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good point. I've been using the torch on envirotex lite. What I really need to do is find a good brush to apply it rather than using a small screwdriver. That way it would be thinner to begin with. But it does help remove air bubbles and is fun to use. Sometimes I'll just take the torch to get it runny then remove a bunch from the bottom as it turns. Ultimately I end up with a thinner overall coat. I've been to LB. My bros wife is from there.

small butane torches can also come in handy. They will thin the epoxy as it's curing and also help get rid of air bubbles. I run the flame about 1/2 inch from the bait and parallel to the bait. I also just learned the trick to blow on the epoxy to get rid of air bubbles. I've mostly been using envirotex lite lately but the D2T is good stuff for sure (wally world stopped carrying it around here).

I also thin D2T when I use it and put on 2 coats with about a day bw coatings. Probably thin it about 65:35 (D2T to epoxy/laquer thinner). By the time its fully mixed I believe it ends up being about a 72:28 mixture since the thinner is so volatile and evaporates during mixing. I almost always just coat one lure at a time and use the bottom of a pop can to mix/thin.

Hi Whittler ! Here's my smallest. Mahogany, #8 treble. I had to cut down and round the lip to get it to swim properly(was planning to when I made it). On this one I didn't use any ballast (other than #8 hook). I've made a few slightly larger and used a single #BB spit shot for ballast. Lip is 0.040" lexan available from hobby shops (or that auction site). I've only used Mahogany but recently bought some balsa so I may try that. Here's a thread from last summer. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/13446-small-ultralight-single-treble-crankbaits-advice-needed-please-post-pics-3.html For all my baits I make my hook hangers from about 0.031" wire (a guess, just some wire I bought at harbor freight tools). I make the hook hanger or tie in loop and then wrap wire around the main shaft. I'll wrap wire about 1.8 cm up the main shaft and then cut it down to about 1.5 cm. Then I use cheap and runny super glue to glue them it. It soaks into the wood real well and takes about 4-5 additions of superglue over about 3 days to fill the hole it.

I was at the local hobby shop yesterday to get a Tamiya pearl white rattle can. As it turns out they had 3 HOK rattle cans for $3 each so I bought them too. Then I noticed a HOK spray gun kit that came with its own pump (looked like an aquarium pump). Regular $65 on sale for $38 (last one). The gun is just semi-clear plastic that screws on to a small plastic bottle. On the screw on top there is a hose that connects to the pump. There are no different sized tips though, you get the spray thickness you get. I couldn't find it online and the guy at the shop said HOK went out of business. He also said many thin coats is the key w HOK and to overspray on both sides. Does anyone know what spray gun kit I'm talking about? Would it give better quality than quality rattle cans? Has HOK gone out of business?

I've seen a couple baits made with those. The first used a small bolt and a single nut. Some type of loctite or glue must have been used on the nut. Also since you might not be able to find the perfect length bolt, you may need to dremel end to make flush (depending how particular you are on details like this). The second bait I saw had (thicker)wire bent on both sides. You might also be able to use a small nail with a big head and then just bend the one end. The nut/bolt was the cleanest looking.

Nice work! Another option for pupils is to get what is called a "revolving punch pliers". These punch holes smaller than a standard paper hole punch. I saw them at JoAnn fabrics the other day but I'm sure hardware stores also sell them. Take electrical tape and tape a piece to wax paper (or shiny thick paper that junk mail advertisements often come on, if it is shiny chances are electrical tape will not adhere superwell to it which is what you want). Then if you are using wax paper get some thick paper to put behind it, or if you are using shiny thick paper just punch away. By using just the right amount of pressure you will perforate the tape but not the backing behind the tape. Then you can just peel them off. I use exacto to start peeling. Sometimes the entire thing ends up in hole and you must fish it out, etc but you still can get your pupil. As a side note, I've got a lure curing right now that has eyes made from holo tape (paper punch- eye backround)and electrical tape(revolving punch- electrical tape pupils). I've had the revolving punch for a while but just got a paper punch friday night. Mine are not 3-d like yours and I ended up having to babysit the pupils for over an hour because I heated my bait with a torch because my etex was not smooth bc I finally decided to wait for 15 minutes on the etex like everyone seems to say(to help remove air bubbles which I always seem to have a few). Like that last sentence? I had never done that before (wait 15 min on etex)and never will again! The pupils slid off due to the heat and every few rotations I used an exacto to repostion. I left after an hour+ of babysitting and luckily they stayed (more or less) in place. I wanted the pupils slightly forward and down to give the mean look of the McStick but they slid a little bit. The coating was still not smooth after all that so I had to sand it and ended up sanding into the paint in places,etc,etc,etc so I had to repaint which I wasn't happy with the result,etc,etc,etc. I'm sure everyone has been there....

just to confirm what others have said. It does not cure clear. At all. I just learned the hard way. Try true value hardware if you want to find D2T or etex locally.

if that doesn't work you might try "Epoxy and Laquer Thinner" (bc it sounds like gnarlier stuff than DNA). Here's some info on both. I use the 2nd product to thin my D2T. It dissolves sharpie that I put on my eyes (rhinestones)for pupils but does not seem to affect rattle can paint. parks-templateF

Who in their right mind would BUY a bottle cap lure? Not to mention they cost $40 for 6. He's probably LHFAO to the bank.

Rookie sighting here! I think he's just shy of this celebrity thread!

thanks for the warnings on the dremel tool guys. I've noticed the abrasive cutting wheels (which is what I use to cut lip slots) can also grab and melt lexan and plastic. I was messing around with an old poes and when I got to the wood/plastic interface where the lip is it grabbed. So be careful. Also be careful the deeper in you get with the cutting wheel.

I just started using a dremel and they are great. The cutting wheels I use came from a harbor freight kit like this. They are about 0.040" thick. I plan to use some of the other accesories in it to shape a frog body next. - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

I use a Stanley 15-809 mini hacksaw ($6) to cut my lip slots after the bait is shaped. I draw a line on one side of the bait and do my best. I use 2 sizes lexan lips 0.040" and 0.060". As it turns out the hacksaw blade (which I think is just a standard length hacksaw blade) is about 0.040" thick. So if I'm going to install a 0.040" lip I'll insert it after sawing then look head on into the lip to see how it looks. If it is slightly off angle I fold some sandpaper and can fine tune by sanding the slit. If I'm going to install a 0.060" lip I'll first stick in a 0.040" lip after sawing and see how it looks. Then I just widen the lip with sandpaper (and in the appropriate direction if it is slightly off which I will have noticed from looking at the 0.040" lip). Then I'll stick in the 0.060" when it just fits but is still tight. Then I can further fine tune by sanding the slot appropriately. Once my bait is finished I can further fine tune by dremeling the lip with a fine grinder like rapala used to do when they were made in Finland. I've also just recently starting using a grinding wheel on the dremel to cut lip slots and it is much faster but you must be careful and it takes a little practice to get good at. So you could get get some 0.040" Lexan (had to specialy order mine from a local hobby shop, but I've also seen in on ebay) and a saw blade that is approximately 0.040" thick and go from there.

the glass transition temperature of various polycarbonates such as Lexan and Makrolon seems to range bw 126 and 150C (259=>302F). This is the temperature above which plastics (and glasses) are capable of plastically deforming without fracturing (they becomes "softer", the polymer chains are able to flow like cooked spaghetti) Boiling water=100C (212F) Olive oil boiling T= 300C (570F) I was curious what the BPs of other oils were and they were all higher. Also oils have what is called a "smoke point" which is lower than the BP (I don't cook). So just be aware of that. The smoke point of olive oil is about (depends on purity)191C or 375F so if it starts to smoke you are too hot. Nice looking lures 76gator and thanks for the info on the boiling water. If water doesn't work go olive oil. The glass transition temp also given an idea of where to set oven temps if people want to try that. If you have a thermocouple warm some olive oil to about 140C or so and it should bend fairly easy. I'm kind of surprised bending the lips in boiling water seems so easy based on the Tg. All the power to ya!

there are numerous versions of polycarbonate. Pete posted this link on my ? about bending Lexan (general electric's trade name for their PCs - they make many versions too) Sheffield Plastics - Product Information - Sheet Products - Makrolon

I just noticed that if you get the Dick Nite's banner to appear and click on it, you can get a very nice discount. I am almost certain I will try that out next since it is tried and true (and I like the idea of not have to mix two parts), but I would still like to hear feedback on the Famowood Glaze coat if anyone has experience. Thanks.

I'm wondering if anyone has more recent feedback about this product. I searched "Famowood" in the hardbaits section and read/skimmed most of the threads and there wasn't a whole lot of feedback. I could not find anything negative though. Glaze Coat High Build Epoxy Coating Note: this is NOT the Famowood Duratuff polyurethane coating, but rather a 2 part epoxy designed for the same types of projects as Envirotex Lite. It is a lot cheaper than D2T, Envirotex Lite, Dick Nites, etc. thanks.

thanks for the links Pete. I'm working on my first balsa bait(a minnow/shiner). I like balsa so far, very easy to sand.

thanks for the ideas. That is quite the tutorial that Pete has made! I'm going to start simple with the toaster oven since I have one. I'll let you know how it goes. thanks again.

has anyone done this successfully? thanks!

Nice job on the microwave! One last etex tip. Regarding the 50:50 ratio. It is better to use less hardener than more hardener. Less hardener will just take longer to cure. More hardener will never cure. Of course there are limits as to how far you can push the ratio, but I'm confident 60 Resin:40 Hardener will fully cure no problem.

looks great! "I want this to dive to around 6-10 feet and have an almost neutral bouyancy." you sure are going for it! Jointed deep diving balsa suspender for your first lure! Achieving neutral buoyancy will take some trial and error/practice but you may get lucky on your first try. Nice work, looking forward to seeing the finished lure.

I had my first lexan lip break a few weeks ago. Felt a sudden big tug then nothing. Reeled my lure in (bass crank about 1/4 oz - lexan was 1/16") and the lip was gone. It breaks, just like Rapala lips do! A sudden strong impact would most likely do it.

I had an older but new in box norman floating minnow that was unpainted (and molded from an ugly yellow plastic to boot). Painted it black (with automotive touch up paint which also probably has some nasty solvent)and coated with D2T that was thinned with acetone. Everything seemed fine. For about a month. Now the lure is all deformed, bulging in places and the clearcoat is cracked in a bunch of places. Suprised me too.