redear

the best paints to use are the powder paint and the liquid vinyl paint from component systems. the liquid vinyl is the toughest in my opinion, but it stinks, and has short shelf life. the seal coat water based clear coat from cs is the best stuff to use as a top coat as long as the color underneath is not a dark color, because it is just a tad milky, but man is that stuff ever hard.

the lead will adhere to gold hooks, but you will have to sand the finish off the area of the shank where the lead will be, in order to use bronze finish fly hooks. there are exceptions though. I have heard there are some cheaper, light bronze colored fly hooks out there that the lead will stick too, without sanding. I don't know the mfg. tho.

vinyl paint is tough, has great colors, but has a short shelf life. powder is real convenient but can be tricky if you are just heating with a propane torch and swishing in the jar. so I started dipping my crappie jigs in tamiya acrylic and the glossy colors are great and pretty tough, I use their clear over top of the color. but the jars are real small about 1 oz. It uses their special thinner, but can be cleaned up with water if it hasn't dried yet. the clear green, and blue are awsome also their light green is chartruese if you asked me. great stuff for crappie jigs but if you are doing bass jigs then powder is probly the way to go, I just don't like the way it can increase the diameter of the head if your not careful.

I had shawn collins make me a jig mold about six months ago, and It is so beautifull and precision made that sometimes I just get it out and marvel at it. yes he is probably backordered, but I have to tell ya, any waiting and there will be waiting, will be worth it. just email him and discuss the project. He likes to have a few hooks to go by, and actually uses them to proof mold when he's done to make sure it's right.

has anyone tried lacquer paint on small jigheads? I was thinking about dipping them one at a time. the heads are oval shaped 1/16 oz. for tying calftail hair. The jigs I like the looks of, have a transparent like thinned look for the color coat. I was thinking it could be lacquer. Anyway does anyone have another source other than auto zone? I like the thought of buying clear lacquer, and having multiple pigments on hand to create the shade I want. Sources for lacquer and pigments, is what I'm interested in I guess. I have tried powder and vinyl, but still like the looks of a little transparency.

Munkin, thanks for the heads up. I am only pouring a couple hundred jigheads a year, in this style, because they are just for me and a few freinds. I don't have the time for selling these, so maybe the collins mold will suit me better. What do ya think?

I hear ya small, I agree with everything ya said. I saw somewhere that there was an add for dragonfly lures, and they claim on their site, that they can have made any custom mold ya like, and they claim they are very nice. Has anyone seen or used one of these molds? They don't show any photos on their site. Would really like to see a photo before I order.

Guys, I just registered a few minutes ago, and I recieved a collins mold last week.It was several weeks late, and ther were times when he didn't return my emails, but when I would email back and ask if he had recieved my email, he would respond. He admitted he was too busy. That being said, the mold is beyond my expectations. It is beatiful! I was going to order another one, but after hearing how many there were backlogged, maybe I'll wait till fall, hoping he catches up. It was a 1/16 oz. crappie jig mold called the flame, for tying hair. pinkie style jigs