mark poulson

You might try heating the blank in an oven or a microwave before you dip it. My friend Barry Starud, of Barry Baits, does that before he dips in a penetrating epoxy, and he gets really good results. I dip my red cedar lures in the wood hardener, and it does penetrate and harden, but I've never cut one open to see how far it penetrates. I make sure my lures are fully shaped and sanded, and that all the holes, for line tie, hook hangers, and potential ballast, are drilled before I dip them, and all of the holes are really hard afterwards. Cedar is a softer wood than Maple, so it may depend on the wood you choose, too.

I hope you do a test piece, and report back to us what you've found.

You might try Minwax Wood Hardener instead. It is designed for residential painters, to harden wood that has begun to rot, so they can fill in the bad/missing part with Bondo, and then paint. It is drawn into the grain, especially the end grain, and makes the wood waterproof. I dip my wooden baits for ten seconds, and then hang them to dry/cure, with a fan blowing the fumes away. After it off gasses it's solvent, you can finish sand, prime, and paint. Then use your topcoat of choice.

Whatever the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree in your area sells for $1.

A cheap, durable, easy-to-use clear coat for jigs and spinnerbaits is Dollar Store clear nail polish. It cures hard enough to fish overnight. I don't use in on my power coated baits, since powder coat is almost bullet proof by itself, but I often paint jigs and spinnerbaits with Createx air brush paint to get more complicated or different colors than the powder coat I have. After priming them with Rustoleum Self Etching Primer, I paint them with the Createx. Then I top coat them with the nail polish. It holds up for years. If one does get nicked, it's a simple matter to touch it up and then use it again the next day.

My friend just gave me a 2"x2"x36" piece of western red cedar, so I'll be playing around with it starting next week.

Is that related to fire hardening wood?

Thank you.

If I EVER make a jig that beautiful, I would be scared to throw it. Do you know how he does it?

I waxed one side of the bait this morning, so I could compare it to the unwaxed side, and I can't tell the difference. I'm going back out to the garage now to wax the other side, and the bottom. Can I paint/topcoat directly over the wax, or do I need some kind of a binder coat?

I got my HD wax yesterday, and I painted a sample board yesterday and coated it with the wax today. It looks much better than anything else I've tried, so I repainted an older bait with Rustoleum Mirror Chrome today. I'll wax it tomorrow, and let you know how it comes out.

Thank you.

I can't find that floor wax. Which one did you use?

Have you tried super gluing the two weights together?

Great idea and great video. Thanks. Have you tried that system with glo powders?

Bob, I do the same.

Thanks.

Which chemical did they ban?

Thanks Travis.

Curt, What are the badges all about? Mark

Using a hair dryer, instead of a heat gun, is much safer. With a heat gun, if you snooze, you lose. The paint scheme is ruined, and sometimes the bait, too.

#6 Don't quit your day job.

It's with a really heavy heart that I have to report that Ben Siegel, Rayburn Ben, died several weeks ago. I have no other information other than that. Ben was a long time member and contributor here, and was always generous with his hard earned knowledge. He and I met here, and have been forum friends for over fifteen years, emailing, texting, and calling a couple of times a year, just to keep in touch. He was a retired steel worker, and that trade had taken a toll on his body. I know he had been in poor health the last few years, and was in a lot of pain, so this may be a blessing because his suffering is over. But it doesn't feel that way to me. We all lost a valuable, contributing, generous member. I lost a friend.

One of our TU members, Barry Baits, mixes glitter into his epoxy topcoats all the time and his baits are beautiful, and hold up. I mix fine glitter with Createx transparent base and brush it on wherever I want it. After drying it with a hair dryer, I can topcoat with epoxy, Solarez UV clear, or Rustoleum X2 Gloss Clear Acrylic.

Let us know what you figure out.