying to run down Flexcoat UV. This isn't the first report that it works great and I accept your finding that it has better physical properties than Devcon based on your experience and experimentation. One thing that doesn't receive much attention: epoxy has a minimum film thickness required to form a strong bond. If your lip slot is tight and almost all the epoxy is wiped away when you insert the lip, you can't expect a strong bond. I try to cut mine so there is slight if any drag when the lip is dry fitted into its slot. Actually, I don't use Devcon or any other liquid epoxy for lips anymore, opting instead for the slow cure version of Rod Bond paste epoxy. It gives me several hours before the epoxy begins to significantly harden, which is nice because I tend to screw around a lot with the lips on a batch of baits to get them aligned and I don't like to be in a hurry when I do it.

Looks like about $160 per year for tutorials and online access to his lure templates, with a kind of finder's fee refunded for referring others who also join.

Thanks for the info. I'm not an epoxy chemist but would appreciate a little more info since I've been using Devcon for a long time and never noticed the brittleness effect you report. Can you describe the chemical reaction that takes place between Devcon and polycarbonate? And how is Flexcoat UV different in its chemical composition from Devcon? My impression was that epoxies differ mostly in the hardener agent used, and that the epoxy resin was pretty much the same across many brands. You aren't the only ones who like the Flexcoat UV for topcoating baits. One of the better custom wood bait makers here on TU also uses Flexcoat.

I use 1/32" (.031) for everything. That's also the thickness of pre-cut lips sold by online suppliers like lurepartsonline.com. .031 is stiffer than a Lexan lip that is twice as thick.

I think it will hold up but would worry about yellowing. I don't like to get Devcon Two Ton epoxy all over a lip because it will eventually yellow and will show an uneven appearance if it doesn't level out perfectly. It also softens the sharp edges of the lip, which is not ideal for performance. Maybe Etex is better in these areas, but I'm doubtful. I do coat scratched plastic bait lips with moisture cured urethane. It's very thin, levels out to completely disappear, and erases any factory scratches or sanding marks. Lexan doesn't adhere very well to any epoxy or urethane, so I never put any topcoat on polycarbonate lips.

McMaster-Carr does sell G-10, which they classify under the generic name of "Garolite". Garolite, G10, FR2, Micarta are all synonyms or variants of the same circuit board material. The rub comes when you want a particular color. It comes in a wide variety. When I last ordered from McMaster, the G10 was a dull yellow. Their G11 was a more pleasing light green color. You need to ask the color before you order. A white-slightly-greenish G10 is the most used color for crankbait lips. I used to get mine online from ASP Rocketry, a site for rocket hobby builders. But a buddy I directed there told me they had switched their G10 to a different color. So I'm now adrift. If anyone has found white G10 online lately, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

I eventually had to stop tuning baits before I gave them to users - the time it took just ate into fishing time too much! I figure if the user is too dumb to tune a crankbait, he should fish something like a $4 Strike King instead of a custom bait . JMHO, if you build balsa baits you should check out using SOFT TEMPER stainless wire for the line tie - easy tuning and no broken finish on the bait's nose.

Reading complaints on different balsa baits made by many users over the years, it seems to me that the #1 cause of bait failure is water intrusion and the #1 cause of that is the user slapping a balsa bait on the water's surface to clear weeds from the hooks. Even if you don't break the head of the bait and the lip clear off the bait (which will often happen if you use very light balsa - even if you thru-wire), you can easily break the glue seal around the lip and water intrusion will kill the bait. I don't think there is a way to build balsa baits that can avoid this - you just have to eliminate the bad fishing habit. What really brings this topic home to me is reading a complaint by a well known fishing guide concerning $15 balsa crankbaits which were breaking in large numbers for him and his clients, and a pic from another guide holding hand fulls of broken $25 top water prop baits. You'd think the solution to the problem would quickly occur to guys who fish for a living. If it hurts, stop doing it! You mentioned Poe deep divers and balsa together. I make a similar design and found that it was very difficult to fit enough ballast in a balsa body to make a deep diver behave properly, so I switched to heavier woods. If that's the project, good luck!

If you're looking for a golden BB solution for a hunting bait, I don't think one exists. You need to consider the whole bait: the body shape, the lip shape and size, and the amount and position of the ballast, and getting it to work takes trial and error. I've built series of baits that were mostly hunters. The problem I ran into was that while 70% would hunt, I would also get 20% that would not and 10% that were untunable trash can rejects. And I felt that was a decent success rate compared to most of the bait lines I've fished. My general approach was to build a crank that is on the edge of instability, but not so near the edge that it will blow out or plane off at high speed. Once I got there, frankly I backed off the gas because the 20% that wouldn't hunt and especially the 10% that were total rejects made it a frustrating exercise. I don't water test each and every bait that I give away, so I didn't want to be handing out those 10% duds. And honestly, it took a lot of discipline to build them - maybe more discipline than I want to exercise as a hobby builder. I'm happy if serendipity strikes and I get an occasional hunter, in shallow bait models. But on most baits I'm more interested in the pulse action (thump) I feel when retrieving the bait. If it's very distinct and regular, I'm happy. Maybe it's just my personal bias but I think you can tell blindfolded whether a bait will catch fish, catch lots of fish, or mostly be ignored by bass - by educating your hands on the retrieve feel of different baits.

How about an aluminum buzz bait rivet? I fit them into the blades on prop baits with either a pressure fit or a drop of super glue and they make the blades spin much more easily. You can sand down the barrel of the rivet to length with a Dremel, if desired. And if you want to use one just as a spacer, you can crimp it down onto the wire as is done on buzz baits.