mark poulson

Glad it wasn't worse. That's the reason solid glass door knobs, and unreinforced porcelin handles on plumbing fixtures stopped being manufactured. Nothing cuts deeper, or quicker, than broken glass.

Fencing posts, what we used to call peeler poles, are the centers of trash trees, grown quickly, and soft and prone to shrinkage. Some are pressure treated or dipped in preservative, which is supposed to give them longer life as fences. I think you'll be disappointed if you're looking for the same performance as you got from a Malaysian hardwood, which are typically very oily and stable. I don't know what you're using the 3" dowels for, but, unless it truly needs to be a round dowel, I think you'd be better off gluing up some stable wood into a blank that's the right size, and going from there. If it has to be a dowel, go onto some wood working sites online, and see if there are any turners in your neighborhood. Generally, hobbyist turners, and wood workers in general, are very generous and helpful. If you live in SoCal, and are willing to drive to the LAX area, I have a small lathe that will turn 3". PM me.

But did he go Commando?

A safer way to cool molds is to hit them with compressed air.

Has anyone here tried drywall mud, like Smoothset 40, for making molds? It dries semi-hard, shows fine details, and doesn't shrink. And it gives you almost 30 minutes open working time to get you masters set, and your vent holes in place. I made my first two piece mold this week with the Smoothset, and it came out alright. It had bubbles and voids beneath the masters, and around them, so I'm going to remake it, and hand butter the plastic masters before I set them in it this time. I used spray pam to keep the second half from sticking to the first half, and it worked fine. I plan to coat both halves with diluted carpenter's glue after they cure out, to make them stronger and smoother. A word of caution about adding glue to either pop, or drywall mud. Glue makes drywall mud shrink. The taping mud that's used for embedding the tape, and coating the nails, has glue in it, and it shrinks. That's why there's much less glue in topping compound, which is what's used for final coatings, to get a smooth finish. I would do a test run of whatever material I plan to use, either pop or drywall mud, to see if adding glue when you mix it makes it shrink.

If fumes are a problem for you, DON'T try nitrocellulous lacquer. Those fumes are a nightmare. I'm not sure water borne urethane will penetrate enough to act as a sealer, but it's worth a try. Remember, solvent fumes and pilot lights don't mix, so be sure to have some kind of exhaust fan if you've got a water heater or furnace down there in the basement with you. Minwax Wood Hardener is low in smell. I'd give it a try, if I were you. Or an epoxy thinned with alcohol.

Maybe that's why older lures seem to catch more fish. Maybe they've lost their initial gloss, due to either slamming into stuff, or rolling around in a tackle box.

muskietom51, I would not recommend it for a muskie bait topcoat, or for any other toothy critter, unless you're using a hard material for your lures, like hard resin, plastic, or PVC. It is basically a thin water borne urethane, like what is used to coat floors. You can dip it, brush it, or spray it. For my sectional swimbaits, I dip each section three times. For plastic cranks, one dip is plenty. I get mine from Target Coatings. Try googling it. Their online store is called FinishingZone.com, I think.

I don't make balsa baits, but I've repainted quite a few. Once I'm down to the bare wood, I seal them with runny crazy glue, two coats, because it's strong and light. I wet sand with 400 grit between coats, and after the second coat. Once I have primed the lure, I wet sand it again, and that's it. I've been able to get smooth lures, ready to paint, with that method.

Guys and Gals, Thanks for all the responses. I've order some from one of you. This site is the best. Mark

I'm looking to buy some cylindrical dropshot weights. Are there any makers/sellers here?

Since you are heat drying several coats at once, hit it with a hair dryer on low for a couple of minutes, and then go to high. There may be some moisture trapped between coats, and you want it to have a chance to get out without bubbling. I use the hair dryer on each coat, first on low to dry it, and then on high to "set" it, that is, to create the cross link molecules that Ben was talking about. If you do it right, the paint will become waterproof by itself. A clear top coat is used just to protect the paint from abrasion, and to keep water away from the lure body.

I'm only telling the truth. Great tails!

A note about hinging systems. One of the most important feature of a swimbait hinge, at least for me, is the ability to adjust it after assembly, to fine tune the swimming action. Sst screw eyes with removable sst hinge pins are the only system I've found that lets me do that. It's amazing how one complete revolution, either in or out, can affect the swimming action of a lure. I'm sure jigs can be to allow the installation of hinge components that are fixed at the optimum gap for swimming, but I'm lazy, and the screw eye/hinge pin system is so easy, it's hard for me to stray from it. Using PVC, which is completely waterproof, for my lure bodies lets me have the freedom to do this easily.

Correction. The pivot point in the front of each section works the best. I had it ass backwards in my above reply. In my case, I screw sst screw eyes into the rear of each section, and use a bicycle spoke pin in the front of each section for my hinges. For really small baits, which only have a hook hanger in the first section, I use very small cotter pins and spinnerbait wire for the hinges, since there is no strain on the hinge other than the swimming motion.