mark poulson

You really are super!

I bought some KBS two months ago, but haven't used it yet, because it's too cold to dip outside, and I don't want to try it indoors. If you're dipping a lot of baits, I don't think storage will be as much of an issue as it is for those of us who only dip one or two, because you'll probably use it up long before it goes bad. I bought a quart, and 4 oz of their thinner, plus a spray can of bloxygen. I decanted it into a mason jar, sprayed the bloxygen against the inside of the jar for two seconds, and then sealed the lid, with a layer of plastic from a baggie over the jar's mouth, to keep it from sealing itself. Why not do the same? Buy a quart, the thinner, and the bloxygen, and do some testing. I know it's hard to spend money on a "may work", but the people here on TU who have given you advice are pretty smart, very experienced, and worth believing. I'm not saying there won't be a learning curve. I've had my KBS for two months, and just screwed up the courage to decant it. It's a good think I didn't wait much longer, because the lid was a bear to get off the can. But you'll have a learning curve with whatever you wind up using. You have already got your baits built and painted. That's the hardest part, You can do this. Take a shot!

I remember a TU member posted a how-to on making 3D eyes years ago. I think he used marbles to make smooth depressions in clay, and then poured in colored epoxy, but that was a long time ago, so I could be wrong (again). There are 3D black eyes available online. Check some of the site sponsor's websites.

Hahaha!!!

I am a carpenter, not a paint chemist, but this is what I've learned from years of working on jobs where lacquer paints were used. Lacquer thinner is a hot solvent, very volatile and reactive. It has a whole host of ingredients that are pretty strong, depending on the brand of thinner you buy. Some form of it is the solvent in lacquer paints. Lacquer paint is easily dissolved by the next coat of lacquer paint, because of the lacquer thinner solvent in the paint. That's what makes those paints blend together so well, because they are actually melting together a little with each additional coat. Lacquer paint flashes off it's solvent fast. That's why its sprayed almost all the time, so multiple thin coats can be applied quickly. That's also why the second coat of lacquer paint, if sprayed on, doesn't mess up the first coat, because the solvent leaves before it can melt the coat beneath it enough to ruin it. If you want to use a lacquer clear coat, you will have to spray it. Brushing just remelts the paint under it. If you don't want to spray your top coat, I'd look for something like an acrylic (non-lacquer based) clear that you can dip and hang. Paint up some test pieces, instead of actual painted baits, to test your different top coat options on, until you find one that works without ruining the paint job. You can contact the paint manuf. to see what they recommend. You can also go into a real paint store, like Dunne Edwards, and ask the people there. Or someone here on TU, who actually has experience with spraying lacquer, can chime in and help you.

I doubt it. I worry that you'll never get to use the entire 1.5 oz because some will cool and stay in the injector, and, depending on the sprue and cavity size, two cavities can use up a lot of plastic.

Again, well done!

I only have the stone molds, but they are good. But there is a 4 week+ lead time, so be patient. It will arrive, eventually.

I don't have any answers for you, but good luck!

Most hooks nowadays are tempered in one way or another. I'm no welder, but I think the heat from welding a thin hook wire would probably take away it's tempered strength. I think it's call annealing, when you heat a piece of metal to soften it.

I had that "cutting into my worms' problem, too, until I started using the glass blast media in my ES Senko mold. it makes a much more durable worm, with the same fall rate as the original, and the same wiggle, as long as I add enough softener.

Nah nah, nah nah, nah nah! Hahaha I would have made a POP mold of the Keitech Fat Impact if I thought I could make a usable mold. Filling all those ribs with POP would be a nightmare, and I'm pretty sure those rib fins in the mold would be really fragile, no matter how much glue I add to the POP. So I bought the knockoffs, and they make good baits. In fact, I think the Ripper, which is a little fatter than the Fat Impact, is a better bait, with more meat in the body for rigging, and a more deep belly/shad-like shape. And it pours great with your medium plastic!

I have bought stone molds from them, and they are similar, but not identical, to the Keitech swimbait. I also bought the Ripper mold from Do-It, which is another Keitech knock off. To me, they are not identical, so I don't think of them as stealing from Keitech. Are the Keitech swimbait designs patented?

I find glow powder can be messy because it's so fine, so I like adding it to a bottle of clear nail polish. That way, it's ready to use, with stirring, when I want it without having to mess with the powder every time.

Buy heavier duty split rings, and bigger pliers.

I don't think it's okay to knock off a patented commercial product, and then try to sell it. To me, that's stealing. I've made a lot of POP molds of commercial soft plastics, but I don't sell baits so I don't worry about patents. I just pour for myself.

Have you tried using an air brush paint that's designed to be heat set, so heat won't bother it?

I mix my Glonation glow powder with clear nail polish all the time, and it works great. I actually use it to coat in inside of my spinnerbait blades, to add some light/flash in low light or dirty water. It also works fine for coating crankbaits. I found that the Dollar Store clean polish works just fine. The powder will settle out of suspension and clump in a gooey mess in the bottom of the bottle, but it goes right back into suspension if I stir it with a straightened paper clip wire. It does not go bad, as long as there is still clear in the bottle.

That's a beautiful lathe base cabinet!

I began painting my big one piece topwater Lunker Punker type lures with rattle cans, and they held up just fine. I used a penetrating wood sealer to seal and stabilize the wood, letting them soak under a weight to insure good penetration, and then sanded it smooth. Next was a coat of rattle can primer to give me a smooth surface to paint over. Once the primer had dried, I did my rattle can paint jobs, starting with a lighter belly, and working my way up the sides to a darker top. I let each coat dry for the minimum drying time, and actually found that I could get better blending that way. The successive coats kind of melted into each other, and, when I was done, and had let the lures cure for a couple of days, the paint jobs were totally waterproof and held up really well. When I began making and painting jointed swimbaits, I found that I couldn't get them sealed well enough to prevent water penetration, and that's when I switched to Azek PVC (thank you John Hopkins). My wood lathe tools disappeared when I moved north, so I can't say if PVC turns well, but I'd sure try it if I were making spook-type turned lures.

I like that you can change out the hook easily with that wire.

Kiln dried wood is the lightest. Lumber yards and home improvement centers should carry it. We used to be able to buy white pine. I don't know if it's still available. I tried to look for the lightest, most consistent color pine, with the finest grain. That seemed to always have less resin, which can bleed through when you're painting your lures. And you can tell how much resin is in a board by picking it up. It will be heavier than boards of the same size with less resin. Those resin board will also have a darker, almost orange cast to their grain.

For 50 holes, I'd just mix up enough bondo to fill all the holes, doing it in smaller batches with less catalyst to give me more working time. Bondo is not very heavy, so it shouldn't affect your baits's weight too much. You can do one, and test it's weight. It's cheap, fast, sands out easily, and available at any building materials store, like Home Depot or Lowes.

Those look like the Halibut rigs we used to use in the '50s.

I have been able to make lots of two part injection molds with POP. I typically make matching shallow mold boxes with 1X borders and 1/4 plywood backs, so they aren't as fragile. I line the inside of the boxes with fiberglass drywall tape, and add some brads in the inside face of the 1X border to act as a holding key. I also add some yellow carpenter's glue to the POP, once it's mixed, and that helps keep details sharp.