mark poulson

One tip I'll give you is make your baits a little longer than you want the finished lure. Then you can reshape the cut surfaces as you need. Someone on this site (sorry, I can't remember who, or I'd bow to them in praise) suggested not cutting all the way through the joints when you initially cut them, so you can make the cuts before shaping, and still have a single pieced bait to shape. I found, with pine, fir, and poplar, that this method is great. And I can reshape the "male" section, the pointy end with the hinge hole, after I separate the parts wit a dovetail saw. I make the hinge hole a little farther from the "female" section than I want in the finish, and then sand the male section to a more pointy shape, with the hinge hole a little closer to the final surface, to give my lures more room to wiggle. I make larger baits where all this cutting, drilling, and sanding is easier. I wouldn't have a clue about small, jointed cranks. I think for them I'd use back to back screw eyes, and just call it a day.

Deepsessions, I make jointed baits, and am curious about Restor-it. I've seen it used by painters on jobs, but never used it myself. How far into the wood does it penetrate? Right now, I put a drop of crazy glue into each of the hinge holes in the bait sections, and the redrill with a piece of hinge wire to restore the hole. Is the Restor-it expensive? We use a lot of Bondo for repairing old jambs, window frames, and woodwork in general, but it's relatively cheap.

I only know how by copying other people's stuff, or making one myself and trying it. I don't think anyone can tell you more than making it and trying it will tell you. Looks good. Good luck.

Seven strand hinges. Interesting.

I would suggest you use the search option at the top of the page to look for this info. Type in paint types, colors, painting, any combination of what you want to know. If you read all the stuff that's been posted here relating to paint, you won't have time to paint! ) Seriously, look at the threads about painting and pick out the ones for you. If it is related to air brush painting, it's been talked about here. It's just a matter of searching for the right topic. Good luck.

Beautiful bait. Great job. Did you extend the hook hanger on the back to keep it away from the claws?

And the reason I haven't use cotter pins so far is I don't have a source for long enough shanked, corrosion proof cotter pins. I've got 1", but that's not long enough to make me comfortable for hinges, and the ones I have aren't corrosion proof. I'd love to find some 1 1/2" cotter pins of stainless steel, but haven't so far.

Actually, I have used twist wires so far. I only glue/seal the hinge pin with the epoxy clear coat. If that doesn't seal the hinge holes at the top and bottom, I've done something wrong. And I think that when I seal the hinge faces with the 5 minute epoxy, the epoxy seals the inside holes. Then, when I "redrill" with a piece of hinge wire to open them again, it's a tight enough fit that not much water can get in there. I'm not making lures for sale, just for myself and friends, and, so far, there have been no problems. In the past, I've used crazy glue to seal the hinge holes before I do the 5 minute epoxy, because it penetrates into the small hinge holes, but doesn't close them. That gives me an added layer of protection. If I were making these for sale, I'd probably have to come up to a way to coat the entire hinge pin hole with waterproofing, like a penetrating sealer, before I assembled. As it is, I haven't had any problems. So far, so good.

Hey Connie, How are you guys doing? How's the Lake Fork fishing? Good to hear from you. Mark P.S. I came over to the dark side, and bought a Shimano MG50. Best casting reel I've ever owned, bar none. You were right.

When I top coat or paint in my garage and it's cold, I leave the lights on for heat, and even run a small electric heater on low when I am putting on the top coat and while it's curing overnight. I don't use 2TDevcon, I use Envirotex, but I imagine all chemical reactions are slowed by cold, except making ice!

Brrrrr!!!!! I guess we should be glad you still have lakes freezing over, what with the polar ice caps and all the glaciers melting. Who knows, you may be in the tropics before you know it? )

Ken Huddleston, of Huddleston Swimbait fame, has a soft plastic craw lure that's tail weighted, and pulled from the front, so the claws are in front. It's call the Hud Bug. Great finesse bait. Totally realistic. A tightly bent V shaped stainless steel wire has a small weight on each end of the wire, and then the wire passes through the craw body from back to front, and comes out at the head, where a small circle or wackey hook is slipped through the bend in the wire. Casts great, catches fish. You can see a picture on the Huddleston website, or Tacklewarehouse.

I leave the pin loose, with a small 90 degree bend for a handle, and paint the lure assembled, Then I take it apart, coat the inner faces of the segments with 5 min epoxy, and use a piece of wire to re drill/open the hinge pin holes. I then reassemble with the pins pushed down so the bend lays tight against the back and is just even with the bottom, or a smidge short, put it on my wheel, and topcoat. The small bent section of pin is so, if I ever have to take it apart, I can just dig the pin out of the topcoat and pull it out. I think it's really important to have everything epoxied in before I paint, so I can adjust the hinge action if I need to. But I don't glue the pins in until the end with the top coat. I check to make sure that the segments don't touch when I'm top coating, so they don't get epoxied together. I use scotch tape on the inside faces of the segments to keep them from getting stuck. The tape peels off the topcoat, and the wheel turns them horizontally, so there isn't a lot of drip and over run into the joints.

Start with bigger baits. One piece gliders are easier to shape, weight, and paint.

Dampeoples is right. You need to sand to provide a mechanical bond of the paint to the lure. If you use a paint with solvent that "melts" into the lure, you have to be careful that all the solvent is gone before you continue painting. For me, that's too much trouble. I use water based paints, with an Envirtex Lite clear coat, and never have any problems with paint bond failing. I sand, then, if I'm using solid colors, I coat with Createx opaque white as an under coat, and then paint. If I have a lure that's transparent with painted areas that I want to repaint, I sand the painted areas, and then repaint over them. I don't worry too much about accidentally scuffing the clear areas. The topcoat will make them clear again. I've actually removed the paint from painted/clear lures with a scale-scored surface, so only the paint in the score lines remains, and then used that as a base and painted over them with transparent colors. Makes for some neat lures.

Bruce, Take the plunge. If I can do it.......

Muskyman, You have a PM.

Barlow's, Stimina, and Jann's should have them. They're called Hitch Hikers.

Here's my drying wheel. It's made from a rotisserie kit I got at the local hardware store. My wheels are 14" diameter and, although I put in enough screw eyes for 8 lures at a time, I have only done 4 at a time so far. If you're doing 10, I'd make the wheels at least 18" in diameter, to give you enought space between lures. You can draw an 18" circle on a piece of plywood, lay out the lure eyes, and see the kind of spacing you'll have. Then you can adjust the spacing, or the wheel size, or both, without actually cutting the plywood. http://thumbp2.mail.mud.yahoo.com/tn?sid=2101622168&mid=ADHPjkQAAP1mR46u4gjnlBiguek&partid=4&f=818&fid=Inbox http://thumbp2.mail.mud.yahoo.com/tn?sid=2101622168&mid=ADHPjkQAAP1mR46u4gjnlBiguek&partid=2&f=818&fid=Inbox It's really easy to make. I made the plywood box with a front and back to make it more rigid. The sides only need to be 1" higher that the radius of your wheels, but be sure your lures aren't so close to the edge of the wheel that they drag. You might want to make the sides a little higher to accomodate bigger lures. The rotisserie motor came with mounting brackets, which I screwed onto the sides. My kit's motor is 1 rpm, which is plenty. Remember, a larger wheel will have greater speed toward the outside edge, which is where your lures will be mounted. I use large paper clips through the eye tie and tail hook hanger to attach the lures, bending them as I need to for different lengths. I mount the longest one first, and set the wheel spacing to that. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Couldn't you retrofit a large ice chest? It's already insulated, and the plastic ones are cheap.

John, Do you use a through wire? And, if so, do you orient it at an angle in the beveled face baits to keep the hook low and make the bait float correctly? It looks that way in the picture, but, at my age, I don't trust my glasses any more. )

Using a hair dryer on your lures after they're on the drying wheel helps it flow out, and removes any last bubbles that might still be in the epoxy. This works for Envirotex. I don't know about 2T Devcon or F/C. And the heat does decrease the pot life of the epoxy, making it stiffen more quickly, even though it makes it flow initially. I'm curious about why you would want to use a mixer instead of just mixing by hand? Unless you're mixing a quart of epoxy, it's not that hard to mix by hand. Stir for two minutes if it's a large quantity, and you're good to go. I mix four teaspoons at the most, using a small plastic cup and an ice cream stick that I cut square on the bottom, and mix for fifteen seconds at the most. Brushing on the epoxy removes an air bubbles in it, and the hair dryer makes it flow and cover everything. I blow the hair dryer into the mixing cup to soften the mix before I brush it on, and that gets rid of most of the big bubbles before I brush it on. And hitting the lures on the wheel with the hair dryer after they're coated, while the wheel is turning, gives me a second chance to look for dry spots, buggers, or other flaws that I can fix before it's too late.

I haven't made molds, but I've seen them made on the job for plaster mouldings. The mold makers backed the RTV with casting plaster and fiber, to provide a solid cradle for the soft mold. If you're doing a two part mold, you could build shallow wooden trays from plywood and 1X, fill them with casting plaster or plaster of paris, and set one half of the RTV mold into it while it's wet to make a solid support. The mechanics of making the two halves mate correctly, and how to align and attach the two halves is up to you. If you have already cast a bait, you could use it to line up the two halves before you seat the second half, and then attach hinges to the two mold halves so they align perfectly every time. That's the advantage of using wood to make the support frame.

Make sure your airbrush has seals that are rated for solvent based paints, or plan on only shooting water based paints. For me, water based are easier, since you don't need a spray booth and breathing apparatus, just good ventilation.

I use a trick from work. When we epoxy set all thread for hold downs in concrete, we turn the bolt counter clockwise, as though we were unscrewing it, as we force it into the hole that's already filled with epoxy. That way, we avoid the possibility of the screw threads pulling the epoxy back out of the hole as it's pushed in, and kind of forces the epoxy down and into the hole. I use the same method with twist wired, using 5 minute epoxy. I mix the epoxy, coat the wire, push the wire all the way into the hole, unscrew it back out, re coat it, and screw it back in, but in a rotation opposite to the way it's twisted, so it forces the epoxy down. I typically have a decent amount of squeeze out afterward, which I smooth out with a flat screwdriver dipped in alcohol. If I don't have squeeze out, I immediately pull the wire out and re coat it and do it again. A tip. Don't try to do too many at once with 5 minute epoxy. If you have more than one lure to do, use 30 minute epoxy. More working time.