BobP

Yep, The surest way to learn is to try something and have failure slap you in the face. The density of the balsa can differ and still be made into good crankbaits. When starting out, I ordered "competition balsa" not knowing it was light density balsa intended for model airplanes and that sane bait makers use heavier balsa. I certainly wasn't going to throw away a bunch of balsa so, through trial and error, I learned how to build durable crankbaits with it. More work but the featherweight balsa had some benefits too. As far as bad grain effects like you cite, I have always had to contend with that when using paulownia, which is one of my favorite woods. Dark crumbly soft grain beside tough dense light grain. Makes it interesting to shape and sand. Don't know how you shape baits, but I use a Murphy knife and a Dremel or Foredom sander and have no problem with any wood species, including hardwoods. Hang in there!

I'm wondering about "glossing" paint too. Whatever the gloss state of the paint, your topcoat of D2T will gloss the whole bait, so I can't see the need. You do need to have dry paint before you apply a topcoat. D2T will cure hard over just about anything including damp paint but damp paint will never adhere well to the lure and it may cause problems later. I've applied D2T immediately after painting, using a hair dryer to speed dry acrylic paints as I shot them. No problem. One caution about Pledge floor polish. It dries much harder than latex paint so be sure to clean your airbrush 100% after using it. I've left some in the barrel of my brush and had to use pliers to pull the needle out of the brush after it had dried.

I use Devcon Two Ton (the 30 minute glue, not the 5 min quick cure epoxy) as an undercoating/sealer on wood baits. It works fine. You can thin it slightly with denatured alcohol (just a few drops) to improve its brushing consistency. If you are using it as a topcoat too, it's a 'one stop' solution. But if you are using epoxy as a topcoat, you basically only need something to fill the holes and form a smooth surface to paint because PVC is naturally waterproof. Any commercial sanding sealer would probably work OK. Lightly sand the sealer to improve paint adhesion and smooth out any rough spots. I don't paint many PVC baits, maybe someone who does has a quicker, easier method.

You need to fill the holes because they are rough and because they can out-gas air if the bait is heated, bubbling the paint. Since PVC is a closed cell foam, you don't actually need a durable waterproof sealer to protect it as you would with wood. But the sealer needs to be compatible with the topcoat you are planning to use. If your topcoat is solvent-based, I'd probably choose epoxy as the sealer because it will not react with just about any topcoat. If your topcoat is epoxy, you have a wider range of sealers that will work, including regular sanding sealers, epoxy, etc.

I'd lightly overshoot the basic color scheme with a TRANSPARENT bright green acrylic latex.

I also think it will seal the raw wood OK. You can put it on thick enough to get a smooth coating. But will it be as durable as using an epoxy sealer? I don't think so.

Pete - I thought ALL Aussie wine came in boxes? Hah, I know that's not true. My wife buys bottled wine with a kangaroo on the label all the time. But if you guys call those boxes "casks", I think the advertisers have had their way with you guys. At $50 a quart delivered, you won't find me experimenting with plastic bags to store DN.

Thanks for the info Ben. Fine glitter sprayed on top of a color is a great way to make it into a reflective metallic color. To me, how much glitter and where on the lure it ends up is critical. I do use airbrush paints that contain extra fine glitter flakes but when I think of glitter, it's usually something larger that won't shoot through an airbrush. What I do is dirt simple but works well. Buy some cheapo $2 craft glitter at the hobby store that comes pre-mixed in a clear acrylic liquid. Squirt a little into a shot glass, shoot a little water in to thin the mixture. Then use a soft artist's brush to put it on the lure. You can spread out clumps, reposition flakes, and you can closely control how much gets on the lure and exactly where it goes. The brush also lays the glitter down so it won't stick up through your clearcoat. The craft glitter is "medium size", too big to shoot through most airbrushes, but if you want larger or smaller glitter you can buy a bottle of clear acrylic and mix your own. A buddy of mine uses some extra large 1/8" square glitter as a part of one of his color schemes and it makes the lure really pop.

I bet if it says 30 minute bond and/or mentions 'crystal clear' it's the same stuff as the traditional D2T. There's really no magic concerning epoxies other than their hardeners and how they are formulated for different cure rates. Slow cure 30 minute epoxy glues all have similar characteristics in my experience so I wouldn't hesitate to use one just because the manufacturer made a minor change in the product's name. JMHO. Go ahead and try it. Various Tu'ers use different brands - Devcon, Bob Smith, New Lustre, Flexcoat, etc.

I don't think it would matter if you turned the can on its head or not, as long as you never pop the can's top open. If I understand what I have read from the posts by guys who tap the can, it may not be necessary to use Bloxygen at all. Couldn't hurt, of course, but the amount of air taken into the can while displacing the Dn dispensed only happens once and probably doesn't contain enough moisture to start the DN curing. Maybe one of you can tappers can confirm or refute this? It's too bad that nobody has come up with a plastic dispensing bag that DN would not eat through.

In an industrial setting, two piece plastic bodies are joined by ultrasonic welding. Don't ask me how that works! Seems to me that you can use the correct glue to join the halves of your baits. I've used PVC cement, the type used to plumb PVC pipes, to glue plastic lures together and it worked fine. But avoid the purple dyed primer because it will bleed through your finish to the exterior of the lure. You can buy clear PVC primer in some states, in some states you cannot. And I have no idea if the PVC glue can be used on all types of plastics. But it worked OK for me when I wanted to shorten some plastic topwater walking baits.

I've dipped and stored DN with Bloxygen for as long as 8 months with no hardening. But moisture catches up with you eventually if you dip lures. So it becomes a race: do you build enough lures fast enough that you use it up before it turns? At most, I build around a hundred bass lures a year, which a quart of DN is enough to topcoat, but I'm always left holding the bag before my quart is used up. I prefer dipping lures. You get addicted to the ease of "dip it, hang it, DONE". If I used the tap the can method of storage, I could brush DN in small amounts and it would probably last until completely used up. If you dip lures, you just have to decide whether the cost of the DN amortized over the number of lures you get out of a quart is worth it. Be that as it may, next time around I may try the tap the can method and just slop on enough DN with a brush to coat a lure quickly, then hang it for the excess to drip off. No sense being bull headed about it!

Ravenlures, I'm using a quart of Garco MCU right now. A couple of observations: it's somewhat thicker than DN. I decanted the quart into 2 pint Ball Jars with rubber gasket lids and sprayed a wine saver aerosol into the jars. It began to develop a gelatinous skin after only a few weeks and I've had to scoop that out of the jar each time I've dipped lures. The lures look the same when finished as ones done with DN. Whether the finish penetrated the acrylic paint to form a monolithic coating like I get with DN is unknown. There are several possibilities about why the Garco began to gel. 1: It may be inherent in the Garco formulation, which probably contains less solvent than DN. 2. The wine saver aerosol contains CO2, unlike Bloxygen, and that caused the Garco to gel. 3. The Garco had been sitting in a warehouse for years before I bought it on sale for 24 bucks. "You pays your money and you takes your chances."

Thanks for the update! Too often, guys say they will test something and we never hear from them again. One ??? that I think is still pending is the ideal re-coat timing. Using simple air drying, I've typically waited at least 24 hrs before re-coating but have wondered if it is like some auto primers that say re-coating should be within 45 minutes or after 24 hrs. I doubt it's an issue for Dick Nite spoons since he probably wants a "one dip only" regimen for manufacturing purposes. For hobbyists there are secondary considerations such as: Do I want to expose this touchy DN to ambient moisture multiple times to build up a thicker finish? That can only be answered by the individual builder who has to decide how much finish is enough, depending on his preferences.

There are several good sealers but I most often use Devcon Two Ton epoxy (D2T) thinned with a very small amount of denatured alcohol. It gives you a waterproof coating that levels out nicely to a smooth tough coating, and won't react with 'touchy' topcoats like moisture cured urethanes. Devcon is one of the traditional brands of epoxy here on TU but there are other "30 minute" slow cure epoxy brands that will work as well. One nice thing about Devcon is that you can use it both as an undercoat and a topcoat. There are myriad coatings you can use for undercoating but you have to remember that you need something that is compatible with the paint and topcoat that you will also be putting on your baits. Not just anything works with everything else.

I also experienced wrinkles with double coats. I was used to thick epoxy topcoats and I think that led me to question thin DN topcoats. But after fishing lures that were single coated for awhile, I found them to be very durable so decided multiple coats were not needed. When I removed the finish from a few DN coated lures, I saw that it had penetrated through the acrylic latex paint to form a tough monolithic finish. That eased any concerns I had about using a single coat and I'm wondering if heat setting the DN to quickly flash off the toluene might inhibit its penetration and adhesion. Don't know - but I wonder.... Let us know how it turns out if you go with multiple coats and speed dry the DN.

I'm sure if there's a different way to finish a lure, a TU'er will or has tried it! I haven't had a problem with DN wrinkling paint since I began hanging lures to dry and cure, letting any excess drip off the tail. The wrinkling happened for me when DN was allowed to collect in an area on the lure and remain liquid long enough for it to wrinkle the paint. Clipping the wet lures on a rotating frame prevented the excess from dripping off and that contributed to the problem, so just hanging them up to dry worked fine and I haven't had a wrinkle since.

I think if you just lightly sand the existing topcoat with 320 or 400 grit you'll be OK and the chrome will be intact. Wipe it down with denatured alcohol to remove the dust and the DN should adhere just fine.

I use a lot of these spoons and paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint with a DN topcoat. I don't think you'll have any trouble with the DN reacting with super glue but can't comment about reactions with enamel. As long as the eyes fit the sockets, I don't think you'll need to glue them in because the DN topcoat will cement them into their sockets very well. Personally, I'll never paint spoons again without topcoating them with DN - it's just the perfect product for that job.

Mark, as you know, the wood's strongest perpendicular to the grain. Balsa needs every advantage it can get to improve its strength.

If you are just filling holes, I'd use exterior grade Elmer's Wood Filler. Sands easier, dries quicker. Another option is to use epoxy putty and smooth its surface to the level of the surrounding wood before it cures (5 minutes). I get putty logs at the local home center and use a razor blade to cut off thin slices as needed.

Honestly, I wouldn't build any bait from balsa and take it tarpon fishing. Cedar or paulownia are better choices for highly abused baits.

I use Google Picasa, a free pic album program with import/export and photo adjustment. Usually, I resize photos to 640 pixels before posting them.

Definitely second pic, grain along the axis of the bait - always, with all woods.

I often don't use thru-wire on balsa baits - I just make the screw eyes longer than usual. Haven't lost any fish yet. Most balsa bait breakage is caused by guys slapping them on the water to clear off weeds or smacking them into a hard object during the cast. The force on the lip causes the top of the head to break off or cracks the finish, allowing water to penetrate. Thru-wire won't prevent that. If I built for the marketplace, thru-wiring would be a definite plus but since I only build for myself and friends....