cadman

I know you can use candle wax, parrafin and bees wax. I use bees wax. I guess the amount of wax seems to be about the size of a sugar cube give or take. Experimentation with the amout of wax and fluxing often, is the key based on what Sagacious said above. Guys you can correct me on any of this if I'm wrong. For those who are looking for bees wax, below is a pic of what I bought. It was available in chunk or pellets. I know you can cut the chunk, I opted for the pellets. One less thing to do. You can go to the site below and find out all you need to know about bees wax, candle wax and parrafin. I searched for awhile on sites about beeswax, and found this place to be the best quality for the money. I bought 5 lbs of yellow beeswax for $22.00 + $8.60 shipping last year. 5 lbs is a lot of beeswax. You can buy smaller quantities which naturally cost more. Here is the link www.swanscandles.com Ps. Sorry guys about my earlier post regarding jigs from Hawnjigs. I didn't mean to de-rail this thread. I just wasn't thinking.

I saw an advertisement about your jigs in In-fisherman magazine. Well I'm impressed. Very nice looking jigs if I don't say so myself. Just out of curiosity, do they all come out so perfect. Very nice, and a vey nice plug hopefully for you business.

Gator, I have several hundred pounds of powder at home, and I have never had any clump up. I have heard this happen before. There were some posts on this awhile back. Somebody said to use the moisture packs to pull moisture out of the powder. I am assuming that it does work, but I can't say. Try a search to see if you find it. One thing for sure don't heat the powder. Heat acivates the powder for adhesion, too hot, and you will throw the powder away. You can take your powder in a bowl and crush it like the old time pharmacists used to do. BTW what brand of powder is it? Just curious. That's about all the help I can give you. Maybe someone else can chime in with their experience on this.

I would need a big de-humidifier in my garage:lol:.......Thank You for your wealth of knowledge, your insight and all of your help:worship:. If you ever need any help down the road PM me.

Kelly, I was just thinking about that thread I started, and I was going to bring it up in a couple of days. But since you brought it up, I'll give you my feedback. All winter I poured a lot, as I was really busy. You know that I don't recall ever walking away from my pot frustrated. Everthing poured great. Yesterday I was pouring, and I had a mold that poured really well, and then 100 hooks later nothing worked. I got frustrated, and just stopped and walked away. I figured I pour the rest tomorrow. Today I poured in the morning and everthing poured flawlessly. I'm stumped. Both days were hot and humid. I read somwhere that moisture and or humidity definitely affects pouring. My question is this I poured both days consecutively. One day was horrible, and the next was perfect. What gives? Sagacious or anyone else, I'm curious if you have any insight on this. If I have to pour like I did yesterday, then I better give this up, or buy myself a big meat cooler and pour in there:lol:.

Welcome aboard. If you can't get an answer here, you won't get it anywhere else. TU has a great bunch of people.

Thanks, and very impressive.

I like the x-mas hooks, because you can bend them many, many times in any configuration and they don't break. Yes you are right they are cheap. I bought 10 boxes of 100 per box after x-mas. They were 10 cents a box. I think I have enough for a lifetime.

Neil, I'm confused when you say holograph paints. Are you referring to candy color paints which are translucent (do you have a pic so I can see what you are referring to). If so then I personally like to dip one complete in one color and then dip it in the other color. I'm not a big fan of mixing two colors of paint to achieve another color. I never seam to get the outcome that I'm looking for. But then again, maybe I'm missing the boat here, and you have a process that is worth exploring. I'll PM you my e-mail, and you can send me your pic if you have one.

Neil, That's similar to what I do. I take a piece of drill rod, and make sure it is a snug fit, and push the drill rod into the hole. I then swish it through the powder. You can also do more than one color like you said. Then when they cool, I take X-mas tree ornament hangers and put it through the hole, and hang them on my painting rack and bake them in the oven Also I have found that using Spike-It blade dip works really well. It's fast and easy. However you will have to bake it and then clearcoat it. Otherwise the blade dip will come off eventually.

Well now I get it. Thank you very much for the explanation. Just out of curiosity, how do you know so much about lead and it's properties? I read your profile. Is it from being a firearms instructor? You really know your stuff. Good info. If you don't want to reply here, you can PM me.....Thanks again.............Ted

I like your attitude towards this. I also like the concept of breaking the subscription into what categories suit you as a person. LaPala: Excellent post. I think your idea could be a viable solution.

First of all I didn't select your name to start an arguement. I was just replying to your statement. So if you feel that I singled you out that was not my intention. I don't know if you voted, and it doesn't matter, but I stated the same thing you did on the voting thread. "That I like the site the way it is, and if less features would cost less then I would lean towards that". I am only expressing the fact that I would pay the $60 if that's what it came to, to maintain this site. It's no big deal to me. Money will probably not fix this, we will probably lose people, but I don't think that one man should burden the weight. It's not about the site itself, it's about the cost to maintain it. Lot of people want everything and give nothing in return. We all have to pay for what we want one way or another. I'm not directing this towards you, I'm just making a statement. I do apologize for the misunderstanding.

I'm confused, or I just don't understand. Are you telling me that beeswax is not suposed to smoke? As soon as I put it in, I mix the lead with a spoon, to stir up the bees wax. But it still smokes. What am I missing here.........Pleeeeaaaaaaasssssseeee help me.

Maybe $60 isn't the magic number, maybe it will be less I don't know. We will probably lose some members, and maybe we won't get a lot of newcomers I don't know that either. Putting all my anger aside, actually I'm a pretty decent person. I understand the dilemma here. Is $60 a lot of money maybe yes and maybe no. For some it may be too extreme. For some it's a spit in the bucket. I will actually pay it, as I am so into this, that at this point if I didn't have the money, I would try to save it some other way. When you think about it, it's $5 a month. Some of you guys may have cable and all the sport channels, pay per view and some may go to the bar for a few. It all costs $$ so why not sacrifice somewhere else to pay for this hobby or habit. BTW where else can you get a bad habit and not die from it. My question to all of you is this. What if Jerry said " you know what this just isn't worth it, let's just call it quits". What will you (we) do then??????????

I too am very surprised that more active members didn't express their concern one way or the other. I know some are on vacation and some may have read this too late and I understand that. What really p:bull:s me off is that, when there is a company or person to be bashed, many jump on the band wagon to express their feelings, for totally no reason. But when we all as a family are here to save or possibly lose this site we plainly don't give a . Sorry for this post guys, I just had to air my feelings. Jerry, all I have to say is that I hope TU is around for a long time. Just my worth.

I originally started with candle wax, I had laying around the house. It was excellent. Then I bought a candle at a store to replace it, and to my lack of knowledge at the time, I put a small piece in, and it flamed up and I almost got burned. Stupid me, tried to see what the wax was going to do. Not all candles are made the same, Hence the mishap above. After that I started to use beeswax, and have done that to this day. The only thing the beeswax does is when its dropped in it smokes a lot.

Reading all these posts to what everyone is saying is understandable. I

Dannyp I didn't want to come across as a jerk, that's not my style, I'm just stating why I didn't post the tutorial. If you ever want help from me just ask, and I will see what I can do. That goes to all TU members here. Some of you I do know, and the rest by communicating here I will get to know. So dannyp, if I can help you, you can post it on the forum, and I among others will help you out, or you can PM me, if you feel uncomfortable in asking "dumb questions". I have always been free with any knowledge I gain. Just like you and many others, I've been down the same road, and am trying to pave it for the newbies. I owe TU and many members here a lot for my vast amounts of knowledge I have learned here. You won't know unless you ask.

To all you guys that questioned the fluid bed tutorial. I am the creator and the person who decided not to make it as a tutorial. First of all I want to thank Bruce (Spike-A-Pike) for sticking to his word and not printing it. Now I know some of you may jump the gun and start forming opinions of me. That

I used to use Devcon 2T. Too slow in drying. I too switched over to Super Glue gel. I have not had any reaction so far with super glue gel, and Devcon 2T as an overcoat. That is a good thing.

I saw your sketch. I see no problem with the bullet part or where the shank of the hook goes in the mold. Your problem lies in trying to get your barbs, concentric and consistant. My personal opinion is that you will not achieve this by doing it by hand. This needs to be done with a casting, or other form of mold making, even machining can not get into those squared off corners by the barb, and then flared out. But then again I could be wrong. I would like to hear from others for my own knowledge on how this can be done.

Shortlite. Sagacious and others are right on here. Here is some advice if you intend on doing this yourself. I have modified a lot of molds. However I am a designer, and I use (3) cad packages to design. The reason I’m stating this is this. This is how I go about modifying molds. You have to think this whole process through. #1. Layout the details you want to modify on a piece of paper drawing it 1:1 scale (I draw on a computer). This has to be accurate, as you will need to transfer this image to both mold halves. If you are going to do this to multiple cavities, and they are different sizes, then you need to take scaling as a factor, if you want to keep everything proportional. #2. Once you have it drawn, place your drawing over your cavity and trace it out carefully. I use dye chem. (a blue transfer ink) on the mold, and use an exacto blade to trace. The exacto blade will scratch the dye chem. And leave you a clean visible line. #3. You now can transfer this image to the other half of the mold, by previously etching locating points on both mold halves. #4. Once you have your details transferred, I personally use a utility knife and hobby files for detailed work and a dremel to hog out cavities for hook eyes, swivels and any other features that do not need fine detail. The reason I don’t use a dremel for everything is this. Dremel tools have a tendency to wander, especially if you catch an existing corner. Even with a steady hand, you can screw up a mold (but there is fixes for f:censored:k ups also, it’s called J B Weld). You’re now done. Some things to note. a) Check your cutting regularly. Check your dimension regularly. c) Make sure everything is aligned and on center. d) Check your fit regularly with the mold closed. e) Lastly take your time…. Finally, all of this seems like a lot of work, yes it is. The question you have to ask yourself, like lot of the responses you got here. Are you doing this to try to learn how to modify molds, and quality isn’t that big of a deal? Or do you intend on selling these after you are done? If they are easy details to cut go for it. In the long run it’s cheaper to have a custom shop make you a mold, as they can easily scale different size cavities once the initial profile is done, and the accuracy is second to none. Just some of my past experience and my worth. Ted (Cadman)

Thanks for the reply.

Bruce, You know the older I get the more I want to appreciate a longer lived life. Although I get tested for lead, I always think about the kids you guys have. I'm not talking about teenagers here, I'm talking about little tykes that want to see what daddy is doing. Guys by all means don't pour when you have little kids running around or pets that will distract you. As you all know whether lead or plastic, they both are very hot, and one act of distraction can burn you or god forbid one of your children. I guarantee if you burn yourself, it's an act of stupidity, if you accidently burn one of your children you will never forgive yourself. So if you have kids and they need your attention, pour at nightime, when they are sleeping, or really early in the morning when they aren't awake yet. For all the other guys that commented in this thread. I'm not telling you what to do, but even if the going rate was $100 for a lead test. I personally still would have the test done. We will go out and buy a rod or reel for $150.00 without blinking an eye. I just think our health should come first. BTW Happy Father's Day to all you guys out there that have children..........Take care of them............