mark poulson

I'd suggest doing your typical paint scheme on a popsicle stick before you coat it with the sealer, to see if the sealer plays well with your paint.

Check out Michael Orensteen's page https://www.facebook.com/morensteen?fref=nf

There are router table jigs, with pin or bearing suspended over the actual cutter that follow a master clamped on top of the workpiece, so you can route a true half round edge without overlap. https://www.google.com/search?q=gooseneck+overhead+pin+router&newwindow=1&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=845&tbm=isch&imgil=vZhCACXJfdmmiM%253A%253B93chSGclqdkZwM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.thisiscarpentry.com%25252F2013%25252F06%25252F28%25252Fgooseneck-overhead-pin-router%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=vZhCACXJfdmmiM%253A%252C93chSGclqdkZwM%252C_&usg=__wZqLOZVnvI-nUQwPrJK8x_9_VME%3D&dpr=1&ved=0CCcQyjc&ei=vpBgVbq6IIKxggSO3YHwAw#imgrc=vZhCACXJfdmmiM%253A%3B93chSGclqdkZwM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F03%252F001-1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.thisiscarpentry.com%252F2013%252F06%252F28%252Fgooseneck-overhead-pin-router%252F%3B920%3B704

I found a way to add flash to cheap blades. I coat them with Sally Hansen's "In The Spotlight" nail polish. It is thick, so it slows down the blades some, but the mylar bits in it make the blades flash more than any factory fishing. It works on nickel, brass, painted, any blade. If a blade gets dull over time, I just clean it with acetone, and reapply the nail polish.

Apdriver, Are you sure you want to try and learn everthing on one of your trip days? That's a long way to go to fish a new technique without a guide, at least for the first day. I'm moving up to the CA Delta, and I'm going to hire a local guide to take me around in my own boat, to show me the ropes. And I've been fishing a long time, but a new place is a new place. Not meant as a criticism, just a friend who doesn't want to see you waste too much of your precious time learning, instead of fishing and catching.

Frank still does that stuff. He's definitely an artist!

I use Dieter's method. I drill two small inline holes where I want the line tie to be, take a piece of soft tempered SST wire and bend it into a tight U shape, slip the two wire ends through the holes in the lip, use a nail to keep the wire from getting too close to the lip, and then bend both ends down a 90 degrees, toward the bait. I've found that I don't even have to twist the "tag ends" if I just put a kink in them, just past the depth of the lip's length. I cut my lip slot, drill a channel under it for the wires, fill it all with D2T, and push the wired lip into the slot. The wires typically don't lay perfectly flat against the lip, and the spring tension from them helps to force the lip tight to the upper face of the slot, which is still flat and square to the bait. If I'm making a bait with a longer lip, so there's more wire exposed, I wait for the bedding epoxy to set, and then I use some blue painter's tape to mask off a channel alongside the wires. This gives me a way to apply more D2T to make the longer wires rigid, and still keep the epoxy off the lips. I use my finger, dipped in denatured alcohol, to do the final shaping of the epoxy wire reinforcement. I've made baits with the wires not epoxied to the lip afterwards, and they have never failed, but having them seated in epoxy makes tuning the line tie much easier.

It's pretty clear that there is some kind of a chemical reaction between the storage box plastic and the top coat, so that's why I suggested a physical barrier. AC1315 that's been on a bait for months will melt if left in contact with plastisol for more that a day, so I know there are still reactions possible, even with cured baits.

Maybe sealing the blank, once it's profile is cut, with crazy glue on the edges might keep the balsa strong enough, but I've never been able to make anything like that work. I do what Musky Glenn suggests.

I don't try to fill nicks on old plastic baits before I paint them. I just do a quick dip in clean acetone, to freshen up and clean the old paint surface, and then repaint.

Dave, That sucks, but it is true. The only hope Americans have of regaining a decent standard of living is if the corporations and wealthy individuals who love to use the U,S, as a safe home base, but don't pay taxes on the wealth they are amassing overseas, are forced to pay U.S. taxes on their true incomes, like the rest of us.

I remember reading here, years ago, that 150-170 was the temp. to dry POP molds in the oven, with the door ajar.

Will heating the molds first, like is done with lead molds, help?

I believe Robo Worm uses open pour molds for their three color worms. They invented a way to pour mechanically, but it is still soft, and looks and feels hand poured. The guy who came up with the system is a mechanical genius. I doubt they would give up their secret, but you could call them and ask. The only other West Coast pourer I know of who did the same thing, but by hand, was John Viazanko, Zank Worms. He no longer sells baits. So I know it can be done, but John was a magician, so I also know it's hard to do with an open pour mold. I do something like what Bassinfool suggested, except I pour the first two colors in the bottom half of my mold, close it, and inject the last color. I typically pour at 330+- degrees, and don't have any problem with delamination, but I only pour for myself and a couple of buddies. They never complain, because the baits are free for them.

Work is way overrated...until you don't have any.

I use it, sand it to shape, and then put a drop of runny super glue onto the bondo, to strengthen it, when I use it to fill and seal my rattle holes. Otherwise, there is really no need to put glue on it before you prime your bait.

Have you tried bondo?

Maybe laying a piece of paper towel over the lures will keep them from sticking.

You can see if a slow sink will work by adding a split shot or two a foot in front of the bait, so you don't affect it's performance, just it's running depth.

Man, it's been a long time since I thought about rock salt-finished concrete, and we used to do a lot of that out here in SoCal, where it doesn't freeze. I was hoping the plastic might embed the salt a little. A texture wouldn't be all that bad. I'll try it when I get time, and report back.

I got my Solarez here: http://solarez.com/products/low-voc-dual-cure-polyester-resin/

So, I was thinking...dangerous I know...but, since I spray my molds with cooking spray before I pour or inject them, I was wondering if I could sprinkle the spray with salt, wipe off whatever gets on the mating faces, and then pour/inject them. I figure that the salt would be incorporated into the plastic nearest the surface but I could still have the flexibility and durability of unsalted plastic. Has anyone here tried something like that?

Those look great!

I've had some wrinkling when I use AC1315 over Wicked White or Black, which have some solvents in them.

That stuff looks very interesting, but it is a bit pricey. If he got it for me cheap, that would be my favorite brother.