mark poulson

If you use solvent based contact cement, be sure not to leave the lure in the sun too long. For formica counters, at least, that's a sure way to have the glue fail.

Pete, I thought the best way to preserve a bottle of red was to drink it!?

It would probably be easier to top coat it in two steps. First, do the inside of the joints, so you can take your time. After that has set, put it on a wheel and do the faces.

Rofish, Zap glue is a brand of super glue. I made these lures as floaters, but I weighted them in cold water. In warmer water they slow sink. I already have a bunch of slow sink (overweight floaters) and fast sink lure like this. I want some I can throw as surface lures in warm water. I just need to test them in warm water for floatation. I typically allow 3 grams for epoxy, and 1 gram for paint. That's two #5 split shots, that I pinch onto the hooks when I'm testing to allow for the finish. But I screwed up this time, and didn't allow enough for the warm water difference, and I don't want to take the time to shape another five lures. I want to fish!

David, Since Fat Fingers posted about yellow D2T being "old", I've been thinking that might be my problem. I bought it from the Texas store, and the hardner was already amber when it arrived.

One of the things that makes spackle so good also makes it a pain. It's easy to sand. So, unless you have a contoured block, you probably hollow out the spackle when you sand it. Like Dean said, try using epoxy, which is harder. I use scotch tape over the epoxy, to keep it smoother. In the past, I've used Zap glue under the epoxy, and that seems to be a problem, so, depending on what you use to fill the majority of the hole when you plug it, I'd try putting epoxy over the filler, and then tape over the epoxy. If you're going to sand and repaint anyway, this method will give you much less to sand. Just don't go hog wild with the epoxy or it will squeeze way out under the tape. Take your time to just fill the hole first.

I would be afraid that plaster wouldn't be strong enough for clamping in a jig. If I were doing this, I think I'd mark a center-line on my lure all the way around, so I could be sure it stayed parallel to the table, put a layer of plastic wrap on the lure, and then seat it in a shallow form on a piece of 3/4" plywood, filled with bondo, which sets up hard. I'd push the lure down until it was almost to the center line, and measure all the way around to be sure it was evenly seated. Then, once the bondo hardens, I'd take the lure out, trim the bondo/plywood until it was even with or slightly smaller than the lure on the side I want do slot, and then drill and mount some kind of hold down clamp onto the plywood that would hold the lure in place. There are lots of this type of clamp available from wood working supply companies. They're designed for this, and have adjustable screws with rubber feet for the hold down end. Once you've done it once, it will not be the second time (like most things in life), and it will let you do lure after lure safely. If you're trying to run the slot all the way around the lure, do two setups, one for each side. There is no safe way to freehand this kind of a slot evenly with a router, even a dremel tool.

jf, I'll give that a try. Actually I have a shload of bondo in the garage. I'm going to try using that over the news paper.

Bruce, I hope the picture shows for you now. It did when I opened the TU site this morning, at least for me. I actually use a rubber band and hemostats when I'm painting an assembled bait. It puts enough tension to keep the lure kind of even, instead of folding up. One trick is to hang it vertically from the hemostat, with the rubber band at the bottom. Makes scaling and painting multiple segment baits much easier. I spray against a big sheet of masonite that's leaning next to my work table, and have multiple screw attachment points that I use to hang and anchor my lures, depending on size. I leave a 90 degree flag on the end of my hinge pins, so I can remove them easily while working on the lures before they're top coated. Once I'm ready to top coat, I push the flags flush with the back, and just coat over them. More than one, being able to dig out the flag and disassemble the lure for maintenance ( read that repair after wind-aided rock encounters) has been a lure saver.

MT, I was pretty careful about proportions and mixing. I mix it so much it's full of tiny bubbles. And the whole batch acts differently. Some sets hard, some stays tacky, so I don't think it's the mix. Bob, I wondered about the Zap. I use it, and the news paper, becuase they're light and quick. Maybe I need to wait longer before I paint and coat. I have tons of spackle and wood filler, but I think they'd be too heavy, when I'm trying to lighten a lure. I should probably turn some small pine dowels, and use cut offs for plugs, instead of paper. Just being lazy. I've used scotch tape in the past, without problems, and some of this batch set hard under tape, some didn't, so I don't think it's the tape. All fingers are pointing to the Zap glue. Either I'll have to use something else, or wait a half hour before I paint and coat. But putting a drop of the thin Zap over the tacky epoxy hardens it right up. Maybe that's telling me that the Zap does react with the epoxy, and I'm just too dumb to get it!

And the problem is....??????

When I find a lure I've made doesn't float after I've top-coated it, I drill out some of the ballast, and fill the hole with newspaper (cause I'm cheap), and put a drop or two of Zap glue on the paper to stiffen it and hold it in place. I brush on some opaque white Createx and pearl white over that, to match the lure bottom (heat setting as I go), and then coat over the hole with D2T. About half the time, the epoxy stays somewhat tacky. Even from the same batch, one hole sets up fine and another will stay tacky. And I mix the epoxy really well, and evenly. I put a drop of Zap on the tacky epoxy to give it a hard finish. That works as a short term fix. But I'm wondering why epoxy from the same batch, put on in the same manner, would be so different. I sometimes use Scotch tape over the epoxy to smooth out the plug, and I get some tacky, some hard. Weird. Any thoughts?

I take the joints apart, and coat the insides with D2T first, so I can take my time and get it brushed out well, with no buildup. I only do one lure at a time (4 section), so I'm not rushing too much. I mix a two inch bead of epoxy on a strip of masking tape (thanks to whoever suggested that, it's a great idea), and that's enough for the joints. I do both faces of each piece, the hinge and pin faces, and then hang them from a shelf with opened paper clips. I try not to put too much on the inner joint faces, but I do let the epoxy lap up onto the big faces of each piece to allow the Etex topcoat to lap onto it, for a good seal. If I have some drip buildup on the pieces, I try to catch it as soon as it shows and take it off, or I let it set up and file it off the next day. The next day, I use a piece of the same stainless steel wire that I made the pins with to re-drill the pin holes that have epoxy in them, put the lure together, and coat the big faces with Etex after I've mounted the assembled lures on my drying wheel horizontally. The Etex laps over the D2T that I put on the hinge faces without actually going into the joints, so there is no joint epoxy buildup. This adds an extra day to the process if I'm doing it during the week, or a half day if it's on the weekend. This is my drying wheel: Wearing latex gloves (thanks Pete) and having a tray with 1/2" of denatured alcohol in it close by to wash the finger tips of the gloves if they get epoxy on them, and to clean the epoxy brush between lures, really makes things easier. It's taken me a few lures, and a few screw-ups, to come up with a system that's relatively efficient. Not perfect, but it works for me.

I bought some cheap artist's brushes with yellow plastic handles, and they work great. I only use denatured alcohol to clean them, so they don't come apart, and they really do a good job spreading epoxy without losing bristles. I tried to clean one with acetone, and it melted the plastic handle and ruined the brush, so I stick to alcohol. For brush cleaning, of course. I use one for my air brush cleaning. I leave it in the 1 qt. tub of water I have next to where I paint, and use it for cleaning the tip and deep in the cup. Works great. I was worried because I didn't remember where I bought them, but the two I'm using now have lasted three months with no signs of wearing out. Then again, I'm a cheapskate.

Beautiful. I'd hit 'em.

Yeah, there's that, but, as with her sister and brothers before her, she's "too grown up" most of the time to ride bikes, unless her friends are riding. And, over the weekend, she and her buddies, the two youngest daughters from next door, built a Barbie city. She's still my little girl, but not for too much longer.

Post some pictures. It's our porno.

Jamie, It is amazing that we can be so competent in what we do, and so lost when it comes to computers. If my thirteen year old leaves, or she gets pissed, I'm in deep doodoo if I have to do anything new or hard on the computer.

I keep a large "tupperware" type dish with denatured alcohl next to me when I coat with epoxy, and clean my brush in it as I go. I also wear throw away latex gloves ($8 for a box of 50, thank you Pete), and clean my finger tips in the alcohol if they get epoxy on them. A clean towel next to me dries the alcohol off my hands quickly, so I can continue working without delay. The gloves let me handle the lures without leaving finger prints, which can cause fish eyes and dry spots. Thanks FF for the tip about letting my Etex sit to avoid fish eyes, and about avoiding yellow D2T. I've been having issues with the Devcon staying tacky, even though I mix it equally and well. I was wondering what was going on.

Smart kid!

If you can, Kellure's outside vent is a better option. If you don't have a good activated carbon filter in the overhead recirculating system, it will just circulate the fumes back into the room. And if you don't close/seal the activated charcoal filter when the hood's not being used, it will continue to soak up fumes from the room, and become saturated more quickly. If you ventilate the fumes to the outside, there's no mechanical thing to go wrong. For me, the worst part is not knowing if the filter is working or not. I also have allergies, and hate wearing a respirator (I feel like Darth Vadar), but, if I do, I want to be sure it's working. Nothing worse than finding out it's not when you start to smell the fumes it's supposed to filter out.

If you use a slot cutting bit, and a fence that only exposes 1/16" of the cutter, you should be able to use a horizontal router table. The key is to make a jig to hold your lure so it's center line is exactly parallel to the table. Expect to mess some up until you get your jig right. I can't over stress how important it is to have the fence, and to clamp your lure securely in a jig. A router table is just a smaller version of a shaper, and I've seen pieces of wood thrown through walls with a shaper if they're not properly secured. And they love to eat fingers.

Jerry, Next time, could you post the notice on all the forum pages? I, for one, don't visit the Admin. forum on a regular basis. It would have saved me a nervous breakdown. Mark

Someone here suggested T'ing your trebles (sorry, I don't remember his name, or I'd give him full credit for a great idea), bending the two hooks that normally rub the lure out until they sit opposite each other, so they don't rub the lure's finish. I do it by holding each of the hooks with a pair of needle nose pliars and bending them at the same time, which is quick, and kind of makes it easier to get them even, since I'm applying the same pressure to both at the same time. You can also put the middle hook in a vise, and bend the other two down until they're flat across. I believe the guy who originally posted the idea said he did it to his trolling lures to keep them from tearing up the finish, and so the hooks didn't stick and mess up the action. He was right. I don't get hook rash any more, and the hooks don't stick in the side of the lures as much on the cast.