mark poulson

Thanks Smokey. That's and interesting idea. I will try it with a hitch hiker. As for pouring the worm with an O ring inside it, I am just toying with the idea, and wondered if anyone had already tried it, before I go ahead and make a mess. I'm guessing it might interfere with a good injection, but I guess there's only one way to find out.

Now you warn me! How do I get silicone out of my nose without ripping out all the hair?

Paint them yourself with Sally Hansen Hard As Nails nail polish. It will last until you lose the sinker.

I see one commercial seller is molding his stick baits with the O ring inside. Has anyone here tried that yet?

If you orient the grain right, it can enhance the lure, like a built-in scale pattern. I use to use douglas fir a lot, and it has hard winter grain, so I learned to live with grain telegraphing through the paint job, rather than use fillers and a ton of sanding to hide it.

I should have known you'd have that covered, literally. Maybe lure testing in the nude isn't such a good idea, after all.

Dieter, Thanks for the link. Some fun stuff there, for sure. Dave, How do you keep the neighborhood kids out of you test tank? On a hot day, that's where I'd be!

Dave The wet finger is a good idea. I'm going to try that next time.

I pulled the masters out of the two molds I made this morning, and the molds looked great. I poured both of them and the baits came out great, down to my fingerprints on the tail. I plan to fish them this week, and see if the fish like them as much as I do. For what it cost me, I think I'll stick to caulking gun RTV silicone. It's a little more trouble having to make sure the silicone gets into all the nooks and crannies, but the Alumilite is too expensive. One pound barely made my two 5"X1 1/2"X1 1/2" molds. But I was able to get great detail with it. I'll post a couple of pics in the soft baits gallery.

I wound up sealing my mold box and master with Krylon clear Acrylic. I poured two molds today, and I'll demold the masters tomorrow afternoon when I get home. I was amazed that two small molds, approx. 5"X1 1/2"X1 1/2" took the entire one pound jar of molding RTV. And I only made the mold boxes 1/4" bigger on each side, the ends, and the top, than the masters. That is some expensive stuff. I mixed the crap out of the two parts, so I hope everything turns out okay. I'll keep you posted.

You can also go to smaller trebles and split rings.

Thanks Sam. I checked it out, but no topwater videos. I did find a couple of videos of an old friend, Dave Roberson, who passed away a few years ago at a young age. It was nice to see him again, even if it was just on video.

I'm looking for an online site for free underwater videos of topwater lures in action. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Mark

I bought it at Cabela's a few years ago, in a 5lb spool. But they no longer carry it. I bought it instead of trying to melt the lead myself because I don't want to fool with melting lead anymore. I used to do it when I was younger, to make surf sinkers, out of plumbers lead I got off the job. I also used to do my own brakes. That was before the dangers of lead and asbestos were common knowledge in this country. Here's a funny thing I learned when I went to lead abatement school recently. Lead was outlawed in paint in this country in 1978, but it was outlawed in Germany in 1922, when they saw the health problems that lead miners were having. So it was known in Europe that lead in paint was a danger for a long time, but our country kept putting it into paint, and causing who knows how many children to be retarded, until 1978. No wonder people in this country don't trust either industry or the govt. that's supposed to regulate them.

I baked my clay so it's hard. I read on the Sculpy website that unbaked clay has sulphur compounds that interfere with the RTV vulcanization, and that you have to seal unbaked clay and use a release agent. I plan to seal my masters before I make the molds. I'll probably use either Krylon clear, or thinned D2T. I'm waiting for my RTV to arrive tomorrow to read the directions before I decide what to use to seal them. I'll keep you posted.

Dave, I found the paragraph, and it says fully cured Sculpy doesn't need to be sealed. I guess my next question is will I need a release agent? I plan to make an RTV mold of a swimbait with fins, a thumper tail, and a hook slot. I am going to use Alumilite 3 RTV. I made a mold of a similar, only larger, soft plastic swimbait, and it came out fine, with no release agent. But this master is hard, so I'm wondering if I need a release agent on it, and what to use as a release agent. Spray PAM is my default release agent for my POP molds, but I don't want to use anything that will interfer with the RTV curing correctly. Mark

I am guessing that it would have very little effect on the action of the lure, although it would alter the footprint of the water passing over the bait. But the scale pattern is so fine I doubt it has much effect on the water passing over and around the lure. Lots of expensive baits, like some of the Cultiva lures, are smooth on the outside and the scale pattern on the inside face of the clear plastic body.

I have made a master of sculpy clay, and I want to make a silicone mold. Do I need to seal the clay before I cover it in silicone? If so, what should I use?

In my experience, tempered glass is difficult to make in odd shapes. It doesn't like sharp points, since the tempering process involves quenching the hot glass so the surface cools quickly, and puts the entire piece under tension. That makes it stronger, but it is also why it shatters into small pieces when it's broken. I've had shapes for custom doors that couldn't be tempered, because they were irregular, and kept shattering. I don't think tempered glass is the way to go.