cadman

I sent you an IM on how to use them for pouring and painting

I have about 200 of them. 100 of them I leave in the shop for pouring, and the other 100 I have in my basement where I stick them in the raw jigs ready for painting. This way the ones in the basement are always clean.

Yes, You can flatten the end slightly (and I mean slightly) the end that goes into the jig weedguard hole.

I don't spin cast, however yes I do believe that humidity does have a factor on pouring jigs. I can pour hundred of jigs in my garage when it's in the 40's and all through winter without a bad pour. Come summer and the high humidity and I start having problems. Now with the Frankford Arsenal Drop out mold release, I have cut that down to half as many problems in the summer. However I have found that I get better pours in the summer really early in the morning or later at night. There are days in the summer when nothing seems to work, and so after getting frustrated I walk away and start the next day. This may all sound crazy, but it happens to me every year. So take it for what its's worth I believe jigman mentioned that it is opposite for him. Better pours in summer and worse pours in winter. So I just don't know, only what seems to work for me.

Fuzzy, The 4/0 will fit on the 1/4 oz and up Do-It Tube-TX mold. The eyelet on the mold could be a bit bigger in diameter, which can be done easily with a center punch and a drill. Also you might have to bend the hook eye a little, so the hook shank aligns more in the center of the mold. PM me your e-mail and after I come back from work today I will send you some pics with the hook in it. Picture is worth a thousand words.

Pete, I do exactly that. After the paint is stripped off, I use "Dawn" dishwashing liquid and use a brush on the jigs. I use Dawn because it cuts through grease better than anything else I've used. I then dry the jigs with a towel and put in a toaster oven on 350 degrees fo r20 minutes to get all of the water out.

Smalljaw, I never disliked Eagled Claw hooks even back in the day. The only thing I never liked was that majority of all of their hooks were bronze and they rusted plain and simple. I too am so far very happy with the sharpness and new finish on the EC's. I am using the EL111BP, I have used already (1500) L97BP wacky hooks and guys have commented on how sharp they are. So I too am very happy with their quality so far. I have been thinking about trying their spinnerbait hook as well. I am curious to see that hook. With all said and done I think Eagle Claw is on the road to success with their new line and I hope they keep expanding it along with keeping good quality. Plus it's Made In The U.S.A..............Go Eagle Claw.

Ron, I don't see why you couldn't use ABS. I've never used it so I can't comment on it. I do believe it's thinner walled than PVC, but that shouldn't matter. Try it out and let us know your results.

Yes the mold will eventually crack. For production pouring and quality spinnerbaits it's best to have a mold custom made if you don't like any of the stock molds available

Ron, I'm going to say about 6 oz. however, put some in, slowly turn the air on and you will see the powder paint rise. Naturally you don't want the powder paint to go over the top. A good guess would be about 1 to 1-1/2" below the top of the cup.

Hey guys Thanks for all the input.

Can anyone tell me what this means, or what this is. Is this pure soft lead or a mix of lead alloys. Is it really hard and can it be used for pouring jigs. Any info would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

I've used "Parks" paint remover, and it works just fine. Dip the jigs in th remover, wait a day and take it out and your all done..

Scott, I'm going to agree with smalljaw. If I fish rocks and/or literally drag my jigs on the bottom, without a doubt flat eyes hooks in the jigs. If I am swimming , bouncing or flipping I will go with a regular eye. It's just the way I do it, doesn't make it right, as everyone has their own opinions on this. As many customer as I've talked to, one answer is flat eye for dragging a jig. Reason being is the hook eye is not at the nose or pointing downward. The hook eye is facing up and keeps the line and knot from fraying while it is dragged.

Yep a 4/0 or 5/0 sounds about right. Naturally it's your choice as you know what you like to throw and what you have confidence in. Many guys like smaller profiles.

Ron, I just came back from out of town and I just sent you an e-mail about 5 minutes ago. Let me know if you have more questions.

Norman, As long as you are getting a smooth finish on your jigs after you paint and bake them, don't sweat the details. The only one that really cares is you, the fish could care less. However like all of us we want everything to be perfect. I know I do, but sometimes you just need to leave well enough alone.

Norman, If it pours fine and you have no other issues other than a rough surface, keep it and consider yourself lucky. Some identical molds have issues pouring. If you powder paint it like mentioned above, it will cover up all the little crannies and you should get a smooth finish. Don't try to improve something that a little paint will cover up an no-one will ever see. JMO.

Sorry Fuzzy, I don't have any of those hooks, can't help you there.

Smalljaw, I love my Snootie jig. You are correct it does go throughweeds easily. Out of all my jigs if I had to throw them all away the only one I would have to have is my Snootie jig. It is so versatile. I have caught so many fish on that jig, it's just amazing. If you know how to fish a jig, you can pitch it, flip it, swim it, bounce it up and down it ia an all around great jig.

You got a lot of good information from these guys. All of Do-It molds are sand cast. That means for production that is the fastest you can produce a quality mold. When you sand cast you do not get a perfectly smooth finish, only machining will do that. The paint actually sticks better to a rougher surface as it has something to bite into.

Omar, PM me your e-mail and I'll send it out to you.

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I'm sure you're going to like them. I just poured an order for 100 brush jigs, 100 Snooties and 100 football and I had no problem pouring them. They look good and they poured flawlessly which made me wonder, why so perfect. So I measured the Mustad 32786 wire diameter against the Eagle Claw EL111BP hooks. Here are the results: Mustad 32786:.................3/0.............(.057 dia.) Mustad 32786:.................4/0.............(.061 dia.) Mustad 32786:.................5/0.............(.065 dia.) Mustad 32786:.................6/0.............(.069 dia.) Eagle Claw EL111BP:.................3/0.............(.052 dia.) Eagle Claw EL111BP:.................4/0.............(.056 dia.) Eagle Claw EL111BP:.................5/0.............(.060 dia.) Eagle Claw EL111BP:.................6/0.............(.062 dia.) Eagle Claw EL111BP:.................7/0.............(.064 dia.) What this proves is that the Eagle Claw are slightly thinner than the Mustads. Now before you jump to conclusions, this has no effect on the hook whatsoever. I took the Eagle Claws and tried to bend them and it took some force, with 2 pairs pf pliers, where at some point the hooks snapped. The reason I posted this was to show you guys that even a hook that is .005" thinner will almost always pour perfectly. The reason being is this. When the hook sits in the mold and is trapped by the hook eye and the hook shank, the biggest pouring problem will always be by the hook shank near the collar or barb. Well when you have a smaller diameter hook, any air that the lead pushes through as it pours in will go out the hook shank area. This is definitely a good thing as you will get really good pours. How do I know this occurs on this hook? I just guessed, no not really. When I poured all the jigs above, what I noticed when I poured the EC hooks, is that I was getting a small amount of excess lead coming out below the collar or barb. I have seen this before when you put a smaller hook in a bigger cavity and this tells me that air is escaping and the void being filled by lead. This is just an FYI for all you guys . Sorry to ramble on, but thought this might help. BTW I didn't have a 7/0 Mustad hook to compare to since the biggest I use is a 6/0 for crappie.

Thanks Ben for the help.