mark poulson

Exactly!

Cheap clear nail polish works great. I hand paint spinner baits with Createx, super glue the eyes on, and then coat the entire head with nail polish. I haven't had a paint failure or an eye come off in the 10+ years I've been doing it.

When I was a kid, back in the 50's, my mom had a cast steel pressure cooker, and a cast steel meat grinder that clamped on the pullout cutting board. So did most of her friends, because they ground their own hamburger and sausage meat. Different world back then.

"Heat stabilizer is often used in remelts." I add stabilizer to new plastic, too.

Thanks for the correction.

That's why I suggested contacting Elaztek directly.

You might try contacting Elaztech, and asking them what to use. If you want to take a "do it yourself" track, try some different stuff and report your results here, so we can all learn from you. If I were going to try it, I'd start with Sharpies, and then Spike-It Dip and Dye. I've always found Elaztech very sensitive to soft plastics, so I would use one bait, trying the dye on different parts of it, so I didn't ruin more than one.

And don't sell yourself too cheap! Charge enough so you can make money, and feel good about yourself. Otherwise, you're committing financial suicide.

Gloves are good. Just be sure they don't make you so clumsy you drop your plastic.

Have a great trip!

If I were you I wouldn't bother with the powder coating. The bare heads slide in just fine with a little lube, like worm oil or smelly jelly.

I'm pretty sure you'd think of something! Hahaha

Good for you. Those look really good. If it were me, I would concentrate on getting the glide action like I want it first. The carving/detailing and the paint scheme are for the fishermen. They're fun to do, but very secondary to the actual action of the bait. That's what catches the fish.

If you find a 3/4 oz Arky jig mold that has a vert. eye hook slot you can use a dremel ro a drill press to modify it to take a flat eye. I do the reverse and it's easy.

If you want to add hardener, mix it well into your cold plastic before you heat it, or all you'll wind up with is hard lumps.

From my experience with Solarez UV resin, I think any UV resin would add weight that would affect the side to side fall of a casting spoon.

Sorry, I don't know of any, but I'm sure they're out there. Most local lumber yards get samples of new products. See if they'll let you float test those to see which one is most buoyant. You can do it in a tupperware container full of their water.

They used to be a common thing at arcades, carnivals, and theme parks, after WW2.

Well done and congratulations!!!

Sorry, but all the baits I've made have been painted and finished. If you look at my gallery photos there are some photos on the first couple of pages of pictures there are some baits I made that haven't been painted yet: https://www.tackleunderground.com/community/profile/14932-mark-poulson/content/?type=gallery_image

Tiderunner said, "Make sure your injectors have locking nozzles." He's right.

For your first question, I use two ways to increase buoyancy. First, I increase buoyancy by drill holes in the top/back of my baits, and gluing discs from aluminum cans over them, to trap air inside and I cover the discs with a thin coat of bondo, so I can sand the bondo down to follow the bait's contours. When I'm done sanding/shaping, I add a drop or two of runny super glue to strengthen the bondo disc patch area. Second, I actually use the natural buoyancy of the bait's material, because I use either wood or PVC trim board to make my baits from. I shape my baits with a V cross section, like the cross section of a battleship, so there is more buoyant material higher in the bait. That way I can add less ballast and still get a stable bait that is lighter and more active. Plus that shape keeps the bait from rolling or blowing out on a fast retrieve. As to the second question, I've found that the wider the body and the wider the bill, the wider and more exaggerated the wobble. The reverse is also the case. A flatter sided body and narrower bill will have less wobble. That's why most commercial flat sided cranks also have narrower bills. As far as how modifying your bait will affect it, every bait is different. When I modify a bait, I do it one thing at a time, so I can see what works, and know that I will ruin some bait in the process. I also use unpainted cheap knockoff blanks to do my experimenting on, so I'm not out a lot of money if they get ruined. I hope this helps.

I did something similar back in the '70s and my first two boys wore the trout out with them.

I would replace it. They are cheap.

The reports of my death have been exaggerated, but just barely. Welcome back.