cadman

Yes, it does. It's like night and day using Drop-Out. It's like frying eggs on a teflon pan, it is that good. Anyone that is starting to learn how to pour, I strongly recommend using Drop-Out. It saves a lot of headaches for new pourers. I have (2) brush jig molds that were and still are a P.I.T.A to pour. Drop-Out has helped tremendously.

Exactly, why older molds are better. Much smoother surface, better smoother pour release. Comet would probably work as well, it probably would cut faster. I would suggest making a paste with it and apply paste as it wears away. BTW never thought of Comet, but it may make faster cutting of my hard to pour molds. Good tip Thanks

Yes, buffing the mold cavities will help, however it is very time consuming. You can use toothpaste, chrome cleaner, rubbing compound or jewelers rouge. They all have an abrasive substance that definitely polishes.I found by polishing certain molds, it makes the lead jig fall out of the cavity much easier. You can also polish jig heads. On jig heads it's not worth it because powder paint will cover up many of the imperfections.

If money is not an issue, the best melter I have ever used is an RCBS Pro-Melt.

I was thinking the same thing, and then it dawned on me, probably didn't melt because they are silicone and probably have a high temp rating. jcool3, BTW those do look nice.

I have (2) pairs of 170M Xcelite gate shears from LPO or Barlows and a brand new pair of 5" gate shears from Janns NetCraft. I have never dulled a pair of gate shears, but I have snapped the heads when cutting really hard lead. These were about 8 to 12 dollars each. I find that if you only use the gate shears for cutting lead they will last longer. Do not cut stainless wire with these. Also for trimming the sprues off of jigs made of harder lead, or bismuth, I now use side cutters. BTW I know we use Knipex tools at work, and they are good tools.

This is probably not the answer that you are looking for. But the thinner the wire the more vibration the more fish catching(????) ability the bait has. However the wireform will take a beating. Now .035 wire on a 1/2 oz bait seems too light to me. However if you go heavier, you probably will lose some vibration. So there is a trade off. I honestly can't give you an answer, as different guys like different things, and I build to what the guys like, as many of them do not like stiff wire, and rather catch fish and chalk up a bent (mutilated) spinnerbait to the cost of fishing and catching. There are standards I believe on LPO, that gives you what wire and blades are supposed to be on a spinnerbait.

Smalljaw is correct, the stronger the smell the newer the skirts are made. I as well have some that have a stronger smell. Never had any issues catching fish.

This is correct, and I do that as well and it does work.

Ben and Pete I really like the clarity of E-tex. However the 3 coats and the wait time for it to dry is a deal breaker for me. I don't do a lot of white jigs, so D2T works really well for me. With jigs it still is a two step process for me, as I epoxy the weedguard in first, then wait a day to dry. The weedguards are the easy part, as the jig sits horizontally and the epoxy dries. Once that is done I stand my jig up and then epoxy the body, and yes you probably can only do about 8 to 10 jigs (max) with D2T before it starts to stiffen up. So doing 500 jigs is time consuming. I guess it's a toss up between 3 coats of E-tex or using D2T and taking more time to mix many batches.

You can call them. I do it all the time, and you will get the correct answer. They are very customer oriented.

Once you mix the two parts, you have at least 15 -20 minutes. The two issues I have with E-tex, is that it never really gets as hard as D2T and secondly, it is very runny. You have to wait at least 5 minutes for it to start to be usable. This is my opinion. Also since I used this on jigs, the e-tex seeps in all the weedguard strands (making them very stiff), if the jig is left in the vertical position to dry. One good thing about E-tex is that it is clearer than D2T. White paint comes out bright white, unlike D2T which has a little amber color to it.

The way I do it is like this for a fluid bed. Take a pair of forceps and grab the hook bend. Now take all of this to your heat source, and rotate the forceps so you can get even heat on the head only. Take forceps off and grab the wire form and immediately swish the head through the powder paint. That is your first color. If you want multiple colors use the tap method like Yo Al mentioned. I never get any paint stuck on my hook point or barb. It just doesn't happen for me. There are many way to powder paint. Find the right way that works for you. You have to practice this process a lot to get what you are looking for. Practice makes perfect. Sometimes.

I use a fluid bed as that is the easiest for one color applications. Heat only the head, and then dip in the fluid bed. Anything that has no heat applied to it, the paint will not stick to.

I am having the same problem. They could be updating it. It might be on-line later today.

I seen that as well. I believe it is called a air brush manifold, where you can plug several air brushes into it. If I had to do this on a regular basis, it would definitely have to be air-brushed.

Painting them, well went slow. It takes a lot to reheat a jig that big and then to cover it with paint. Yes, my standard forceps didn't cut it in hold the jigs. I definitely needed some strong holding power, so I did use vice grips. If I had to do this on a regular basis, I would have to find a quicker way to paint these. Maybe etching primer and lacquer paint. Also taping the hook would be a better choice if I went that route, as the clamping and unclamping of hooks in vice grips can get annoying and time consuming. Definitely a learning curve here.

Once you get the 32886, you will see the difference in .003. It may not seem much, but when you have them in your hand you can tell. Also the space between the two hook gaps makes a difference as well, as you will see.

I can tell you that a 32886 round bend Mustad will be stronger. The EWG bend on the 917688 has a lot more gap than a 32886. Also the 32886 is thicker in wire diameter. As far as the 91768 holding a musky or striper, well that depends. If you have your drag set sensibly you will bring the fish in. If you crank everything down and then try to force a fighting fish, Well yes the hook may open up. I've seen guys catch 5lb bass on an aberdeen 4/0 hook. It's all relative.

You need to tell us what mold you plan on using with the model number and which cavities. As far as bulk hooks, if you are looking for 1000 count, your best place to buy them is Shorty's in Windsor, Mo. You will need a tax ID number though, or you can buy hooks from Captain Hooks, which is the online sister company of Shorty's. I have found them to have the best prices on any hook you are looking for except Owner hooks which they don't carry.

If you have to have that jig and you don't like their colors, pony up the money buy their jig, strip it and re-skirt it. I haven't seen any of those heads raw or painted without a skirt. Not to be rude, but why would some company that has made a name for themselves sell just raw or painted jigs so someone else can skirt them?

Ben, What you just stated is so true. I couldn't put that in any better words.

You know its funny, but if you use anything in excess, it apparently will have adverse effects on some people but not everyone. I understand that they need to regulate items, but many of the things that they put laws to are because people don't have any common sense, or people are too busy and don't watch their children. When I was a kid I played with mercury, had metal toys with sharp edges. I even had a toy that you heated the plastic and made creatures out of them. Now everything is dangerous, because of the fact that like someone stated, people don't want to be blamed for their own stupidity. If something happens it can't be me, must be the product. I am not condoning to play with mercury, and I know many of the things back in the day probably were not good for our health but I think it goes to the extreme now on many things. Didn't I read somewhere, that all the rice we have been eating has some arsenic in it. Well I like rice, and I can tell you that there are many Asian countries that eat a lot of rice per capita. So now what do we do about the rice? Lots of rules and regulations and not enough thorough information. Oh well life goes on and onto the next major crisis. Just some more ranting.

If you want to use it like the do-it swm jig you mentioned earlier, than it will work somewhat. The crawfish will topple over and lay on its side. If you are making these for yourself, than just make a mold out of Bondo or Durham's Wood Putty. This way you can create your own design the way you want it.