Stringjam

I spray auto clear for my lure finish. I take all the normal precautions (full-face respirator, chemical gloves, skin coverage, etc.) I've been kicking around the idea of building a spray box - - similar to the design of a sand-blaster, but better sealed, and with a high-flow air venting system (sort of like a little professional paint booth just for your hands.) Since I'm spraying lures (not cars) I don't see any real need to be exposed at all to the substance when all I'm doing is holding a little lure on a stick and spinning it around. Am I missing something, or would creating such a box be a (relatively) simple solution to the problem? The biggest hurdle I see would be dealing with the sprayed lure - my thought was just a simple little clothesline-pulley type of system.......making the box long enough to shuttle the bait down a little farther if you had multiple lures to spray.

The raw bait is made from Sintra (an expanded foam PVC board).

Marty's built his share of beastly baits, but this one is by far my favorite. Now if I could just get it BACK from him!! Will definitely hit the 20' mark, and deeper if you can get it out far enough. I have limited use for baits that go much deeper than 20'. I tend to switch up to a lipless crank at that point. Another bait you should check out is the new Rapala DT-20. It's an amazingly easy crank to get down to 20'. Casts like a cannonball and dives like mad. Rapala has really impressed me with their new-found love of deep cranks.

That is a serious deep crank, with a very cool action. If you can cast it out far enough, it will indeed dig into that mid 20's range. Spider - - I'm in the same boat you are right now. I'm working up a deep crank design that I'm hoping to get into the mid-teens, 14-16' (my money zone). There are several possible approaches, so (as Bob said) studying the baits that you already like the attributes of is a big key. Some baits use a long, narrow lip to get a lot of surface area (Poe's Competition Cedars, Marty's baits, Lucky Craft CB20) and some use a shorter wider lip (the Rapala DT's). Some use the zero degree lip and some use more angle......there's a definite difference in action, as more lip angle produces baits with wider actions and more "roll." There are also countless variations in between.....like the Sisson P-20, which uses a moderately wide rectangular design (the biggest influence on my lip). There aren't many builders attempting deep cranks......Bob and Marty are in a rare group that even attempts to go deeper than 20'.

+1 Bob One of the attributes of the DT-16 that really sets it apart from a lot of wooden deep divers - it casts like a rocket, and casting distance is VITAL. I think overall it's one of the best deep crank designs ever.

When did we go from shooting a few lures to shooting cars? So spraying 1/16 oz. of solvent paint out of an airbrush is going to destroy the environment and kill you at the same time? I think that's a bit far-reaching. If you have a good venting system it will easily clear the brush. If you don't want to deal with it, just use the Auto Air. There ya go.

Another vote for Coast.....they have EXCELLENT customer service. They offer kits if you want to go that route.....I just buy individual bottles of colors I want. If you can't decide if you want to go solvent or water, just buy a few bottles of each and see which one you like better. I spray HOK uros in my garage and my house doesn't have the slightest odor, but I have have a pretty big fan venting to the outside in my little paint "booth"......obviously you need a good venting system if you're going to shoot it. I personally love it.....it sprays beautifully and dries instantly without needing to be "heat set." You can also reduce the paint to any level you want. Changing colors and clean-up is also fast and easy. Obviously they both produce great results - - just look at the gallery here...lots of guys using both types. Just pick the one that suites your preferences and spray environment. Some guys hate dealing with solvent reducers and lacquer thinner, so they're obviously going to get along much better with water-based paints. FWIW - just because it's water-based doesn't mean you don't need to keep it out of your respiratory system. I spray water-based latex paint for a living and wouldn't be caught dead without a respirator shooting that stuff.

68, It's the UK's that I can't find in the small bottles (oops). I get all my stuff from Coast and they only seem to sell it in quarts. But I had no idea about the KK's!! I'll have to pick some of those up!! I have some SG150 that I've been using to mix pearls. I have shot the KBC's over a Kosmic Krome base and that's a pretty nice looking effect. This bait is brandywine KBC over the Kosmic Krome: I have a quart of the slow reducer.....but I'll admit, half the time I reduce with lacquer thinner. Thanks for the help!! I'm going to try out some of those KK's!

It's Matrix MS-42, and it mixes 2:1. The syringes are marked, I'm not just filling up the cylinders with both parts. And I believe Frank is talking about isocyanates. Yes, they're dangersous, and have been well discussed on this forum in auto urethane posts, but I suppose any new post on the subject should discuss it. It's dangerous. You need proper safety equipment. I wear a full-face respirator, gloves, and have a squirrel cage fan exhausting the fumes. I also didn't mean to imply that it had an infinite shelf-life......only that two part systems, IMO, are easier to store. I hope that covers everything! I never said auto-clear was superior to anything, only giving my experience using it.

68KingFisher - Have you tried the HOK Shimrin Kandy Concentrates (KBC's)? If so, how close would you say they get to the actual Kandy Concentrates? I know the KBC's aren't their true candy finish, but a mixture of their candy into a basecoat in order to mimic the candy finish. I'm really diggin' the KBC's but I wondered how close they were to the actual Kandy Concentrates (which aren't available in the little bottles... )

I actually mix my 2K auto urethane for one bait at a time if needed. I use Flex-Coat syringes (one to suck out the clear, and another to suck out the catalyst) to get even small amounts dead-on accurate......quickly and easily. I commonly mix up just enough to spray 3 or 4 coats on just one bait. Just make sure to run a little lacquer thinner in and out of your syringes afterward or they won't last as long. I'll bet it takes me less than a minute to pop open the lids, suck out the amounts, and mix . I actually prefer the two-part system because it makes storage and shelf-life a non-issue. Application is simple (I spray from my .5mm Revolution) and requires no lure rotation - - just a perfect even coat all the way around, without any "edge thinning." Is it as tough as DN or epoxies? I'm not sure.....I would like to set up an experiment to really find out.

I get a kick out of reading through some of the custom paint auctions - - a lot of them would have you believe they have some German chemist locked away in their basement making the world's most superior basecoats and topcoats ONLY for them. Marketing.

Another attribute I really like for shallow cranks....the ability to be "jerkbaited." I think the flatsided baits really rule at this...clear the brush and give the bait a pop, and it dances off to the side and flickers around. KILLER. John - - my favorite cover bait from you - and this crank can really move around with the above technique. I pulled 4 bass off of one spot over a beaver pile recently just dancing this crank around.....they weren't taking a bait cranked or banged into the cover, but toss it over the stuff.......twitch - twitch - twitch - and they would kill it.

I'm hesitant to make any kind of blanket statements for the superiority of one material over another in crank construction - given that the bait is properly designed around it. My best shallow crank last year was an old Charlie-O, which is a urethane foam bait. Moderate buoyancy and very tight action (something I prefer on my waters most of the time). Marty Burns made me a copy of the bait out of balsa, and really nailed the action and feel of the bait - - this is a bit of a reverse scenario for most.....designing a balsa crank to behave like a foamie. Marty's bait is better than the original, though....the differences are quite subtle, but it has a slightly faster start-up (due to the lower density of the balsa?.....perhaps). Both baits have been killer for me. Properly designed plastic baits have no problems with liveliness, either.....the O.S.P. Blitz Max has an action like a jackhammer, and an instant start-up - probably the liveliest shallow crank I've ever thrown (I think the movement would make Shakira jealous) ......and to that end, I haven't really done very well with it - so action is indeed something that the fish have to talk to you about - I know some very reputable guys that swear by the bait. I find I can catch bass using a tight action nearly all of the time, but catch bass on cranks with a wide action a much smaller percentage of the time. Sometimes the wide action baits will get slammed, and it's on those days when I'm glad I keep them around, but if I could only have one single crank for fishing shallow cover, it would be: - tight and lively wiggling with a little roll - moderate to moderate/high buoyancy - hybrid flat / round body shape (I like rounded characteristics for passing through cover, and flatsided characteristics for generating flash and vibration) I'm glad I don't have to stick with one design though - - the varying specs all have their time and place. I can see preferences from different builders from fishing their crank designs. I love trying them all out. I'm just getting into the building side of it though, so I'm a complete NEWBIE on the subject - and I have a lot of respect for the guys who are really great at it (BobP, Marty, Craig Cole, Rob Cochran, John Mills, Bobby Kelly, etc..)......any time these guys have something to say, I'm all ears! The coolest thing about it is designing a crank precisely around your own preferences - - your own "perfect" bait that behaves exactly the way you want it to.