BobP

I think the smell will go away so I wouldn't worry. If you're happy with the nail polish and want to stay economical, you're probably in the right place. Most of the alternatives are either more expensive (moisture cured urethane, auto clearcoats), more toxic (auto clearcoats), or require some equipment like a lure turner (epoxy). The only other inexpensive topcoat I might consider is specifically Devcon Two Ton epoxy. It cures quickly enough that you can brush it on and manually rotate the bait every little while for the first 45-50 minutes to keep the epoxy from sagging or running. If you put a hanger on each end of the bait, just switch ends every little while and hang it back up.

I use a rod built on a St Croix 7'6" MM graphite blank for deep cranks. For shallow cranks, I use a rod built on a Rogue MB664 6.5' graphite blank. Choosing a glass/composite rod versus graphite was a quandry. I never got used to the heavy, long glass cranking rods so reverted to medium action graphite. If you fish mostly graphite but are considering glass/composite, try to test fish some rods before you take the plunge. It's mostly about not losing hooked fish. A slower/softer action graphite rod solved that problem for me so I stuck with graphite.

I also like epoxy putty. Just about any brand works OK and it's carried in the adhesives section of home centers. Cut off a sliver of epoxy, knead it, then smooth it out with a damp finger and it hardens in about 10 minutes. If you want to sand it, do that before it gets really hard. Personally, I can't see a liquid epoxy being very convenient for this job. You'd need to lay the lure on its side, or in whatever orientation is needed to keep the epoxy in the eye recess, pour in epoxy, then let it sit for hours to harden before flipping the lure and doing the other side. It would probably be a 24 hr job with Etex. I'm patient, but not that patient.

Different folks, different strokes regarding bearing oils. I use Yellow Rocket Fuel and like it. They also make Red Rocket Fuel for competition casting. But it is generally thought to be too low in viscosity for use in a real fishing reel. If the oil is too light, it will migrate out of the bearing too quickly and you will lose lubrication too soon. I also like the Reel Butter bearing oil. There's also a general purpose Reel Butter reel oil, so don't confuse the two. As for Quantum Hot Sauce - it has very good qualities as far as viscosity stability, lubrication, etc but I can't stand the damned red dye they put in it. Migrates all over the inside of a reel. Yuck! When soaking old oil out of a bearing, the lower the viscosity of the solvent you use, the faster it will penetrate the bearing and clean it. I shoot ether-based aerosol starting fluid into a shot glass and soak bearings in it. A piece of cardboard over the glass keeps the ether from evaporating too quickly.

Manufacturers of wood baits often use a very thick dipped-on undercoating, usually white. They can dip wood bodies with minor surface imperfections in it, let it dry, then proceed with painting - so it's a labor saving process for them. The coating may be a very thick lacquer, a solvent based glue product, or whatever. When I refinish old wood baits, I try to avoid removing this undercoating because if you do, you have to basically start from scratch in finishing the bait from bare wood.

Dave, there are several popular topcoat products and each has advantages and disadvantages. Which is best depends on the kind of crankbait, the topcoat thickness you want, whether you have the required equipment and skills to handle, apply, and store the respective product. Slow cure epoxies like Devcon Two Ton, Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX), Flexcoat, Nu-lustre, Bob Smith are popular for their thick traditional look. Moisture cured urethanes like Dick Nite S81 are popular for their thin factory-like coating and ease of application (dipping). Two part catalyzed auto clearcoats are popular for their clarity, ability to be sprayed in multiple coats. Each option is durable and can make a great, waterproof, durable topcoat. All of them have been discussed at length here on the Hardbaits forum. Do a search and you'll get lots of info.

I would say 2 baits; any ultra-deep crankbait because the balance is so critical, and any jerkbait. I gave up on jerkbaits a long while ago; there are just too many excellent factory jerkbaits around to make building them from scratch worthwhile for me.

Salt water is more dense so lures tend to float more/higher in it. A lure that suspends in 75 degree water will rise in colder 55 degree water and will sink in warmer 95 degree water. If you build suspending lures, it's usually best to build them to suspend in the warmest water they will be fished in. Then, if you are fishing colder water and the lure wants to float, you can add weight to it by upsizing the trebles, adding split rings, using lead tape. There are lots of lures that are sold commercially as suspending baits, especially jerkbaits. Guys who really get into fishing them usually carry some Suspendots to tweak the lures to do what they want. To me, suspending is really important in one circumstance: throwing jerkbaits in cold water periods where you want the bait to sit for long periods. As a general rule, suspending baits will run about a foot deeper than their floating counterparts. The downside, if you break one off, you're probably not getting it back.

Water's nominal density is 1 g/cc, so it should suspend.

Sorry guys - I can never get the editor to retain all the table formatting when I try doing this. You can go to the home page cited and download the table to your computer. If you're into gobbletygook, the table headings are Common Name / Botanical Name / Density g/cc / Density lbs/cu ft / Modulus of Rupture kg/sq mm / Modulus of Elasticity kg/sq mm

This is an open source chart. Various tests and testers come up with somewhat different results when testing wood samples, but the important thing to know is that one species tends to be more dense than another species listed in the table. Comparing densities will help you select the best wood for your particular bait. Also know that the particular piece of wood you hold in your hand can differ significantly from the chart, depending on where in the tree it came from. That notwithstanding, the chart is a useful tool. Physical Properties of Common Woods Values of density marked * are for air dry samples. The following table presents values for the properties of common woods. This table is in the public domain and may be copied without limit. The user is encouraged to download it for private use and public distribution in any form including that of making it available on other Web servers. Common name Botanical name Density, g/cc Density, lbs/cu.ft. Modulus of rupture, air dry kg/sq.mm. Modulus of elasticity, air dry, kg/sq.mm. Alder 0.38 23.7 Applewood or wild apple Pyrus malus 0.745 46.51 8.96 894. Ash, black Fraxinus nigra 0.526 32.84 8.97 1126. Ash, blue quadrangulata 0.603 37.65 9.82 984. Ash, green Fraxinus pennsylvanica lanceolata 0.610 38.08 10.04 1170. Ash, white Fraxinus americana 0.638 39.83 11.01 1249. Aspen Populus tremuloides 0.401 25.03 6.04 838. Aspen, large tooth PopuIus grandidentata 0.412 25.72 6.38 996. Balsa (Tropical America) Ochroma *0.11-0.2 6.86-12.49 . Basswood Tilia glabra or Tilia americanus 0.398 24.85 6.13 1029. Beech Fagus grandifolia or Fagus americana 0.655 40.89 10.25 1180. Beech, blue Carpinus caroliniana 0.717 44.76 8.48 752. Birch, gray Betula populifolia 0.552 34.46 6.88 797. Birch, paper Betula papyrifera 0.600 37.46 8.79 1119. Birch, sweet Betula lenta 0.714 44.58 11.81 1520. Birch, yellow Betula lutea 0.668 41.70 11.88 Boxwood/Buis Buxus sempervirens 0.95-1.1 59.3-68.6 Buckeye, yellow Aesculus octandra 0.383 23.91 5.36 829. Butternut Juglans cinerea 0.404 25.22 5.72 830. Cedar, eastern red Juniperus virginiana 0.492 30.72 6.07 612. Cedar, northern white Thuja occidentalis 0.315 19.67 4.56 568. Cedar, southern white Chamaecyparis thvoides 0.352 21.98 4.77 655. Cedar, (Tropical American) Cedrela odorata *0.37-0.70 23.10-43.70. Cedar, western red Thuja plicata 0.344 21.48 5.38 819. Cherry, black Prunus serotina 0.534 33.34 8.81 1046. Cherry, wild red Prunus pennsylvanica 0.425 26.53 6.10 892. Chestnut Castanea dentata 0.454 28.34 6.16 870. Cocobolo Dalbergia retusa 1.10 68.6 Coralwood Guilbourtia spp. 1.1 68.6 Corkwood Leitneria floridana 0.207 12.92. Cottonwood, eastern Populus deltoides 0.433 27.03 6.14 972. Cypress, southern Taxodium distichum 0.482 30.09 7.44 1010. Dogwood (flowering) Cornus florida 0.796 49.69 10.72 1085. Douglas fir (coast type) Pseudotsuga taxifolia 0.512 31.96 8.44 1357. Douglas fir (mountain type) Pseudotsuga taxifolia 0.446 27.84 6.72 981. Ebony, Andaman marble-wood (India) Diospyros kursii *0.978 61.06 7.80 1270. Ebony, Ebène marbre (Maritius, E. Africa) Diospyros melanida *0.768 47.95 5.55 1007. Elm, American Ulmus americana 0.554 34.59 8.44 948. Elm, rock Ulmus racemosa or Ulmus thomasi 0.658 41.08 10.55 1086. Elm, slippery Ulmus fulva or pubescens 0.568 35.46 9.29 1050. Eucalyptus, Karri (W. Australia) Eucalyptus diversicolor *0.829 51.75 12.16 1885. Eucalyptus, Mahogany (New South Wales) Eucalyptus hemilampra *1.058 66.05 11.50 1608. Eucalyptus, West Australian mahogany Eucalyptus marginata *0.787 49.13 10.54 1462. Fir, balsam Abies balsamea 0.414 25.85 5.42 879. Fir, Douglas (See Douglas Fir). Fir, silver Abies amabilis 0.415 25.91 6.69 1076. Concalco Alves .96 60.0 Greenheart (British Guiana) Nectandra rodioei *1.06-1.23 66.18-76.79. Grenadilla (Mpingo) Dalbergia melanoxylon 1.2-1.25 74.9-78.0 Gum, black Nyssa sylvatica 0.552 34.46 6.82 839. Gum, blue Eucalyptus globulus 0.796 49.69 11.75 1683. Gum, red Liquidambar styraciflua 0.530 33.09 8.40 1045. Gum, tupelo Nyssa aquatica 0.524 32.71 6.85 889. Hemlock eastern Tsuga canadensis 0.431 26.91 6.06 846. Hemlock, mountain Tsuga martensiana 0.480 29.97 6.95 797. Hemlock, western Tsuga heterophylla 0.432 26.97 6.51 1015. Hickory, bigleaf shagbark Hicoria laciniosa 50.53 12.91 1335. Hickory, mockernut Hicoria alba 51.21 13.56 1570. Hickory, pignut Hicoria glabra 51.21 14 25 1603. Hickory, shagbark Hicoria ovata 52.17 14.39 1525. Hornbeam Ostrya virginiana 0.762 47.57 10.22 1199. Ironwood, black Rhamnidium ferreum 1.077-1.30 67.24-81.1 18.10 2100. Jacarandá, Brazilian rosewood Dalbergia nigra *0.85 53.07 Larch, western Larix occidentalis 0.587 36.65 8.24 1188. Lignum Vitae Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum 1.25-1.33 78 - 83 Locust, black or yellow Robinia pseudacacia 0.708 44.20 13.63 1448. Locust honey Gleditsia triacanthos 0.666 41.58 10.59 1165. Magnolia, cucumber Magnolia acuminata 0.516 32.21 8.91 1276. Mahogany (W. Africa) Khaya ivorensis *0.668 41.70 <12.38 1079. Mahogany (E. India) Swietenia macrophylla *0.54 33.71 6.73 817. Mahogany (E. India) Swietenia mahogani *0.54 33.71 7.10 890. Maple, black Acer nigrum 0.620 >38.71 9 37 1141. Maple, red Acer rubrum 0.546 34.09 9.35 1155. Maple, silver Acer saccharinum 0.506 31.59 6.34 805. Maple, sugar Acer saccharum 0.676 42.20 10.97 1290. Mpingo (Grenadilla) Dalbergia melanoxylon 1.2-1.25 74.9-78.0 Oak, black Quercus velutina 0.669 41.77 9.66 1153. Oak, bur Quercus macrocarpa 0.671 41.89 7.21 723. Oak, canyon live Quercus chrysolepis 0.838 52.32 9.26 1149. Oak, laurel Quercus montana 0.674 42.08 9.45 1114. Oak, live Quercus virginiana 0.977 60.99 12.95 1381. Oak, pin Quercus pallustris 0.677 42.27 Oak, post Quercus stellata or Quercus minor 0.738 46.07 9.30 1063. Oak, red Quercus borealis 0.657 41.02 10.02 1274. Oak, scarlet coccinea 0.709 44.26 Oak, swamp chestnut Quercus montana (Quercus prinus) 0.756 47.20 9.73 1247. Oak swamp white Quercus bicolor or Quercus platanoides 0.792 49.44 12.36 1446. Oak, white Quercus alba 0.710 44.33 10.68 1251. Persimmon Diospyros virginiana 0.776 48.45 12.72 1443. Pine, eastern white Pinus strobus 0.373 23.29 6.26 898. Pine, jack Pinus banksiana or Pinus divericata 0.461 28.78 5.70 868. Pine, loblolly Pinus taeda 0.593 37.02 9.09 1354. Pine, longleaf Pinus palustris 0.638 39.83 10.90 1445. Pine, pitch Pinus rigida 0.542 33.84 7.40 965. Pine, red Pinus resinosa 0.507 31.65 8.81 1264. Pine, shortleaf Pinus echinata 0.584 36.45 9.34 1345. Poplar, balsam Populus balsamifera or Populus candicans 0.331 20.66 4.76 716. Poplar, yellow Liriodendron tulipifera 0.427 26.66 6.52 1058. Redwood Sequoia sempervirens 0.436 27.22 7.56 958. Rosewood, Bolivian 0.71 44.3 Rosewood, E. Indian 0.78 48.7 Sassafras Sassafras uariafolium 0.473 29.53 6.43 790. Satinwood (Ceylon) Chloroxylon swietenia *1.031 64.37 9.68 1101. Sourwood Oxydendrum arboreum 0.593 37.02 8.24 1083. Spruce, black Picea mariana 0.428 26.72 7.24 1069. Spruce, red Picea rubra or Picea rubens 0.413 25.78 7.15 1071. Spruce, white Picea glauca 0.431 26.91 6.38 1001. Sycamore Platanus occidentalis 0.539 33.65 7.12 1002. Tamarack Larix laricina or Larix americana 0.558 34.84 8.23 1154. Teak (India) Tectona grandis *0.5892 36.33 9.04 1195. Walnut, black Juglans nigra 0.562 35.09 10.42 1185. Willow, black Salix nigra 0.408 25.47 4.42 513. Send a message to Oliver Seely about this table? --> oliver@dhvx20.csudh.edu Back to Oliver's home page Click on this Erlenmyer flask to go to the top of our server. Link to the Chemistry home page

Rowhunter, although I haven't seen a photo, I suspect that your head is in fact not pointy. I didn't intend to insult but got a little carried away. As a practical matter, I'm interested in the density of various wood species and the build techniques they require as it relates to ballasting and thru-wiring (or not). I think there is a general correlation between wood density and hardness but it's not absolute. Whether paulownia is a hardwood or softwood I don't know, but it has a relatively low nominal density and is also fairly hard. White cedar (20 lbs/cu ft), paulownia (18 lbs/cu ft), and bass wood (23 lbs/cu ft) are fairly close in nominal density and I like them for medium to deep lipped crankbaits.

Nah, I ain't gonna rely on how trees reproduce to determine hard vs soft woods. Balsa is SOFT, Cedar is HARD. I'll leave the reproductive categories to the pointy-headed dweebs.

Yes, like Skeeter says, white cedar tends to have hard and soft grain side by side. If you hand sand it, the hard grain tends to stand out from the soft and it will show through the finish unless you use a very thick undercoating that levels out over the grain differences. I think that may be one reason why a lot of the classic cedar crankbaits like Poe use a thick "build coat" to undercoat their crankbaits. I torched the finish off of a Poe RC3 and the build coat was very flammable, so I had to remove it too (I like to leave the build coat/undercoat on them if possible but this one went up like a house on fire!). It's interesting to see just how rough the underlying wood on some of these baits really is. In a volume production environment, I guess they don't have the luxury of having a guy sit there for half an hour, hand sanding each bait. So a thick build coat saves on labor. I shy away from cedar because of the grain effects and usually go with bass wood. Skeeter's right again about the ballast required for cedar or bass wood being about half what you might use with 12 lb/cu ft balsa. It can get downright finnaky and you need to break out your digital scale and start measuring ballast in hundreths of an ounce. But it does produce some nice baits.

KNB uses pure fish oil base for all their scents. The guy who started the company worked for years in the perfume industry. The garlic will shock your sinuses and stay on your hands for hours. It's actually stronger than real garlic. The anise shad and crawfish are mild scents and are rather pleasant. I've tried them all and the anise shad works best for me, even when used on jigs that are crawfish imitators. BTW, the fish oil will destroy rubber skirts but it's fine on silicone skirts. Fish oil is rendered from saltwater species. I'm sure there are chemical differences from bluegills, but I don't think you're gonna find bluegill scent anywhere. They don't school in large enough groups to make netting them economically feasible for oil extraction. I can't dope out whether there's a case to be made for water soluable scents versus oil based scents and I don't think it matters that much in bass fishing since bass are primarily sight feeders. The only observation I have is that Gulp is water based and does attract fish from a distance. Let a Gulp bait on a C-rig sit still too long and suddenly, you're catfishing! Personally, I'd rather avoid that.

Unless you are repairing chipped or oxidized paint, or are repainting a suspending lure, there is no need to remove all the paint from a crankbait before repainting; just give it a light sanding with 400 grit or a scrub pad, wipe it off with alcohol, and repaint. The paint and clearcoat on an average bass size bait weighs about .02 oz. That's not enough to alter the performance of most plastic crankbaits. I remove paint mechanically with sand paper. Sometimes you can peel the paint and clearcoat off with a thin sharp knife, especially if you heat the bait with a heat gun beforehand. Sometime you can torch it off with a propane torch if you are careful not to melt the plastic or balloon the bait. Pro repainters use media blasting to remove old paint. Sandpaper will reduce any 3D effects like molded-in scales, etc, but it works and it gives new paint a good surface to grip. Wipe the bait down with denatured alcohol after you sand. No solvent will remove paint from a crankbait without also clouding up the diving liip.

Cedar is a traditional wood for flat sided baits and it works well. It's harder than balsa and doesn't require thru-wire build techniques. Does it have a different action? Yes, since it is less buoyant, but you can make a good thumping flat sided bait out of it. I would weigh some similar commercial flatsided wood baits like a Tennessee Tuffy, Rapala, etc, to get an idea of the total weight you should work toward for your bait, and then plan your ballast accordingly. Weigh the blank, the hook hangers, trebles, and the lip together, add .03 oz for finish, and then subtract that from your target weight to get the weight of the ballast you need. A small barrel sinker will work OK, you can also buy integrated ballast weights with the belly hanger molded into them; it doesn't really matter what you use as long as there's enough room in the belly to glue in the ballast.

The molded crankbaits made by hobbiests or small scale builders are solid body cast versions made from urethane or urethane foam. If there is anyone who is molding holllow plastic bodies such as you would see in a commercial bait, they haven't shared it on TU.

X3. If you get lucky, you can lay in just the perfect amount of epoxy to fill in a void and make it disappear, but usually it just ends up looking like a blemish.

Use the term paint reducer for more hits

Createx says you can thin their paint as much as 50% with water. But they also sell a 4011 reducer. If you get the paint too thin, it will just bead up and not be able to form a coherent film so the safe route is to thin it when you need to, as little as needed to get the spray pattern you need. Createx paints have different consistencies depending on the particular color, so I wouldn't let that bother you. Most Createx can be sprayed straight out of the bottle without thinning, you just have to determine whether the unthinned paint is thin enough for the job at hand. As well as the 'store-bought' thinner, there are several home brew formulas that seem to work very well. Do a search to find them here or check out some airbrushing sites for alternatives.

I've tried several things and by far the best is to dip the lip in Dick Nite S81 moisture cured urethane. It will fill in scratches and make the lip look brand new, as long as the plastic isn't UV yellowed. If the lip is yellowed because it was originally coated with urethane, you can sand that off before topcoating the lip again. Of course, not many guys would maintain a supply of DN just to coat crankbait lips - too hard to store it! I've tried using epoxy but the result was crappy looking. Epoxy will also yellow from UV exposure, and that really shows up quickly on a clear lip.

A Google search suggests there isn't a standard recoat time for moisture cured urethane (MCU). Manufacturers generally say it's ready for recoating when the first coat is dry. That's usually an hour or two. The main thing to guard against is CO2 bubbling, which happens when MCU is applied too thickly or is allowed to collect in a pool anywhere on the lure. A pool of MCU will also wrinkle acrylic paint on a lure. I used to put 2 coats of DN on bass baits but stopped because I got more blemishes with a second coat. When stripping DN topcoated lures for repainting, I saw it had soaked through the acrylic paint to form a tough monolithic finish that didn't need (IMO) multiple coats for durability. I don't know how multiple coats might affect the moisture cure process, which takes about a week to complete. I can't see any difference in the topcoats on commercial saltwater vs freshwater lures, so that's for you to decide. If you want THICK, you should consider epoxy topcoats.

Bobv and Ben are referring to Venture Brite-Bak tape, designed for stained glass artists. It's the thinnest, strongest, easiest to use adhesive metallic tape I've found so far.

I order polycarbonate in 1'x1' by 1/16" thickness from McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com). Lexan is the GE brand name for polycarbonate. McMaster also carries circuit board under the nomenclature "garolite" and their prices and service are as good as any I've seen online. G-10 is a tech standard for circuit board and is the one most used by bait builders (and the least expensive too). Check the color of circuit board before you order because it comes in a variety of colors from black to slightly greenish white. Translucent greenish white is the most popular color. I use 1/32" thick circuit board for bass crankbait lips. The white 1/32" board is also used in pre-cut lips sold by Janns Netcraft and other tackle sources. BTW, mcmaster.com is also a good source for various wire types. Like Ben, I rough cut lip blanks with metal snips (mine are Wiss straight cut shears from Home Depot, about $12). Then I sand the shape down to the exact line with a 1/2" Dremel fine sanding cylinder, then polish the edges with a Dremel felt polishing cylinder (I run mine dry, without polishing compound). If you do thicker lips, the snips may not be as handy but they have no problem cutting 1/32" or 1/16" board accurately. The real "trick" to making good lips is to start with an exact symmetrical template. I do mine on a computer, print them out, then make patterns from plastic sheets or spare circuit board material.