sagacious

You're talking about Sculpey polymer clay, right? The answer is to bake the prototype lure master-- it won't be tough enough for mold making unless it's baked, and you'll likely damage it during demolding. If you're new to mold making, your first concern should probably be to ensure the safety of the master. If your plaster mold breaks, for whatever reason, or just wears out, you'll want to have the same master available to make another mold. If the master gets damaged during mold making, you'll have to start over and make a new master. Bake your clay prototype, and also be sure to wait until the plaster fully hardens before attempting to remove the master. Take your time with this. Let the mold set a few days at least, especially if you're not sure the master will pull out easily. I set 'em aside and just forget about it for a week. Pushing the prototype bait deeper into the plastic to get "more roundness" won't likely work. You risk damaging both the master and the mold. Trying to remove the bait before the plaster fully hardens won't work either-- it'll just ruin the mold. Any overhangs on a plaster mold will almost invariably result in much frustration and a broken mold-- unless you use a master made from plastisol (worm plastic). The solution for "more roundness" is a two-piece mold. Sculpey clay will retain plenty of flexibility after baking. Bondo works extremely well for mold making using a Sculpey lure master. It's a lot tougher than plaster, cures faster, and will tolerate some slight overhang using a Sculpey master. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Seven or eight dollars is about par for the course, and not too bad if they really hammer the fish. Stamina has nickel "fingerling" casting spoon blanks in the 4-4/3" 1oz size for $11.20 for 5, and their nickel "pro scale" spoons in 4-1/2" 1-1/4oz size for $21.60 per 10. That's about the best deal I've seen for the spoon size/weight you're describing. I've bought some of their smaller sized fingerling spoons, and they swim nice. Other than that, check out the Krocodile spoons at Cabela's. Good luck!

Yikes! Sure glad you weren't skewered worse, BLT. The only time I've been hooked deep (knock on wood) was with a barbless hook. At the time, the fishing was wide-open, and I had pinched the barb so I could release fish faster. Catch-n-release of your own finger goes a lot faster with a barbless hook too! lol! Hawnjigs, hope your arm is feeling better. I have actually heard of another incident where a moth caused a lead splatter-- crazy world, huh? Another good reason to wear eye protection at all times.

Bingo. Since you'll be using lathe, use this method. You can drill the hole before or after profiling the lure. Goes lickity-split, you shouldn't have any problems.

A friend of mine just started pouring lead, and asked me what the main health hazards from handling lead are. I sent him the following, and along with the other good suggestions posted above, I thought it might be useful to the members of TU.

Can we get a sticky going on safe practices for lead melting? Melting scrap lead and turning it into clean ingots, and working with molten lead involves significant risk if done improperly. Many of us have had to learn the hard way before we adopted even the most basic safety techniques and practices. Learning the hard way with molten lead can get pretty rough. However, I'm the type of person who understands the value of "a word to the wise", and I think there's a lot of people on TU who hold that same belief. Forewarned is forearmed. I've posted a few replies on basic lead handling safety, as have many others. Let's put them together under one heading as a basic safety how-to resource for folks looking to get into lead pouring. Besides staying safe, getting set up with the proper equipment, and knowing what to do as well as what not to do can also mean big differences in the enjoyment you receive, the quality of your work, and the volume of your production. Thanks, and good fishing! sagacious Note: Let's keep the posts related to lead-handling questions and topics, and lead safety.

Yes, that's a great burner setup. However, do not use that aluminum pot for melting down tire weights-- save it for a fish fry. Get yourself a cast-iron or stainless steel pot for melting your tire weights and scrap lead. Good luck, and be safe.

Both are fine, after the lead is melted down into ingots. Old lead pipe will have a lot of oxide and dirt on it. You need to remove that stuff before you try to pour lures with it. That crud will clog up a bottom-pour melting pot, and generally make pouring unpleasant if you use a pot and ladle, or whatever method you choose. The best way to 'refine' or 'purify' your lead pipes is to melt them down in an old cast-iron pot (think: thrift store) over a gas burner (like a turkey fryer). Cut the pipe into pieces-- an axe usually works OK for this, or you can just bend 'em back-and-forth until they break. Make sure the sections of lead pipe are bone-dry when you put them into the pot-- and even so, be aware that there may be a little moisture in there that can cause the molten lead to splatter, so be very careful. Old lead pipe may smoke quite a bit as you melt it down. Wear eye protection, and wear gloves. I usually wear an old cook's apron to help keep any lead splatter off. Once the lead is melted down, skim off all the floating crud, and use a ladle to pour the lead into ingots. An old muffin pan works great as an ingot mold (ladle and muffin pan: thrift store yet again). Once you've got your stash of purified lead ingots set, you can get down to pouring spinnerbaits. Do not use an aluminum pot for lead melting! I know some folks probably have, but anyone with a lick of sense and experience will tell you to get a cast-iron pot, or a stainless steel pot. Good luck, and be safe!

It's all good. I've melted literally thousands of pounds of lead on turkey fryers, white-gas camp stoves, and various reverb furnaces. The reverb is best when you have to pour a few hundred lbs quick. However, if I was trying to melt the lead out of an old pot, and wasn't too experienced, I'd sure-as-shootin' take steps to not spill any lead on the flame diffuser of my turkey fryer or camp stove. If you've done that once, you don't want to do it too many more times. Just a word to the wise. Good luck!

Watch out, if the lead drips onto the burners, you'll have a heck of a mess to fix.

Melting the lead out shouldn't be too big a problem. You need to set the pot on it's side, and make sure it's secure. The weight/balance will change as the lead melts and runs out, and if the pot shifts and falls, you could get burned. Wear eye protection, and wear leather gloves. Use a propane torch. The lead should start to melt fairly soon, and will run off slowly in a thin stream-- it will not run off uncontrollably. Do not let it drip any distance, put an old pan right underneath it-- that way the lead will not splatter. You can also let the lead run off into an ingot mold, or whatever you use for a melting pot. When you take the torch away, the lead will solidify quickly, and stop running off. Be aware that the block of unmelted lead in the old melting pot may come loose and tip or fall out of the pot while youre melting the lead. Make sure you're ready if that happens, so you don't get burned. Be careful, and good luck!

Tungsten fishing weights are not machined, nor are they melted and poured in a mold. Unfortunately, the method of manufacture is beyond most individuals and home-businesses. Tungsten fishing weights (and virtually all other tungsten parts, rod, or plate used in manufacturing) are made by a process called 'compression forming.' Tungsten powder is poured into a die that is the desired shape of the finished product, and then using a hydraulically-powered ram or punch, the powder is compressed under enormous weight until the powder becomes one solid piece. The solid part is then ejected from the die, and carefully set aside. What you have then, is a tungsten fishing weight that is about as hard and strong as an aspirin tablet. To make it strong enough to be used, it needs to be 'sintered.' Sintering involves heating the tungsten part in a furnace until the compressed powder just barely starts to melt, which essentially solidifies the part, and makes it strong. Now, since tungsten's melting point is so unreasonably high, the tungsten powder used for compression forming has to be mixed with another metal that will melt during sintering. This is usually a few percent of copper, nickel, or iron, but other metals like tin are sometimes used. The small amount of copper powder (or other metal) in the mix is what actually (just barely) melts, and binds all the particles together. For some applications, the compressed tungsten powder/metal mix is so strong after compession, that it doesn't need to be sintered. Also, tungsten powder is very hard, so it tends to clump together and won't flow through the machinery very well and scratches the dies, and the addition of the copper/nickel/etc makes it less abrasive. Often a tiny amount of stearate or a special wax is added so the metal powder is easier to handle, and flows into the dies easier. If the part is going to be machined after sintering, the addition of copper and nickel make it MUCH easier to machine with cutting tools-- pure or nearly pure tungsten is very hard to work. Even very large slabs or or rods of tungsten for industrial/military use are made by the compression-forming process, and sintered. Tungsten compression presses are available to individuals......... if you want to spend the money. Don't quote me exactly, but compression presses start around $7000, specialty dies run about $500+ each (you'll need more dies than you think), and you'll need all kinds of other equipment to go along with the press. Add a controlled-atmosphere furnace to the list. Tungsten/copper powder usually has to be purchased in 100lb lots to get even a half-way decent price, and even then it's still expensive. Some individuals do actually make their own compression-formed tungsten rifle bullets (usually for long-range competition) at home in their garage, but as noted, it ain't cheap. The high price of tungsten weights is simply because they're expensive to make. Tungsten can be mixed with epoxy or thermo-setting resins to form parts, but why? First, you don't get the density of tungsten, because of the addition of lightweight epoxy resin, and you don't get the 'feel' of tungsten, because the resulting metal/epoxy mix isn't hard like tungsten. The most you get from a tungsten/epoxy mix is a "lead-free" weight or lure, and you're probably better off making do with tin. Tungsten can actually be melted using an arc-furnace. If you're very clever, you could possibly make a tungsten-melting arc-furnace out of an old stick welder-- this has been done by hobbyists to melt very-high-melting-point metals. However, once you did get it melted, you really couldn't do anything with it. You'd just get a small blob of tungsten. At best, you could melt down a couple tungsten fishing weights into a shiny round blob, and then show all your fishing buddies how smart you are . Hope this helps. Good luck!

I use all necessary safety gear religiously. Safety glasses are a must each and every time you are working with heat, sharp or pointy edges, wire, drills, saws, dremels, springs, or any time you get that 'feeling' that you might need safety glasses. Safety glasses are one of those things where you just do it-- ask yourself how inconvenient your life would be after an eye injury. Good luck, and be safe.

Very nice work rockylinx. Looks like you got a haul of chovies, smelt, and sardines-- all great bait there. Nothing beats taking a close look at your local baitfish. Sometimes I'll drag out the castnet, and see what bait is present. Around here, the bait changes with the season. Knowing what's running, and how big it is, can be very helpful when you have to work for each fish. If you want to duplicate the coloration of the local bait in your lures, go out and catch that bait. Take good pics so you can re-create those color patterns. Your own pics of local bait will be much more helpful than any pics from a book. Below is a pic of a local reef silverside. You can see the green back, and silvery-pearly belly. A simple two-color pour of watermelon over pearl white highlite will replicate this color pattern very effectively. Good luck!

Willy, The pic you have there isn't very true to the color of your average anchovy. It's way too blue. Although their color can change a bit (usually due to water color), nearshore anchovy are generally a light green or greenish-gray above, and silvery on the sides. The belly area is usually silvery, but sometimes pearly-white. As you go further offshore (like way out on the tuna grounds), their color changes to more blue or bluish-gray above, and still silvery on the sides and belly. You can use this guide as a solid general rule for ocean baitfish: -- Almost all nearshore schooling baitfish will be green or brown on top, and silvery on the sides. -- Almost all offshore, blue-water schooling baitfish will be blue or black above, and silvery on the sides. The pic you have is of anchovies that have been in an aquarium for a while (I'm pretty sure it's from the anchovy tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium). That tank has filtered, crystal-clear water, and the anchovy take on the same color as if they were way off shore, in clear water. If you're fishing inshore, with greenish water, your baitfish imitations ahould all be green or brown above, and silvery below. The same color pattern are true for sardines, silversides, and smelt as well. Once anchovies are dead, or frozen, the back quickly changes to a dark charcoal gray or blue-black-- but that's not what you want. You want to duplicate the color of a live inshore chovy. If you live near a bait receiver, the best thing to do is to stop by with a six-pack of soda, and ask if they'll scoop out a few anchovies for you to look at. Bring a camera and take pics. As far as specific color mixes go, watermelon, green pumpkin, or light rootbeer above, and pearl (white pearl highlight powder all by itself, or with a touch of white coloring) below are great color patterns that will get bit very well. Also, plain ol' straight pearl-white works very well to imitate the flash of a baitfish, and produces well when there are squid around too. Hope this helps. Good luck!

This Bassdozer article covers much more than the basics. http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/bd_spinnerbait.shtml The best way to learn, however, is to test different blade configurations yourself. Rig a spinnerbait with a quick-change front clevis, and a small bb snap-swivel for the back blade, and head to the lake with a sack full of blades. Mix 'em up-- virtually guaranteed you'll learn something new. I've found some blade size/type configurations that had quite surprising performance, and catch fish very well-- but you'll never see those blade combos on the store shelves. Good luck!

Yeah, like you said, there's the rub-- the market wants hackle for the teeny flies, and that's what gets developed/ordered/stocked on the shelves. I know what you mean, for some of my larger saltwater patterns, I need soft hackle that's not too webby. It is indeed a fine line. Seems like sometimes you just get lucky and find what you need. Often the cheaper brands of strung saddle feathers are the right stuff for poppers and saltwater flies, but like bucktails, you still gotta pick through 'em to find exactly the right ones (and quality) for your application. Mail order makes that tough. For much of my tying, I've tried to switch over to synthetics, in an effort to reduce the variability of material quality. Synthetic hackle in the size you need does exist-- some 'stiffer' than others-- and would solve at least a few of the problems you mentioned. Feather length becomes moot, 'barb' length is assured and consistent, the material repels water and doesn't get 'soaked', and it dries quickly on the backcast. Color won't fade either. CCT makes some good stuff. Worth a try, since whichever synthetic hackle you tested would undoubtedly work for one application or another. Click here: http://www.cascadecrest.com/group.asp?grp=91 Best of luck.

If you're going to use the hackles for palmering on those poppers, you're probably much better-off using webby saddle hackles. Since poppers sit in the water, and not on the water, soft saddle hackle gives much more action and movement, and the webby-ness bulks up the fly/lure better. Spikey dry fly hackles just don't have the same 'life' to them. Soft saddle hackle is also considerably easier to find, and much less costly than dry fly hackle. Right now I'm using some 'schlappen' hackles by J. Fair. The feathers measure a good 8" overall, and are strung. A web search using those terms will locate several dealers. I get them from my local flyshop. If you're really looking for dry fly hackle, I'm not aware of a source for the size you want. Good luck.

With some things, I think you just need to wade in and get your hands dirty. Years ago, I told my deer-hunting friends to save me a few bucktails. I deboned the tails and cut off any fat, and cured the tails with a mix of borax and salt. Let 'em get good and dry. Then I bought a few boxes of RIT dye, and just followed the instructions. You want hot (not boiling) water, add dye, and add some salt for color-fastness and truest color. Soak the tails for an hour, rinse in warm and then cold water until the water runs clear. Then hang 'em up and let dry. Fairly simple process, and the tails came out perfect. I still have some of those tails left, and use them for tying saltwater bucktails. There's more info here, give it a go and tell us how it worked for you. http://www.ritdye.com/Achieving+True+Color.11.lasso On the 3oz jigs below, the olive bucktail in the dressing is home dyed. It's colorfast. Good luck.

Clemmy, I don't use the Do-It inserts, I prefer to make my own components whenever possible. An ordinary crimping tool makes perfect jig eyelets in heavy stainless wire. Most of my jigs have inner and outer skirts-- in this case nylon/poly fiber covered by a vinyl outer skirt. The nylon fiber gets lashed down with dacron sailmaker's thread, a tough, but thin thread that really lets me crank down on the wraps. A good nylon thread would work just as well. Those wraps get saturated with glue. The outer skirt is tied on with one layer of single-spaced 20lb mono (like wrapping a guide on a rod), with the ends whipped tightly under the wraps. I put the mono wraps on 'finger-slicing' tight, and the stretch in the mono line not only holds the vinyl overskirt securely, but also provides additional compression for the underskirt wraps. The mono wraps get a thin protective layer of epoxy or adhesive-lined shrink tube. They can chew on the jig all they want, but they aren't getting through my wraps. http://www.tackleunderground.com/photos/index.php?n=722 Hope this helps, good luck.

LedHed, The nylon/poly fiber material is available from a variety of sources as "supreme hair," "ocean hair," and other names. I get it at my local flyshop, where it's sold as "slinky hair". Here are just a few dealers, your favorite component supplier may carry it too. http://www.snlcorp.com/Webpages/nylonhair.htm http://www.barlowstackle.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&User_ID=4067839&st=5479&st2=65418524&st3=66204780&Product_ID=1817&CATID=61 http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0001238310641a&navCount=4&podId=0001238&parentId=cat20546&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat20431-cat20546&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20546&hasJS=true The vinyl overskirt is something I found at a fabric store-- buy it by the yard, and cut it into skirts. Call around to your local fabric shops, some snooping may turn up something similar for you. Vinyl shower curtains, vinyl placemats, etc, all work, I just keep my eyes open for new materials. The jigs below use vinyl cord as a skirt material-- for the toothy fish in my area, they're indestructable. There are a lot of good synthetic jig skirting materials out there. Unravelled onion sacks, lawn chair strapping, even old fly line will make a tough skirt for toothy fish. http://www.tackleunderground.com/photos/index.php?n=721 Hope this helps. Good luck.

LedHed, Here's a few examples of the jigs I fish. With the poly fibers melted together under the wrappings, they cannot pull out, and the vynil overskirt is lashed down with 20lb mono-- it's not going anywhere either. http://www.tackleunderground.com/photos/index.php?n=720 Good luck, sagacious