mark poulson

I googled Zip Baits, and found it. I used to get them at Anglers Marine in Anaheim, but they no longer carry them. If you're in SoCal, Rich Tauber is their rep. here. You can google him. I think his website had something about the baits.

Central, The problem I've found with that kind of hand held edging tool is that it catches the grain whenever there's a slight change in grain direction. This is because there is no depth control. Before you try that, get a block plane with an adjustable throat, and give that a try. A block plane and a sanding block will give you control, and remove wood fast enough. But Pete's radiused sanding wheels are the best idea for consistent, safe rounding over of blanks, short of the mutiple blank approach with a router table. I can envision stack of discs glued together and mounted on a shaft, with several different radius'. Sort of like a step pulley, but all the same diameter. The only drawback I can see is changing the paper.

Dude, You Dah Man!!!!! Adopt me, and I'll field test those pricey lures for you! Seriously, everyone has to learn the hard lessons in life for themselves. "You get what you pay for" and "There's no free lunch" come to mind. I have never found a better jerkbait than the Orbit 80, a Zip Lures bait from Japan, at $16 a pop. The suspend, so I lose fishing time retrieving them, but I treat them like my children. If I lose one, the flag goes to half mast! I've bought some KO cranks and painted them, and caught fish on them, but, when it's money time, I throw the originals.

Dave's right, the answers to most of your questions are in the tutorials. Once you've read them, and have more, specific questions, you can use the search feature of the site to get answers for them, too. Nothing will teach you faster than actually trying to make a lure, and the makers here will be happy to help you once you've tried. I guess we all like a good car wreck! Seriously, the people here have all the answers, mostly gleaned through hard work and trial and error, and they don't mind helping once you've jumped in. Everthing I know about lure making I learned from TU. But do your homework first, with the tutorials and search, so you don't come across as someone who just wants to fall out of bed and make lures. Nothing turns these lure makers off faster that someone who isn't willing to put in his time. If I may, I will offer you one piece of advice. The easiest lure to start with is a walking topwater lure, like a Zara Spook or a Sammie. No lip, easy to shape and weight, and you will learn how to do the basics in lure making on a lure with fewer variables. Just be sure, once you've shaped your lure and drilled your holes for hardware and ballast, to seal the wood before you float test it. Otherwise, the wood will soak up water (any wooden lure's deadly enemy) and you won't get a true reading on how it floats and swims. For beginning lure makers, broom handles and rattle can paints are your friend. Good luck.

Bob, I got a sample of the DN WRTC, and it has a slight amber cast. When I dip a lure, it takes on the amber cast. Multiple dips makes it more pronounced. Is this typical of WRTC, or did I just get an off colored bottle?

If I am running 3 guns for a blended paint scheme, or a crackle finish, I use a lot of air, between painting and cleaning. When I do a batch of 6 jointed swimbaits, my 30 gallon tank compressor cycles during the base coat painting process, when I use a syphon fed Badger to spray several coats of undercoating. When I'm actually doing the paint scheme with my gravity fed brushes, it lasts for at least three lures before it recycles. But I clean out my brushes before each color change.

Great! Keep the bottom feed for base coating your lures, when you need two or three coats of the same color to get the coverage. I have a Badger sypon brush, and that's all I use it for. I make jointed swim baits, so I use a lot of white base coat. The bottle holds enough for me to do a bait with several coats, or several baits with one coat, before I have to refill. I'm no painter, only a hack, but this is what I've found works for me; Keep a tupperware full of clean water next to your painting station, and lots of paint rags. Get into a good backflush and clean regimen between colors, or between coats if you're going to take a break. It takes maybe 20 seconds to do a couple of backflush cleanings, and you're good to go. Keep a spray bottle of clean water with a couple of drops of dish washing liquid in it, and spray a little and back flush with it after you've used the plain water a couple of times. Take the needle out and wipe it clean every time you change colors. And clean the nozzle with a brush between colors, so it won't spit. If you don't do constant cleaning between coats and colors, you're faced with having to run acetone through your brush to clean out the paint that's begun to set inside it. By incorporating a back flushing step in your painting you only have to clean the brush with acetone when it becomes really clogged. I typically only run acetone through my brushes when I'm done painting for a while, or if I've slipped up and let some paint accumulate in the brush for a while. Like I said, I'm no painter, but I manage to paint successfully using this method.

That's a really cool effect!

You know, I think you guys who pour laminates all the time are amazing. And the thinking behind the multiple cavity blending block is true genius. Just think about it for a minute. Two streams of hot plastic stay separate all the way down to the last cavity!!?? Hats off to you, and to Bear and the others who actually invented this technology.

I've shot Createx directly over my Brite Bak foil, and set it with a hair dryer, with no problems. But the epoxy over the foil first is a good idea. Foil stays soft, so the epoxy will protect it and make it hard.

Home Depot is a good place to shop. They have a good return policy, good prices, and good warranties. If you're going to use it commercially, go to a reputable compressor dealer.

Buying a compressor with a large tank means a constant supply of air, and less cyclying, so less noise. I have a old (1976) Craftsman compressor with a 30 gallon tank in my garage that I use for painting, nail guns, filling tires, and blowing away dirt, and it's held up fine.

I'm glad you figured it out. I've painted and fished quite a few Predator Bass cranks, including his 2.5, and never had a problem. I put a split ring on every hard bait I fish except poppers and jointed swim baits. That goes for topwaters, gliders, and my Twisters. I know Speed Traps come with a snap connector, but every other commercial crank I've seen comes with a split ring. I think a split ring allows a crankbait to spill water off the bill before it gets overloaded and rolls. That's why direct tie cranks only work at really low speeds. Plus it enhances the side to side action. And lastly, because the knot isn't getting wiggled constantly by a direct connection to the lure, it helps keep the knot strong. I've "saved" quite a few bargin bin lures by just adding split rings. And a few that I made that didn't swim right until I added a split ring.

Shhhhhh!!!!!!! Don't let the cat out of the bag! Action catches fish, paint jobs catch fishermen. Kind of like a baitcaster with 10 bearings. There is room for only three bearings on the spool shaft, where they help in casting, so all the rest don't help in the cast, but they do sell reels.

Measure by volume, not weight.

I use mine for pouring small open molds, like the Lurecraft RTV 4" sluggo mold. I only fill it 1/3, hold it in my hot-gloved left hand, and pinch the pour edge with my ungloved right hand. I'm right handed, and tried it the other way, but this is best for me. I can guide the pour over my molds almost as well as with my Lurecraft pouring pans. I'm sure with more practice I'll get as good, and the plastic stays hot and pourable a lot longer. I only pour four worms at a time, and then I dust them with salt, before pouring four more in the next mold, so having the plastic stay hot is critical for me. I can typically do 16 worms before I have to reheat the plastic. Two thumbs up!

That is a really interesting site. Thanks for the link. I don't think I have a use for the sst coating, but the folks over there definately have their thinking caps on.

You're right, it definately will work, and it's a good topcoat to use. My post made it sound like it is a problem finish, and it's not. Sorry. I've used Etex for years, and it works great. But I do have a lure turner for applying epoxy topcoats. I don't know how you can use it without a turner of some kind, unless you're willing to hand turn a lure for hours.

I think the most likely problem is that you are over thinning your paint, and using the wrong thing to thin it. Using water to thin paint, unless it's just a couple of drops, will cause the paint film to lose strength, and you wind up with a flakey paint dust coating, instead of a strong film that will cross link when heated. Be sure to use fabric paints, not just any water based paints. Etex works very well as a topcoat. It is thin, so I would do three coats, 8 hours apart. You can thin it with denatured alcohol, but I've never had to do that. Just brush it out well, and turn it for 8 hours. I don't think it's the rattle can primer, unless you are not letting it dry/off gas before you start you painting. I use Rustoleum primer over my PVC baits, and don't have problems. I typically spray a couple of coats, five minutes apart, to build up a thicker, defect-filling coat, and then wet sand with 400 grit wet and dry paper. I use my hair dryer to heat the primed lures to make sure the solvent is gone, before I wet sand, and again after I wet sand, to be sure the lures are dry, before I paint. I let them hang overnight before I begin my actual paint scheme. I use Createx and Auto Aire for my paint schemes, or any fabric paint, and I thin them with the 4011 Auto Aire reducer. I heat set each coat really well. I use a water borne urethane topcoat, and don't have problems. The hair dryer is your friend. It accelerates drying time, and makes paint stronger, so don't skip that step. If you don't heat set each coat of your paint really well, you run the risk of having a weak layer in your paint build scheme that can fail when you hit something hard. Been there, done that.

Envirotex lite is a decoupage epoxy, designed to be poured on large, flat surfaces, like bartops. It is designed to be self leveling, so it is full of solvents, and has a very long "open" time. That makes it runny and drippy if you try to just brush it onto a lure. If you want to use it for coating cranks, you'll need to use a lure turner, and turn it for at least eight hours. When I used to use it, I turned my lures overnight, and then recoated them in the morning and turned them all day again. Use the search feature of this website to research Envirotex lite, or Etex, and lure turners. Long story short, unless you're set up for it, it can't be used.

I also scrape with an exacto knife, and then dip wash in acetone to get the last little stuff off, and to smooth the scrape marks. Acetone turns some bills clear, and makes some milky white, so test first. Also, don't soak the lures, because it can eat all the way through the lure body eventually, and can cause the seams to open up. Been there, done that.

I have some in the garage. I'll spray up a sample, and let you know.

Ronnie, That makes perfect sense. There have to be sst set screws. I just never ran across them before. I really think the regular set screws will work. I think I exaggerated the rust problem. The lures and screws won't be soaking long enough to rust while I'm playing around with the ballasting, and, once I figure out what works, the screws will be sealed in the lure permanently. Sorry to spin everone's wheels about this. Mark

You can take the shine off epoxy with a Scotchbrite pad, like the ones for doing dishes.