mark poulson

Try a little Windex to thin the paint.

Which brush are you using?

I have one. My only complaint is it's a pain to backflush, literally, because the needle tip is exposed. I keep sticking myself. Otherwise, it is a good all around brush that I use if I have a lot of base coating of the same color to do, so I can just load one of their bottles, spray, and then put the excess back in it's original bottle when I'm done.

You can preheat plugs w/ballast weights in a conventional oven, or in a toaster oven, on low. I wonder when the quest for water protection becomes a matter of diminishing returns. After all, there is no such thing as a perfect "bullet proof" lure. If you make one, I gauantee you'll lose it! To me, it's like the "perfect baitcaster". The Steez is amazing, but all the baitcasters today are sooooooo much better than the reels of twenty years ago that you can't really go wrong. Same with lures. Even though some old shapes and materials might have been "better", the sealers and paints and epoxies we use today are so much better than the stuff that was used twenty years ago that any system we use today whose components are compatible, so they don't fail because they don't like each other, is far superior. The methods and materials recommended on this site work great. I understand trying to make things simpler and faster and more fool proof, but, at a certain point, we can wind up spending more time testing than lure making.

Be sure and post here when you do. I know a few guys out here in SoCal who are interested.

Rookie, Would that work for printing fish pictures and putting them over foil?

I used to use runny crazy glue, letting it run down through the pin hole until it exits the other side. It gets soaked up by the wood on the way through. Then I re drill the hole using the same wire I made the pins with, but one that I've hammered a little flat to make it cut better and ream the hole a little. I also use the crazy glue for a sealer on small baits, because it set quickly and lets me proceed with priming and painting in a matter of minutes, instead of hours. Now, for larger jointed swimbait type lures, I use Minwax Wood Hardener for the sealing process. It runs through the hole, too, and is absorbed even better into the wood, since that's what it was designed for. I use it to seal the entire bait, since it penetrates the wood, so any dings won't leak immediately, and I can do an on the water fix with brush on crazy glue, and touch up/repair the damage better when I get home. I just dip a cotton Q tip into the metal bottle, and swab it on. I've been doing it like this for about six months, and, so far, no problems. I do let it dry overnight. They just started stocking trout in our SoCal lakes last week, so it's on for swimbaits from now until the post spawn.

You can also use sharpies. They may spread/run a little, depending on the type of fibre, but are usually pretty color fast, and they come in a wide choice of colors. P.S. Beautiful lure John.

Great looking model. A bit expensive, if I recall. First trout plants this week at Castaic, Pyramid, Piru, and a bunch of the SoCal lakes. It's on!!!!!

Luretrekker, Nice site. Great looking lures. Where's your price sheet?

Dang you, now you've got me going out to the garage to play with swivels!

I'd be afraid wax might contaminate the epoxy, and make the bond weak. The last thing I want is a hook hanger pulling out with a fish attached. I guess, if I were going to try it, I'd just play around with trying to seal the bottom of the swivel with epoxy or thick crazy glue, and then gluing it firmly into the egg sinker ballast weight. That way, I could fill the hole for the hanger/ballast half way with D2T, slowly push the hanger into the hole, and, hopefully keep the epoxy from fouling the top of the swivel. I'd probably play around like that in a test piece until I came up with a system that worked. But, so far, the fish that have eaten my swimbaits, bless their hearts, have taken the belly hook, and swung the tail hook into themselves. One took both hooks, from one of my 10" baits, sideways in her mouth, so she was kind of paralyzed. I skied her to the boat with not much fight, and into the net before she really put up much of a fight. Good thing, too, because I was in my Tracker 175, and the wind was howling on the rocky point where I caught her. If she had made a big run I'd have had my hands full playing her while trying to keep my boat off the rocks. She went almost 7lbs. Oh, the agony..... I just thanked my lucky stars, and kept fishing.

I'm not sure how Scott does it. He probably has some weighed swivel made for him. I've tried to think of a way to do it without fouling the swivel, but haven't figured it out, yet. One way I toyed with is drilling out the center of an egg sinker big enough to put the swivel in, crazy glue it in, and then epoxy the egg sinker/swivel setup in. But I don't know how to keep the epoxy out of the swivel. That's why his baits are so good. He knows what he'd doing.

I like to use the drill press for both brad/spur point bits and Forstners. For small stuff, up to 1/2" diameter, I usually center punch where I want the hole, hold the lure in my hand, and raise it into the bit as it turns in the press. This way is still prone to tear out, so you have to go slow. And the lure can't be too small, or you have no way to hold it if the bit binds. For anything larger than 1/2", I use some kind of vice or clamp. Too much leverage with bigger bits to hold the work by hand. Good way to break/tear up you fingers.

Actually, a true Forstner bit will cut a much cleaner hole than a brad point/spur point bit. A brad/spur point bit has a centering point, and two sharp "spurs" at the outside, sharp little teeth that cut the outer diameter of the hole, and then some kind of spiral cutting twist on the shank to complete the cut and remove the chips. A forstner bit has a truly circular cutting head, with an elogated cutting blade at it's perimeter, and a shearing chisel blade running from the spur back to the centering pin. The spur blade slices a really clean cut on the perimeter, and the chisel blade, which is a little recessed from the spur blade, cleans out the center of the hole like a plane. If you're drilling in finished materials, especially veneer plywood, a forstner bit is the bit to use. In smaller diameters, a forstner will also cut cleaner holes than a brad point in most woods, especially softer ones like balsa, pine, and poplar. Over 40 years as a carpenter, and that's all I've learned!

I've done just that, and it worked. I use water-based air brush paint. If you're using solvent-based paint, you may have to do something different, like clearing with a coat of water-based first, to separate the two paint schemes. But it might work fine. Test it with a drop of your paint on the back of an LC lure. I've also taken fifteen minutes, and removed all the paint, scraping with the back of an exacto knife, wet sanding with 330 grit, and then wiping down with acetone. They come out dead clear, ready for a hint of irridescent violet and a coat of Nu Luster 55. Dynamite ghost color scheme. But don't tell anyone.

I put a 90 degree bend on the top of my pins, and leave a 1/4" flag on them. I put the pins in after I seal and prime, but before I paint, but don't push them all the way. I leave the pins in like that when I top coat, and then push them down onto the back of the bait after it's coated. I seal them with brush on crazy glue, and they look like fins. Removing them for maintenance is easy. Just be sure to seal you pin holes with runny crazy glue or Minwax Wood Hardner, and then redrill them with a piece of the pin wire, so the holes are waterproof.

JR, How about using that irridescent glow paint on the inside faces of the joints on swimbaits? It would be an attractant in low light conditions, but not enough to spook fish. What kind of powder did you use? I wanna try too!!!!

Glad you found what you needed. Don't forget to post a pic of the finished product.