mark poulson

I use sst screw eyes and sst bicycle spokes, or sst tempered wire, for my hinges. They have the screw eyes here: http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Screw-Eyes/ They have the sst wire here: http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Bulk-Wire/ I get the spokes from a local bike shop.

Ben is right, but wake baits are the most forgiving, in terms of exact squareness of the lip to the body. I've free handed new lip slots to change the angle on some of my rat baits, and close counts. Put a piece of blue painters masking tape on the lure to locate where you want the slot, and clamp the bait in a wood jawed Jorgensen's clamp to hold it while you cut it, so you have more control.

Here's the link to a rat wake bait I made recently: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/14141-4-inch-rat-4/ The angle of the bill is 75-80 degrees. It works. I made my bills 1/8" wider on each side than the lure body. They stick down approx. 5/8", and that's plenty. Wake baits are by far the easiest baits to make, so go for it!

The basic reason a paint scheme crackles is that the under coat of paint is weaker than the last coat, so when the last coat dries and shrinks, the coat under is isn't strong enough to keep the shrinking paint bonded, and so it crackles. I've done it by putting on a base coat of whatever I want to see show through the crackle, and dry it thouroughly with a hair dryer. Then I applied a thinned coat of white carpenters glue that dries clear, and let it dry some, but not all the way. Then I I applied the crackle top coat, and hit it with a hair dryer, so both the top paint coat and the glue dried. I found that the wetter, and thicker, the glue coat, the larger the crackle pattern. I also found that the whole paint and glue scheme was softer than I liked, and prone to sticking when it got hot. There are paints made specifically to crackle, but I've never tried them.

If you don't open the door, to let the sunlight in, it will never cure, unless you add some MEKP. I haven't tried the MEKP. I have a UV fingernail light box that I use inside. There is very little odor. I tried dipping inside the garage, with the garage door open, and the drips started to cure in my dipping jar, so now I dip with the door shut, let the lure drip back into the jar, close the jar, and then either use the nail light, or take the lures outside to cure. If I wanted to coat a lot of jigs, I'd hang the from a drying rack on my work bench, brush on the Solarez with the garage door closed, so there wasn't any dripping, and then take the drying rack outside to cure. Brushes clean up with acetone.

Or maybe paint the accent colors into the mold, and then inject the main color. Or use Spikit paint.

If you have a twin injector, try separating them, so you can push one, then the other, and then repeat. Or do the same thing by alternating single injectors.

Cadman, have you tried Solarez UV cure resin? http://solarez.com/products/low-voc-dual-cure-polyester-resin/

My kids say the same thing, but it's usually followed with "and don't come back!" Hahaha I'm sure there are other top coats that are more rash-resistant than D2T, but it's the hardest one I've used.

In my experience, D2T is the hardest, most hook rash-resistant top coat out there, so you're on the right track If you're building your own baits, try turning the belly hook hanger crossways, so the treble can lay with two hook at the side, and one hanging down. That will cut down on hook rash. On stock baits, I T the trebles if I can, turning two of them so they are opposite each other, and can rub on the belly without scratching the finish. I have found that it is impossible to build a bullet-proof lure.

Just keep the Plastic Dip coated lures away from soft plastics. They will melt the coating.

I wonder if a dip in Pledge after the AC1315 would protect against interactions with soft bait plastisol?

I would powder paint them the same way I do my jig heads. I would grip the spinnerbait head by the wire with a pair of needle nose pliers, right between the head and the R bend. I'd hold the wire so the tip of the pliers is close to the head, but leave a small gap so the whole head could get coated. Then I'd heat the head over my heat gun, and swish it in the fluid bed. The pliers would keep most of the heat from traveling up the wire and removing the temper. Because of the shape of the wire with the R bend, I'd probably invest in a pair of bend nose pliers, so I could get a better angle when I dipped in the fluid bed. I'm sure there are things that would come up when I tried the first several times, but that's how I usually solve my problems, anyway, through trial and error.

I think the powder would leak out of the slots.

For your own personal use, a plaster of paris, two piece mold is not hard to make, and works.

First rule is the hooks shouldn't foul each other. After that, I try to use the biggest hook I can without changing the action, or consistently catching the lip.

I'm guessing it's the softener. An old time local pourer here in SoCal told me I could use it to soften my margarine tub top tails (try saying that three times fast) for my swimbaits, so, evidently, it will soften lots of plastics, not just plastisol.

Barrybait, If I were you I'd find a way to avoid spraying AC1315. That solvent is nasty, and spraying it atomizes it, which makes it even worse. This is from the AC1315 thread: bass01, on 29 Apr 2015 - 06:36 AM, said: Maybe shooting a coat of gloss Createx before dipping would make the film strength stronger, so it won't wrinkle. I'll try the next time I paint a bait. Thanks for the idea!

Maybe shooting a coat of gloss Createx before dipping would make the film strength stronger, so it won't wrinkle. I'll try the next time I paint a bait. Thanks for the idea!

I bought the separate Iwata MAC valve, and put it on my hose, just below the quick disconnect, so I have it for all the brushes that use that hose. It is really useful, and makes detail with thinned paint and low pressure much easier.

Makes sense, but I don't see any bubbles in Robo worms, and they float.

Sounds like you got a bad batch. Contact your supplier and see if they'll replace them.

If you can find a sharpie in the color you want, it's pretty simple to do it with them. When I paint my bluegill stripes, I use a comb with some teeth removed, and some teeth covered with masking tape, so I get a two teeth wide stripe, and a two teeth wide gap. I'm sure you could make a stencil using a clear margarine tub top, or something like that, too.

I have found that coarser salt alters the color less. Fine salt makes the plastic milky before you add the color.

I sometime drill holes in my PVC baits and cap them with coke can discs to create air pockets, and more buoyancy. I guess that would work with wood, too, but you might have to seal the inside of the air pocket with something like crazy glue to keep the air from passing into the wood when it warms and expands, and eventually affecting the sealer/paint/topcoat. Barrybait's idea of a horizontal lamination, with a more buoyant wood above the centerline, so the stronger wood is still there for anchoring your hardware, sounds like it's worth a try. Barrybait, I found that giving my jointed swimbaits a V cross section, so the belly is 1/2", tapering up to 7/8" at the shoulders, removes enough buoyant material to keep them from rolling, even on a high speed retrieve.