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Does anyone else have problems with flashing (molds not meeting up at center) when they split and THEN bake the mold? I seem to be more successful when I bake the thing dry and THEN split it. Also, I'm finding that the dry molds split easier if I go around the edge with a belt sander first to clean up the seam. Does everyone split then dry?

Thanks, 1SB. I've got Bojon on PM and email now. I thought I had to go to a website to purchase it.

Oh lighten up you bunch of grumpy old men. I thought I was being funny and was trying to lighten the mood after all I've apparently put you through in this post. With all the fishing you guys get to do, I imagined you'd have a better sense of humor. I am seriously interested in ordering one. Just curious where I go to do so.

Boy, that must be one hell of a CD to have content that can't be put on a website. It doesn't have porn or something on it that the wife will freak out on when she opens the mail, does it? Does it have articulating thumbs that point up to my chest and say "this guy!" in a brash and cavalier manner? Built-in chest waxing capabilities? Oh, enough of the suspense, I need one NOW! Where do I go to order?

Agreed, I had some black sticks in with some pink and over the winter, the pink ones became pink/black laminate. I kept them. They might still work!!!

Information is free, there's nothing being stolen. Why would an experienced baitmaker who owns a bait company want to be on this site anyway if they didn't have something to learn? I'm sure they don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, do they? And if they are indeed learning something, well aren't they getting something out of it too, and not just contributing? I certainly wouldn't want to be a member of a forum where I knew everything already, and then just answered everyone else's questions repeatedly...what's to be gained by that? It would be like getting your master's degree, and then going back to grade school. I hear you, believe me. But how can you tell that someone hasn't searched the posts already? Sometimes the proper terms can be elusive when you're new to a hobby. That's when you just ignore the post if you don't want to deal with it, or help the newb with the proper term to search under. Just some thoughts...

A small RedBull can wouldn't waste a whole lot of plastic, as it's pretty narrow. Wrap it in pipe insulation maybe.

You sure it's not me? Kidding....I used to be a sniper in an online game called Halo, my clanmates gave me the name, as I was rather reliable in dispatching the enemy from a distance. I do a fair bit of hunting as well, both air and cartridge here in the great WI northwoods, although I'm nowhere near as good in real life. Your office guy would probably mop the floor with me in any range trial over 100m. And now, back to your regularly scheduled baitmaking thread...

LOL, I got so caught up with my threadjack that I forgot to mention that I originally tried our old frydaddy, and it just got too hot and smoked the plastic if I didn't manually plug/unplug every few minutes, which can really throw off a pour. I found an old microwave we had sitting around, and it's a million times better (although I'd like to get a hotplate or something to keep it hotter longer, i pour in a cold garage) I'm sure you could find a cheap/free/throwaway microwave to use. Call a buy/sell shop maybe? I sure would like to try Bear's Baits stirring presto pot someday. That thing looks sweet. Speaking of smoking plastic, I finally broke down and got a ventilator at the local HW store. Makes a big difference. Even though I was careful before, I still got headaches after long sessions. But no more. I really recommend it if you don't have perfect ventilation. Regarding tubes: Are you gonna try the horizontal dip technique first, or find a tall vessel for it? I probably can't try until the weekend, but it'd be nice to compare results from doing it differently. Bojon's way looks pretty tempting.

I'm relatively new here, and you have to understand that newer users may not be totally aware of all the contributions by every member to date, or who's an expert on what, or what toes to watch out for. This has nothing to do with Bojon and his accomplishments. I have no disagreement with the fact that he my be a prolific author and expert teacher of technique. And I certainly don't begrudge him a few bucks for his efforts. I take issue with a glib response of "I won't answer your question, but here, buy this guy's CD!" to a legitimate question posed by a member like myself. I'm here to learn and share (for free) what I know if helpful, and I think others are too. I thought THIS was the place where the information gets disseminated, not someone else's CD or hard drive. This isn't rocket science, someone could easily post the CD into a free blog or myspace page or any other of the number of free services out there specifically for this purpose. Or hey, how about here? on this forum? I am considered by many to be an "expert" at website design and application development. Now let's say that I take my 10,000+ hours of application development experience, go to an Open Source forum, and instead of answering questions that get posed, I shill my or my buddies training CD in response to questions. They ban users for that on any of the dev forums I'm on. Why? Because it represents a conflict of interest between that user, and the forum's mission. I have a lot of respect for Bojon and certainly am not meaning to pick on him at all, and I think it's unfortunate that he's been dragged into this thread. I'm perfectly willing to help him post images or other material on the site, as that is one of the areas of my expertise. I'm not averse to putting in a little bit of work for the community as a whole. I just want you to understand why the comment raised a red flag with me. /Great, now I've totally threadjacked. REALLY sorry all. This just ain't my day I guess.

Thanks Dave, that's very short and helpful answer. Bassbug: Here's a good thread that's pretty descriptive. I think I might try Bojon's technique here. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/soft-plastics/16020-horozontal-dipping.html JSC, you're in that thread too. LOL.

Huh? I thought this website was about sharing information. An Open Source alternative to proprietary tacklemaking techniques. Am I wrong about the purpose of this website? "TackleUnderground.com is a fishing lure & fishing tackle maker's community. We discuss the tools, tips & techniques to make your own handmade baits and superior quality fishing tackle. By becoming a registered TU member, you enjoy the opportunity to share & learn from a vast array of talented luremakers from around the world." If someone asks a question on the forum that I know the answer to, should I be charging them for it? Equipment is one thing, but the knowledge should be free, no? It honestly disturbs me when I hear about baitmakers (and other industries) patenting ideas and freaking out about IP law. They want to lay claim on a concept, to own an idea, and all that really does is delay progress for the community/industry as a whole. Knowledge is and should be farking free, whether you paid your PA $10,000 or not for your "stake" in it. JSC - I appreciate you were trying to help, this isn't really directed at you per se. I've just seen some remarks lately by people that seem like they want to use this website as a platform to sell knowledge, which is, from my understanding, contrary to the true community-building, idea-generating, purpose of this website. Also, I'm dealing with a lot of B.S. IP issues in my industry which are stifling innovation at this crux moment for my business, so I'm a bit sensitive about it. /sorry for the rant. Hope I don't ruffle any feathers, I really like this website. Please correct me if I am misinterpreting the mission statement of this website.

Sorry if this is off-topic, but what about if you use a Del or Bob mold, and want to brand your pour under your own name? Like calling your worm the stickinator or somesuch? Not trying to be silly, just love their molds, 'cuz quite frankly, they're better than I could make at this point. /wait til I get my hands on a CNC machine and autocad, durnit!. :smiley:

I've been wondering this also. I nuke plastic in a 1 or 2 cup pyrex measuring cup, and it seems to me that I must need a narrower, taller container to make this work. Anybody got pics of their dipping setup? C'mon...you know you do....POST 'em!

This is a very interesting thread. What if I try an opaque black with heavy white pearl? Anybody try this already? (Or do I have to go out and nuke some plastic? Not that there's anything wrong with that...ahem.)

BTW, I read the article and I think his method is somehow rolling in foil, then clearcoating, but I could be wrong. He mentions that foiling is essentially part of the process, although how he'd do it, I'm not certain. Seems to me the flex of the bait would break the foil. Or the foil would hinder the action of the bait, one way or the other.

I'm interested in this also. I'm tempted to try some chrome spraypaint in the mix, but I'm afraid of what the solvent would do to the plastic, and my health. // Don't do this. It would be extremely dangerous to try, I believe. Input?

Bojon, do you have a trade name for what you're talking about? Do you mean cray-pahs? (sp?) Sorry, maybe I missed it. Thanks in advance.

No, you're MONEY. I'm still a newb. I have learned a ton from you and the others. So thank you. This site rocks. I'm starting to get the itchy "browser refresh" finger these days. I only wish there were MORE posts, hehe. And don't get me wrong Big Pancho, that's a really REALLY nice looking bait. I just think you'll have a lot of problems getting it to swim well with all that hydrofoil. The reason fish can manuever so quickly is because of those fins. They can move them on-the-fly to correct or change direction, you can't. But good luck with your bait anyhow.

Thanks for that link. Just out of curiousity, why DWP instead of POP?

Ah. Got it. I thought you meant a seperate, secondary reservoir to hold hot plastic and drip it into the main pourhole/reservoir. Nice looking mold, BTW. Is that POP?

Whoops. I now see 7 fins on the bigger one.

Think fluid dynamics guys. I count 6 fins on that bait. Those fins are trying to straighten out the bait as it cruises through the water. On the back is an airfoil acting as a disruptor/rudder. There is more surface area devoted to straightening the bait than getting it to move across 1 axis when pulled through another axis. The larger straightening forces are magnifying any little defect on that tail, and trying to keep the bait from wobbling. Since I doubt the tail is absolutely perfect, it pulls to one side, the side fins straighten the bait across that axis, and it ends up rolling. I'm also into model rocketry, and I liken this to the 6-fin rockets I've built. Even if you're using a fin jig, the more fins you put on, the more perfect they have to be, since they want to act like the duct fan on a jet engine when the air (fluid) moves across them. Put these two things together, and you are just asking for spin instead of wobble. My $0.02

Hmmm. I'm not sure what that means. I'd sure like to see a pic, though.

That's really more a "whittlin' on a stick" kind of image you're conjuring up there robalo. LOL.