A-Mac

I purchased some 0.025", 0.032", and 0.041" wire. The 0.032" is perfect. It twists well too. The 0.025" might not be bad for very small lures, but the 0.032" is still the one to have. I haven't used the 0.041", but it is a lot closer to the size of the 19 gauge national wire I was buying previously (so still not a bad thing).

That bait is sweet. It looks like the fish is hemorrhaging and provides all the more reason for a bass to crush it. Since it is in small doses, I'd say it is a major plus!

The blue had no bond at all, but if I happen to see red while I'm out I may give it a whorl.

Alright, despite my stubbornness to change. Drilling the hole larger than the screw and just filling the hole up with glue is the way to go. The twist test proved successful so far with this method.

Threadlocker blue didn't work at all. I'm thinking since the hole was only large enough to thread the screw in that there wasn't enough glue on the threads to prevent it from turning. I'm going to try drilling a slightly larger hole about half the length of the eyescrew into the previous hole and then fill the gap with super glue. This way I can have the best of both worlds and have half of the screw threaded and the other half loaded with glue.

I've read the Zap Gap glue is supposed to be very good, but its pretty expensive for ca glue. Do you think the Zap Gap brand is better than other CA glues? In other words, is it worth buying over something like Gorilla Super glue? Also, from my past experience with PVC, I remember CA glue working incredibly well on the eye screws. I'm not having any screws pull out by any means, but if I'm making major adjustments to the eye screw when tuning (like if I don' initially have it seated with the eye perfectly vertical) I've noticed that the screw will break free and turn (in resin lures). I make the eye hole so that the eye screw threads in. You can't pull it out, even without glue, but it will pivot if the bond is broken which can throw the lure out of tune. This is why I was asking about threadlocker red. I've never heard of it being used on plastic. I like using a syringe and needle to inject ca glue, and would prefer to not go the epoxy route. I have some threadlocker blue, so I'll give that a whorl. And see if it does anything.

Has anyone ever tried a threadlocker (red in particular) with eye screws in resin? I was looking for a glue (other than a 2 part epoxy) that would resist twisting of eye screws. CA glue is tough and easy to apply with a syringe and needle, but the bond will break if the screw is torqued.

Awesome. This shows how valuable hand crafted lures really are! Anxious to hear how this stuff turns out.

resin

Haha! None of them! I hate them all! I have an entire forest's worth of wood from ruined epoxy lures! I have enough ruined resin lures to build a house with from DN, solarez, and half a dozen other clears!

I super glued or hot glued them in place before clear coating the lure with D2T. Do not use etex epoxy, it will run down the fibers and ruin them. That is how I did it anyway.

Unless you are wanting some crazy colors, I suggest using paint brush bristles... much cheaper. I used to get different colors from Sportsmans Warehouse from the fly tying section. These were not in large quantity though.

I've tried some stainless welding wire, but it snapped when I twisted it for eye screws.

McMaster-Carr I'm currently using a 19 guage wire that I pick up from Ace hardware/ true value/ tractor supply and other stores that carry the National brand. According to a wire gauge reference chart, this comes out to 0.0359" (inches) diameter. I want to try some of the bend-and-stay (soft temper) wire from McMaster carr, as it is a little cheaper. Does this wire twist well? For those of you that have used the National brand too, does the 0.032 diameter wire seem like a good substitute for the 19 gauge? These are for bass cranks. Also, I make some cranks that are about 1.75" long that I am looking for wire replacement. The 19 gauge wire is a little big for the profile, but more importantly it is heavy for the lure's size. So my question for this is do you think the 0.025 wire size is appropriate for this lure? Pros/ Cons you experienced using the 0.025 size? Lastly, is there a wire size you like for medium and large swimbaits? Lots of questions I know. I hate buying online and want to make sure I don't end up with pounds of paperweights. Thanks!

I got the damaged crank back from the guy. A good chunk of clear had come off the top, taking the all the paint down to the resin. On the same lure, there were several spots were the clear had come off too. The lake this guy fishes has tons of docks, and it was evident from the cracks in the clear that he had banged a few very hard. However, he hasn't had the lure for more than about a month and has been crackin' some good fish on it too. Needless to say, I told him I'll repaint it and use a different clear (DN) that should hold up much better. This lure originally had 1 dip coat of solarez. I still use this stuff all the time as a ballast filler and feel it is a great tool for lure making (and around the house fixes), but it's just too brittle for putting on lures as a topcoat.

I'm intrigued, both by the fact that varnished wood still allows moisture in and by the possibility that I've been eating aluminum coated chips.

That is a possibility Mark. That would imply that something is wrong with my DN. Though I'm trying to remain optimistic and say it is the paint. I haven't noticed anything unusual with other paint schemes... so far.

Yeah, I checked and the paint I was mixing with was Americana from Michaels. I'm chucking it all. I think I need to strip the paint off of the remaining lures and start over. After seeing the same effects after shooting several layers of clear gloss over the color, I think it's my only option.

Hmmm. I already had a few baits painted up, but stopped when I saw the yellowing effect. I purchased some Createx clear gloss (which I've used in the past) and put several coats on one of the remaining bone colored lures to try. The color remained normal after applying probably 5 coats of clear gloss. I proceed to heat set, as I normally would. Not long after putting DN on, the lure started to have the same yellowing. This is the only color I've had issues with, I guess it's time to mix up a new batch. I was hoping a few coats of clear gloss would work, but I guess the DN is still able to get to the color.

I've had the same issue with both Solarez and DN. While the coats are curing, the bone color I paint turns a shade darker and becomes mottled with yellow. Anybody ever had this kind of issue with other formulas? I was mixing folk art and createx paints too, so maybe there lie the issue.

You make a great point lnrll. Many of the minnow species (and guppies, such as the mosquitofish) seem to present a distinctive body cavity. I'm more impressed now that you mention this.

Pretty cool design here.