Basseducer

Unless you plan on selling them, why bother?

If you used an arbor press could you eliminate the heat?

I put the punch in the chuck of my drill press and use the drill handle to lower the punch with steady pressure. I use the depth gauge to lock the travel so it will not go too deep and break the eye. Works pretty well for me.

junyaah, You could try the Eagle Claw 570 Black Platinum or the Mustad 32746 Black Nickle. You might have to elongate the hook eye slot to accommodate the 32746 as it has a longer eye leg.

Welcome aboard. There are some molds here in the classifieds.

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That plastic paint from Spike-it works pretty well.

Maybe do a few breathing exercises before tapping it.

David, When mine starts to drip, I give it a couple of taps on the plunger with my diagonal cut pliers and it stops for a while.

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Yes, just about any opaque color has a transparent counterpart.

Bear has a nice one.

When I was still wet painting, I would spray on my D2T. I used a cheap siphon badger airbrush and would thin the mixed D2T about 50%. That cheap brush was very easy to clean.

I have a small wood handle ladle that I drilled a 1/8" hole in the center of. I skin the junk and any good lead falls out of the hole back into my pot. works pretty well for me.

bskizt, Unfortunately that stuff is not available to us little guys anymore, You might try searching Ebay, but you are going to pay a premium price if you can find it.

Many, many years ago I was told by the guys at M-F that 325 was the magic number.

You could put your old used plastic baits in a box of kitty litter.

Sounds like you are really wanting for someone to push you toward the Presto Pot so here it goes. I use a Presto Pot with stirrer for all my plastic. I usually make 32 oz. batches but I can make as little as 8 oz. batches. For my white I use 23 oz. with 3 TSP of heat stabilizer. Then half way through I add another TSP. My whites come out white white. I understand that if you add a little UV Blast your whites will almost glow, I haven't tried it yet. A side benefit to a Presto Pot is you don't get any bubbles. I use a paint mixer on a drill to mix my plastic in a 5 gallon bucket. I can whip the plastic to a froth and by the time it is ready to pour there is not one bubble. Then you don't have to worry about re-heats. Your plastic stays at pouring temp all the time. I typically have 5 molds with 2 cavities each on a 4" swimbait which gets the plastic out pretty fast. The longer you leave it in the heat the more chance it will yellow. So more cavities is good. Hope this helps.

The bronze hooks from Eagle Claw are designed to bend out so you don't loose them on a snag. You simply bend them back into shape and keep fishing.

If you are using any of the water based paints on raw steel, you are introducing water to the blades as you spray. especially if you thin with water. You may have to go to a petroleum based sealer and then use your water based paints on top of it. Be careful to paint the edges and any exposed metal.

Disregard, looks like Chris beat me to it.

It may be easier to take your white pearl and add a little black to it.

Joel, I had the same problem for a while. I found that if I break off the sprue immediately after de-molding while the lead is still hot and soft this will not happen and I get a cleaner break. I don't twist the sprue off, I wiggle it back and forth until it comes off. This works for me.

Do you have a link for those?

Have you looked at these? http://store.do-itmolds.com/Round-Head-JigbrSz-58-34brHk-570-or-575brCollar-Ball_p_498.html