sonoman

By any chance did you use medical syringes to dispense your epoxy?, if so they have a tiny bit of silicone lubricant on the plunger and that will ruin your day....just a thought.

BobP where do you source the Paulownia from? Thanks

Don't worry yourself over things you cannot control, do the best work you can , be honest and fair and you develop a following based on quality work ethic and most likely will be busier than you care to be...best of luck.

Engineered angler has a video of this on you tube, epoxied twist hangers pulled out at like 160 lbs where superglued ones were much less...def. interesting to say the least.

Small numbers I would go with Marks suggestion, otherwise the local automotive paint store could certainly sell you a 2 part automotive clear that is matte finish, def. not cheap though.

Saltys, ,makes them I believe.

I spent some time on the lure lovers site and there was a thread similar to this but with a wrinkle, the sentiment was that unless the lure was "hand" built , no machines, then it wasn't actually hand built or custom, I am quite certain many could learn from your experience with building cranks. I spend many hours a week building and making baits, cranks are relatively the newest to my bench and I have learned a lot from the folks on here but I still have a ways to go...those Japanese fellas have the bar raised pretty high and that is my goal...number 1 bit of advice I ever received on here was by BOBP, DON'T GET IN A HURRY....

Thank you !

For those of you that have these molds, What is the difference in a Sparkie hed, Arky hed and I see an "s" hed ? which visually appear very similar...help.

There is an issue with hospital syringes they tend to have a tiny amount of silicone lube on the rubber, you can have several be fine but then get one with a bit more and your topcoat will do crazy things, thin finish it dimples like crazy, thicker stuff may fish eye, trust me I have had every issue under the sun till I stop swiping hospital syringes....you can buy the correct ones from rod building supply companys or maybe LPO....

One thing about bubbles is that if you see them at least you know the stuff is well mixed, they are easily dealt with, a cheap heat gun from harbor freight on the low setting and a turner and the bubbles are gone, I'd rather deal with the bubbles than poorly mixed epoxy.

There is a fella on a crankbait site that says to remove the white powder from the outside all ya have to do is take a hair dryer and heat it a bit and it comes off, as for the inside not sure if its possible to get that clean without destroying it.

Good I didn't mess it up then...lol, thanks for the reply

It is if you want a nice smooth finish that isn't thick in one area...just my .02

Do you thin it at all?, I used it on one so far but I haven't painted it yet.

thanks , seen your work its awesome, thanks for the reply.

Reminds me of the guys the do custom pen blanks, they turn them down for some wild looking ink pens.

Thanks I will try the polytranspar, def. in no hurry since its mainly for me... def don't mind some of that buildcoat esp. since not all blanks are perfect.

Thank you , I have done that in the past as well, worked well as I recall . thank you for the reply

I have done that as well, just know there is something that they dip them in...thanks for the reply.

For you guys that build cranks , specifically BALSA what products are you using for the "build" coat?, the white undercoat, I have used many things at this point and wondered if there was an actual go to product...Thanks