mark poulson

I don't think Pete or anyone else was "busting someone's chops" about advocating for this airbrush vs. that air brush. I read it as he was saying you should have included the website in the post. Neither Jerry, nor any of the other moderators here have ever censored me for voicing my opinion, or supplying websites and other specific information. The success of this, and any other website, depends on visits and participation, and that's what is encouraged here, not specific product endorsements or points of view. As long as we're here, and act like reasonable people, it's all good.

I install the screw eyes and adjust them to get the joint spacing I want. Then I reinstall them with epoxy, using one screw eye in the pair to set the depth for the other. Then I assemble the lure and paint, with the hinge pins not pushed all the way into place. Then I take it back apart, and coat the insides of each section's joints with Devcon 2 Ton (D2T) epoxy while they're still apart. I use the D2T because it's stiffer, so I can coat the joints, and hang the pieces up to set without having to put them on my drying wheel. I just don't put it on too thick, or it will run and sag. It's really not necessary to have a really thick coating for the inside faces of the joints, since all it does is protect the paint from water. I lap the D2T up onto the faces of the sections about 1/4" so my top coat will have a good overlap. After the D2T sets, I reassemble the bait, put it on my drying wheel, and put my Nu Lustre 55 top coat on the rest of the bait. I always put on a second coat of Nu Lustre after 24 hours. Before I fish a jointed lure, I coat the inside faces of the joints with some sort of fish attractant, like Megastrike, to take away any stickiness that the fresh epoxy might have. You can use vasoliine.

To all of you lure makers and lure users out there, happy holidays. And to Jerry, a special thanks for making this forum available. Let's hope our new President and our government can get this economy turned around soon. I hope they focus on two four letter words...work and jobs. That will cure a lot of ills. Keep our kids safe while they're overseas, and bring them home ASAP. It looks like it's going to be rough for a while, with a tough year ahead, so let's everyone keep our heads up and keep the faith. We'll make it through this together. Here's hoping for a better year to come. And may you all have a good and safe holiday season and new year.

Thanks. And a Merry Christmas to you, too. Sometimes I feel like that guy in I Robot, who's paranoid about machines, but who's totally integrated into them, too. Computers are everywhere in my life. When my youngest leaves for college in a few years, I'll be lost.

So, if I'm reading what you guys say correctly, stick with the manuf.'s reducer, and save the alcohol for the painter. Is that right?

Photos I can do. Video is a little beyond me. I'm analog. "If it doesn't work, get a bigger hammer. If it can't be done with a skilsaw, it can't be done." That kind of analog.

Once again, you've nailed it. That thing swims so sweet!!!!!! A word of warning. Do NOT throw that when there are Osprey in the area. Or do, and have fun when they dive on it. I know it's mean to tease, but, sometimes, it's so much fun.

How about making the mold with your soft silicone, then making a slave casting out of bondo, and then a mold of that out of bondo. Bondo is hard and tough, and if you make a shallow wood box, or can find a shallow plastic dish that's the right size, you should be able to make a mold that will last for lots of castings. depending on what you're casting with, use the appropriate release agent. The manuf. of your casting material should be able to steer you to the right releas agent. And you'll have the bondo slave to make more molds if you need them.

CA Delta, You're right. It's time to say thank you to JR, and to acknowledge how much he's inspired me to try other things. Thanks to him, I've moved to using PVC, too, and it's something I'd never have thought to try by myself. And his different hinging system started me thinking about using things besides screw eye to screw eye hinges. I am really grateful for how much he's shared with me, and the rest of the builders on this forum. So here's an official, end of the year,Thank You!, to him, and to Snax, and to Diemei and Captsully and Fat Fingers and Clamboni and Tater, and to all of the other people who have shared their hard earned knowledge with us. Knowledge shared is immortality, so your place in the Pantheon is set. You guys are the best.

Thanks to all for the kind words. It was fun to do, and I wound up with three dynamite lures. Dieter, Thanks. It's fun when you find a new method that actually works, and is easier/faster at the same time. Lure making scratches three major itches for me. Problem solving, the physical building process, and having lures to fish with. A perfect trifecta. TJ, I wasn't comfortable doing the holes until I switched to PVC. I was always afraid I'd blow out the side of the lure with wood, since it grabs the drill bit sometimes when I lean it to widen the holes. Plus, I was really worried about sealing the insides of the holes. In hindsight, the Minwax Wood Hardener that I soak wood parts in would probably have been more than enough, but, with PVC, I'm really confident there will be no waterproofing issues. And, as far as rubbing me the wrong way, no worries. The slots are an eyesore. The only reason I used them is that the fish are dumber that the fisherman (I hope) and they worked. I can't imagine the amount of time involved in carving the hinges on you newest gallery post, the bass lure. Lili Man, I've found that jointed swimbaits are seldom straight for enough time to let the joint spaces be a problem. If anything, since I let my paint job extend into the joints, I think the open/close joint movement is another attracting/triggering device. And the reversed joint swims so well, even at slow speeds, I doubt the bass will see any more that a yummy meal. I noticed someone, I think it was Jeep, paints the insides of his joints red as an additional attracting/triggering device. I tried it on one lure, and wasn't happy with it, but I fish super clear and highly pressured lakes. I'm sure it would be dynamite in off colored water, or on the ocean. I do try to get glitter into the joints, so they flash as they move. As for "Action catches the fish, paint jobs catches the fisherman" as far as I'm concerned, that's gospel. My 24 year old son is down for the weekend from Santa Cruz for our family Chanukah parties, and I quoted him that saying, word for word, as he was checking out my latest swimbait. I do the paint jobs, which take 1/2 of the building time, for myself, as a challenge to see how nice I can make them, and to hear the oohs and aahs from my friends when I show them. The fish really don't care.

If the brush is clean, it sounds like you need to crank the pressure back up.

Downriver, I have no doubt your method works, and, for your work, it's a natural kind of thing. But, since I've followed Jed's advice and bought a couple of sets of syringes, I haven't had a bad batch of epoxy. I like the KISS method. Especially since I'm usually the second S when I try to be "clever".

jr, If you spend even a portion of that amount of time to make a crawdad for yourself, will you ever fish with it? I know it would be hard for me. But it will be eaten, no doubt. That's the closest thing I've seen to a real crawdad, period. Some big bass will have a mouth full of hooks if you do decide to throw it. Just don't make it too small. Only a big girl deserves a lobster dinner like that! And....if you make them, there are big bass fishermen on the west coast who will pay for them. Just ask Kelly Ripa.

BobP, The reverse joint does have the convex on the back of the segments, and the concave on the front. I'm sure there are those devilish vortexes at work. Seriously, the concave faces must reach out and grab the water every time the lure wiggles, like when you put your hand out of the car window. Riverman, You're right. I reamed the holes side to side to make sure there was room. I used 1 1/4" .72 guage screw eyes. I wanted to use the .92 eyes, but the lure body is only 3/4" wide, and I'm afraid to ream them that much. But......I'm still pondering. If I'm really careful....... Captsully, They look good. As soon as I paint and top coat them, I'll post some pics. Man, I love it when a plan comes together.

FishThanks, That is the best home setup I've seen. That booth looks like it would suck the chrome off a trailer ball!

I'm (almost) speechless! Truly amazing. 50 hours! You must be related to Job. Let me guess. You're not going into production on these any time soon.

I primed the three baits I made with reversed joints white, so I could actually see them this time, and took them, along with a floater of the same design but with conventional joints, for a test swim at the local pond. Now that I could see them, it's clear that the reverse joints swim at slower speeds and much more fluidly overall. Very snake like, and swims even at almost a snail's pace. Still turns almost 180 degrees when I stopped the retrieve. I think this is how I'm going to make all my baits from now on. I did something different with these baits. Instead of drilling and notching relief slots for the screw eyes in the section with the pin, I drilled over sized holes into the joint faces, and kind of reamed them to make them a little wider by rocking the piece from side to side. Not enough to get near the edge of the piece, but enough to give me some room for the hinge screw eye to really move back and forth. The result was a nicer face on the lure, since there is no visible slot. And it turned out to be less work, too. It is a little more tricky, in that I had to be careful not to drill too deep and into my hook holder and ballast holes (I actually did that on two of them) but even with the extra care it was still easier than the slots. I don't think the missing hinge slots affected the swimming action, one way or the other, but I don't feel like making a conventional bait with the relief hole system to test that out right now. Too lazy. I'm going to paint them tomorrow, so I'll find out how hard it is to coat the joint faces with epoxy. I kind of think it won't be hard. Since the lures are made of PVC, if the epoxy doesn't go all the way into the hinge relief holes, it's no big deal. All in all, a success so far. Once I get them finished, I'll post some pics in the gallery, including the hinge relief holes.

I like Mavrick's solution. Simple and safe. Forced air furnaces are the heaters that are used to heat most homes. They have a heat exchange fire box, so there's never a direct contact between the combustion air, which has CO and CO2 and other nasty stuff, and the heated air that's circulated through ducts into the house. If you have a detached shop, and want to use one for you shop, you'll need a separate closet for it, with outside combustion air supply and venting. Talk to an HVAC contractor in you area. Have them come out and give you an estimate on what it would cost to heat your shop that way. You'll need a gas supply, and electrical. It's not cheap. If your shop's attached to your house, you could just tap into your home heating system. Just be sure you have a really good vent cover that can be sealed when you're not using it, so fumes don't go back into the house, and you don't wind up wasting heat on the shop when you're not in it. As far as heating mats are concerned, there is someone on this forum who sells them. Post a question titled heating mats, and you should get a response from him.

Well then, the water borne paints have little or no fumes, and work well with water based paints. At least so far. I guess ignorance is bliss. You're right about Craig. He is a real pleasure to deal with, and they make good stuff.

How long will it take you to thaw out once you return to Indonesia? I'm impressed you can type at all with frozen hands. Seriously, it's a bear to cut lip slots freehand. Only truly talented people, like Dieter, can do it. When I've tried, I've found that I have to make the slot sloppy, position my lip in with toothpick wedges, tack it in place with crazy glue, and the flood the slot with epoxy. A real pain in the rear. So some kind of a jig to hold the lure body is the only way to go. The good news is, once you make a jig that works, it will last you forever.