cadman

Musky Glenn, Are you looking for pics of boats bought to fix up or boats bought to fish out of? I bought a boat in 2008 that I currently fish out of but it wasn't a fixer upper? BTW you sure did a nice clean job of the mods you made to that boat. Job well done.

elijah, You have so many experienced guys here giving you such good information, and my advice to you is heed their warnings. We are not out to scare you away from pouring and or your love of this hobby. However, there are a lot of things to consider here. It is not about pouring lead, painting them and selling them. You may be one of those young fellows that takes every precaution, and that is the best way to look at it. If you think you're very cautious, make sure you are doubly cautious. I have lead tests done every year. I do pour in a garage because of the mention of a drop of water or even a bug falling into your pot. Any moisture falling into your pot is a cause for alarm and possible disaster. My honest advice to you is to not pour outside and to buy all of your jigs, spinners or whatever in the raw state, and then paint them and assemble them yourself. It will definitely be cheaper for you in the long run, without spending all the money on molds, pot, lead, hooks and other components. If you do pursue pouring your own lures, by all means think it through ask questions, and be very, very careful. Better to be safe then sorry.

elijah, Depending on the complexity of the mold, costs will vary. If you design the mold yourself and have the concept all figured out along with dimensioned drawings and preferably a cad file then that is half the battle. If the guy machining it has to do everything that is another story. You have to understand that time is money. Your machinist is not your dad or your brother they want to get paid for all that they do. This is not to discourage anyone as we all want something custom sometimes. The thing is if you go down that road, will it eventually pay off and be profitable. I am a cad designer, and I can make you 3d models of molds to fill a book, however like at work, going rate is around $30- $40/hour. Something simple can take a couple to 4 hours. Complicated even more. If you make a lot of changes and you are unsure, well then it will be even more. Where I'm going with this, is have a game plan and make it simple.

Guys if I find my copy of the gargoyle spinnerbait I got, I will post a 1: 1 or e-mail a 1: 1 sample of the wire bending form to make these. Just give me a few days to locate it. I will get you a sketch of it so all of you can make these till your hearts content. There is a lot of bending required, so I would suggest you take my sketch when I get it done, and tape it on a board, and then nail in nails at the radii (bending points), so you can make this pattern. One final thing if you look at Rayburn Guys pic, the small blade with the spacers must be put in before the final bends are finished, otherwise guess what? You won't be able to put them in afterwards, as the 90 degree bends will not let you do this. Drawing for pattern tracing to follow.

Yes he does lead molds as far as I know. Do give him a call.

Jigatollah, David Aery of Hook Solutions is definitely a good person to do business with. I have not had any molds done by him, however I have done other business with him and he is always very helpful. BTW can you elaborate on what happened with Collins? if you would rather send me a PM that is fine as well.

PM me your phone number and I might be able to help you out with some tech'l data.

Gangel, I use teflon on my weedguard pins and it works great in lead. The 2mm(.07875) diameter might be hard to find. I will tell you that teflon is the way to go, as it is strong, will take the heat and retains it shape. Also if you are only drawing 1" of the pull pin through the cavity, it shpouldn't be that hard to do.

Can't help you on the pull pin, however you can call Do-It and they will help you with that. What kind of measurements are you looking for. Of the mold cavities or the actual cast part, or are you trying to duplicate the mold by measuring it?????

So after many messages of what kind of paint stripper I use, many guys told me the stuff I used to use was no longer available. Well that is definittely true as when I ran out of paint stripper last week I looked for it and it is no longer made by Parks. So I looked around for pricing and they all are around $25 per gallon for 15 minute. I went to Home Depot, Lowes and Menards. Lowes and Home Depot carry the same brand and priciing was identical. Menards had Zinsser and it was $22 per gallon. So I bought some today. I had a lot of jigs which I was practicing different 6 color powder paint applications which I didn't like. So now to test out the stripper. Smell........................I slight trace but definitely can be used in the house without the wife complaining. Color........................Clear Viscosity..................Was like the other one I had, thick like molasses. I put 20 jigs in a glass bowl, and poured in some stripper. In about 10 minutes you can see the paint start to separate from the jigs, 15 minutes you can take some of the paint off the jigs by wiping the jig with a paper towel. Some of the more stubborn powder paint was softened in 30 minutes, and the jigs were able to be wiped off and then washed in soap and water. Overall I really like this stripper. It worked just as well as my old stripper, it reminded me of the old one because when you get some stripper on your hands, it feels really cold. So I do recommend this if you are looking for a stripper. Best of all it can all be cleaned up with soap and water. Below are some pics of the stuff I bought. You can buy quarts for around $8 - $10 Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf Zinsser Stripper 2012.pdf

That's cool doing stuff with your dad. I really didn't have that oppurtunity as my dad wasn't interested in anything fishing.

I guess you can't say you weren't warned. You will owe her big time now.

In jigs, the flat eye ( especially on football jigs) is used so the line when tied doesn't rub and abrade while you are dragging your jig on the bottom.

Tony, I'm surprised you are not getting incomplete pours. #4 seems low to me where the lead will not pour. You could be getting extra heat from the initial #7 setting you had as it starts to cool down. I would bet if you start your pot up from a cold start on #4 and keep it there you will be running into problems. Let us know your results. I can tell you that bismuth will be good at #5 however bismuth has a lower melting temp than lead.

As far as I know, no. The Do-It weighted hook molds were introduced about 2 years ago. You can buy weighted hooks thogh. However they are expensive.

Thank you for the added info.

x2

Here are the scenarios I would use a ladle. #1. When absolutely nothing works, and I cannot get good pours. As you know every mold has its own unique characteristics and every day pouring is a different day with possibly different problems. I usually pour every week, and have over 100 molds and I know that at one point of pouring each mold, there will be a day when something won't work correctly. I do know which molds pour better with a ladle and which ones pour with my pot. I wish I could give you exacts, but I can't because again I can be pouring a mold one day and then pour the same mold another day and have problems. Some of the reasons I believe I have issues sometimes is, humidity and lead composition. Some guys say that humidity doesn't affect pouring but I disagree ( to each his own). I have poured here in (Illinois) for over 10 years. On some of the most humid days in summer, there are days ( these days are far and few) that when the ladle (my last resort) doesn't work, I will walk away and pour another day. Also I like my lead composition on the hard side, so that may cause some problems as well. With that said. I have found that when I pour with a small ladle, I have had 99% complete pours when my pots for some reason aren't doing their job that day. What I believe is happening when pouring with a ladle, is that you are not forcing a lot of lead in at one time, and the air has a chance to escape at the top of the sprue hole, thus giving complete pours. This is just my opinion, as I have no other technical source of information other than my own experience. As far as I know my answer may be incorrect, but it does work and I continue to use it when these bad pouring days arise. #2. When I pour my spinnerbaits, it is always a 50/50 chance that I will eventually pour with a ladle. I start out pouring with a bottom pour pot. If everything is going well, than I usually finish pouring with my pot. However many times, probably because of the harder lead, I end up using my ladle, and just as I'm writing this, I know for a fact that I will get perfect pours with the ladle, and it has proven to be true every time. Now here is a scenario that I think I've answered my own question to. I will be pouring a regular mold that always pours well for me. I'm using my bottom pour pot. After about 150 jigs of pouring in the same cavity, my mold does not want to give me complete pours????? So what's the deal. Here is my answer. I do believe that at some point of continuous pouring the same mold, it gets too hot and may have a tendency to expand. So what do I do. I either let the mold cool (which I don't) because I want to finish the job, or use the ladle. Again the ladle has many, many, many times saved the day for me. Now so you all know, these are my criteria for pouring. This does not mean that my way is the correct way. We all do things that work for us. #1 always a full pot of lead #2 bottom pour pot, set on #7- #8 #3 always a hot mold, with blank pours to see how the cavity fills #4 always mold release on mold halves #5 naturally flux lead at the beginning of each start-up the day of the pour #6 keep hooks warm to hot, to get better pours (essential when pouring in winter in Illinois) #7 mold gapping when needed #8 ladle when needed That's about it in a nutshell. Sorry for the long post, but this may help others. The thing about the ladle is that it is just another tool to help you when all else fails. I like everyone else don't want bad pours because it is a waste of time, and when you consistently get them it is very frustrating.

There are only two guys that make them that I know of and they are the names you mentioned. I have yet to get an answer from Iovino.All I know is that there is a groove next to the head, that the skirt gets tied to really tight. I can't get either of them to show me. I believe that Iovino got the business from Lefty's but not positive. If you figure it out,let me know. The instructions were posted on TT about a year ago and I still have them, but I have not been able to get it right.

x2 on crimping the wire and using a ladle.

The only thing I could add to what Smalljaw said is the last resort is to modify the mold. I will tell you that if you open the hook slot at the bottom that will definitely help. However with doing that, when you put your 3/0 back in there you will get excess lead at the bottom of your collar. Now I will also say, that I would rather have excess lead and trim that off on the bottom of the collar than getting frustrated with bad pours. So gap the mold like Smalljaw mentioned. Also get some mold release it is worth its weight in gold. You can also many times solve your problem, by dipping a small ladle in your pot and pouring with the ladle. Again like mentioned there are so many variables, that I couldn't cover them here, and would probably miss some. Let us know how it goes.

Well I have to congratulate you on your inovative idea. I never heard of that one before. Only one problem with your idea. What are you going to do when your wife is going to want to use here candle warmer?????????LOL

You shouldn't have asked "How's the Fishing". Actually it is slow but that is expected here in fall. Yesterday went fishing with a guy we both got one fish a 15 and a 15-1/2". I went today I got 2 fish a 15 and a 17" bass. Last week I went and I got one fish. So as of the 2nd week in September, fishing slowed down tremendously. Other than that caught a lot of fish this year and placed in some of the local tourney's here. Hope your fishing was good.

I agree with smalljaw. I have had some jigs in a zip-lok bags for a year and they were still shiny. The thing you want to do is once you pour them put them in a bag and don't keep on opening the bag if you need one or two. You are better off splitting them in two or three bags and mark the used one "Opened bag". So you draw from the same bag all the time. Other than that never had a problem when you keep them air tight.