mark poulson

I have not. I don't really use chrome too much for my baits, so I haven't tried it. It looks like it is cheap enough to try, and see how you like it.

Be sure the rounds have already been shot. Otherwise, you can get a really loud, onetime rattle. Hahaha

Metal will be louder.

Years ago JR Hopkins posted a picture of how he used painter's tape sandwich to hold the paint brush bristles in position while he glued them with epoxy. He is an artist.

Sounds like you may have gotten a bad batch. Contact LureWorks and tell them what's going on.

I've had that happen with light blue robo worms over the years, but I have no idea why.

Be sure you mix in your hardener completely before you heat your plastic, or you will get lumps.

I used to worry if my twist wires set in super glue in my PVC baits would hold, until I tried to turn one as the glue was setting. I waited a touch too long. I wound up just twisting the loop, not the whole twist wire.

A decoupage epoxy, like Envirotex Lite, will not chip or crack. It is softer than glue epoxies, like D2T, So teeth can penetrate it, but will hold up better to abuse from teeth and/or rocks.

Make a wooden miter box, a little wider than your lure body, and cut different angled slots at different points. I made mine wide enough to be able to put my thumb against the blank to keep it firmly against the far side of the miter box. That way, you can position your rectangular bait blank at whichever lip angle you want, and cut the slot at the proper angle. You still have to pay attention to keep the slot bottom even, but you can use Dave's steel rule to check how square the cut is to the bait, and adjust accordingly.

The Lee Pots I've tried have been too hard to get the temps right consistently. I know there are people who use them successfully, but I've never been able to get them to work for me.

A while back I made some hard frogs out of PVC, using double frog hooks that hung from the bottom of the bait, and pivoted up on the strike. Small magnets held the hook points tight to the frog body until the strike. After that, I began making them with single Owner Beast hooks, and the hookup ratio was much better. For some reason I didn't post pictures of the single hook version, but here are some of the double hook version: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/profile/14932-mark-poulson/content/page/5/?type=gallery_image

That's the size I have, too, but I only cook a cup at a time, so handling is easy. When I tried to heat two cups, the soft sides made it a nightmare. I am just a hobby pourer, so that works for me. People who do production might have a different experience, since they need larger amounts.

I use Norpro silicone cups. No more shattered glass. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Norpro-Measure-Stir-Pour-Silicone-Flexible-Measuring-Cup-1C-2C-and-4C-Sizes-/312095432885?oid=280625234787

I wipe mine out with a kleenex, let it sit for five minutes, and then put it in a plastic ziplock bag. I've never had mold.

Beautiful lures! You really do have this stuff mastered. Would those work up here in the US, or would they swim upside down?

You need a dual injector. Basically, it's two individual injectors bolted together with a single handle, and a blending block that sits on top of the mold, to direct the two different colors of plastic down into the mold side by side, without mixing. Do a search here to find more about dual injectors.

Never let the truth spoil a good story! Hahaha

I've found that holding pressure on my injector for a 10 count cuts way down on dents. I think it's because dents are caused by the plastic cooling and shrinking faster than hot plastic can be drawn down through the gate to fill the shrinking areas. The pressure keeps the hot plastic coming. I have several top pour hand pour molds that never have shrinking, and I'm guessing it's because they have larger gates to allow the hand pouring.

I know, but I think it is fish oil based. When I lived in Los Angeles, guys at the local City ponds would routinely spray their baits, and they caught the fire out of the catfish.

It is a dynamite catfish bait attractant, but my understanding that, because it's a petroleum product, it is illegal to use in CA.

I haven't tried that product, but, since you are going to dip your baits anyway, try it once and see how it works. I would keep it separate, and do some experimenting. Everyone's process is different, so you need to see how your process affects it You can see if the paint affects it. You can see if reheats affect it. You can see if you can add it to other plastisol, or add color to it and pour baits with what's left. You are only risking 2 cups of plastisol, so the potential loss is minimal, and chances are you can still use it for something. A tip for dipping is to get a tall, thin dipping container, so you'll need less material to dip long baits. Frank (Rooty Tootie) is the expert when it comes to dipping.

My silicone swimbait molds have a thin tail stem, so the baits blow out on a fast retrieve. Since I have to trim the baits anyway, I over pour the tail sections on purpose, so they are thicker and stiffer. It's a small thing, only 1/8"+-, but it makes a big difference in how the baits swim.

I found that, when I had my own residential const. company, success was it's own curse, because I couldn't do everyone's job at once without losing the quality control that made me successful, so I had to pick and choose who I worked for, and also had to learn to say no gracefully. And growing larger was a huge change, which I didn't want to make, because it would change the nature of my owner-controlled business. For me, there was no intermediate step. It was either stay small, or go much bigger. I'm guessing it's the same with mold makers. The thing that makes them successful also cranks up demand. It seems to me they can either have longer lead times, and work 6 days a week, or they have to invest in more equipment and hire more employees, which creates a big overhead that has to be met each month. And overhead is a monster that has to be fed, whether or not you have the orders to support it, so it is the biggest threat to any business. That's why I think a lot of small mold makers stay small, so they don't have that big overhead "ax" hanging over their heads each month.

I have both aluminum and open pour silicone molds. To me, aluminum molds are the easiest to use, because I have an injector. I am just a hobby pourer, and make baits for myself and a couple of buddies, so I love the Essentials Do-It molds because they are cheap and they work. I have several ES Do--It aluminum molds, like the 3" grub mold, and I can just heat up a batch of plastic and shoot enough grubs for a few trips. Same with their 5" ES senko mold, and their Ripper swimbait mold. Because they were inexpensive, I have two of each, so I can pour enough from one batch of plastic for a few trips. But I still use my open pour silicone molds a lot, because I can easily make a laminated swimbait with them, and, because they are so cheap, I have five 2 cavity molds for the Lurecraft skinny dipper copy. That lets me pour ten baits at a time, and, because I can pour one half of each mold with the same batch of heated plastic, I am more efficient. I don't have to reheat my plastic during my five mold run, and that makes my plastic colors stay true longer, since reheating eventually changes plastic colors for me, even though I add heat stabilizer. Having cheap molds has encouraged me to play around with different colors and mixes, and made bait making more fun for me.