mark poulson

I would contact John Barlow, and ask him about it.

I am just a hobby pourer, but I wouldn't use anything with water in it on my molds. I use spray PAM, and shoot at 325 degrees max. for most of my molds. The hotter the plastic, the more it shrinks. For a big bodied bait, I would hold pressure for 15+- seconds, because the plastic is so thick it can shrink as it cools. I would also start with 310 degree plastic.

If your microwaved plastic comes out too hot, just stir it until it cools to the temp. you want, and then suck it up into your injector and shoot.

I bought the 6 oz. injector, and it's the perfect size for me. I'm a hobby pourer only.

Sideways question. What does your screen name mean?

That is a smart idea! Making a sled with a hold down, and variable angles marked on it to align your slot for different baits, would work well if you want to make the same cut over and over.

Pete, can you post a picture of your Ticket Punch. I'm having trouble visualizing how it might work.

I just saw this in the classifieds here: http://www.tackleunderground.com/tu_classifieds/_/for-sale/griffin-3-arp-vise-r1403

If you use Ben's backout cutting method (which I do) just be sure your blade is well tensioned, and go slow, with light pressure. Otherwise, it's easy to cause the blade to jump off the wheels.

Here's my experience, from finishes I've used: Clear and flexible ( stays soft), E tex. Hard and rigid (can be brittle), D2T. Strong and hard (but not as high gloss) Solarez dual cure polyester resin. All have their strong points and their weak points, but they are the most user-friendly finishes. Everything else has fumes that are nasty, and I use one of them, AC1315, sometimes. Even clear nail polish, which is a quick strong finish, has nasty fumes. You pay your money and you make your choice.

Water based paints shouldn't be affected by freezing, as long as you thaw them out and shake them well.

Createx Air Brush Restorer is your friend. http://www.coastairbrush.com/products.asp?cat=59 Scroll down and it's at the bottom of the page, We all make mistakes when we're air brushing, and one of the worst is letting paint set up in our brush. I've done it when I've gotten distracted and forgotten to clean my brush after painting. I put most of my bottle of AB Restorer in a glass pickle jar, and break down my brush and soak it when I've forgotten to clean it properly. I also do this a couple of times a year, just to help loosen and remove any paint that my normal cleaning may have missed. Rayburn Ben turned me on to this, and I'm eternally grateful. Also, Iwata's air brush lube is a great thing to have, to lube your needle, and to put inline before the trigger, to keep the O rings in the trigger assembly lubed.

Clearly you don't love us anymore! Hahaha

Bob sounds like someone who cares about his customers, and about what he sells.

Do a search here for cleaning air brushes. Keeping your air brush clean is the key to getting the most out of it. No matter how good you are at painting, a dirty brush will make painting a nightmare.

My hardener is always a little yellow, but not dark. If it darkens, do a small test batch to see if it affects the epoxy.

Man, that sounds perfect! Good for you!

Ted, Couldn't you extend the hook support using JB Weld?

If you can, put in a 100 amp sub-panel for your shop, so you have the flexibility to make changes in the future. Put in as many outlets with separate 20 amp circuits as you can, and at least one 30/40 amp 220 circuit. Doing it now is much easier and cheaper than having to do it later.

It gets hard enough that I can't dent it with my fingernail.

I am just a hobby builder, so I have a lot more flexibility than those of you with businesses. But I also really appreciate a heads up if an item is back ordered. One of the great things about Tackle Warehouse is that they show you on the site if, and how many of, an item is in stock, so you can order accordingly. If I go ahead and order it anyway with some other stuff, they ship it separately when it does come in, with no extra shipping costs. For me, it is a small thing, and a back ordered item is just an inconvenience, but for someone with a business to run I can see how this can be more than just an inconvenience. Having said that, I have no idea what is involved, software-wise, to get an out of stock flag to appear on a site's shopping site. I imagine it's probably expensive to have to get it changed, once it's already installed.

Dave, The original Chatterbait was patented, and defended. I know Barlow's Tackle had to stop selling the components that infringed on that patent. He said the company involved allowed him to sell off his remaining stock, but that he could no longer offer those components, once his stock was gone. If you look at everyone else's commercial Chatterbait knockoff, they don't have the direct connection of the blade to the head, or the same hex blade design.

Cami, If they bite, I don't think I'll be able to not swing! But, since they are on as jig trailers, I should be able to tell if they hold them longer anyway.

Are the veins actually textured, or just an optical effect? I'm asking because I'm wondering if I could wipe over the texture with a contrasting colored paint or sharpie to enhance the effect.