t-billy

Jim's right. Lay em out strait for a day or two. Make sure you lay em on a smooth surface. I laid some craws out on a 2x10 once and they picked up the wood grain. No big deal since they were for me,but I wouldn't sell any that looked like that. Also a little worm oil in the bag will make them slick and help keep them soft.

I've been buying my rtv from aeromarine on ebay. $89 a gallon + shipping. Good stuff. I don't degass. I use the bombs away method. Only I dont bother cutting a hole in my mixing cup. I just carefully pour from slightly above waist hight. The silicone stretches into a very fine stream popping all the bubbles. Just take your time. It is easy to keep a steady stream do to the consistancy of the silicone.

Outstanding job Longhorn. Thank you. I learned alot from searching your old threads on the subject when I first joined. This will be a big help to a lot of people. Give the elmers wood glue a try. I get a nice glossy finish and a perfect seal 1st time every time with it. Seems to be working well for some others here also.-------------------------------------------------------------------Best regards,Tim.

LOL. Funny as that is......It's very sound advice.

Check out the strike king rage tail anaconda if you haven't already. There's a video on you tube about the rage baits. It looks just like a snake in the water. I might try to make a mold of it this weekend. I've got a feeling I'm gonna need a bunch of them this year.

I also bought my hotplates at wally world.They're GE 1100 watt. They have a nice steel plate type burner,not a coil. Again,nice even heat just like the cast iron pots. $19.99 I believe. I've got about $100 in two burners and 4 Lodge pots but I couldn't be happier with them.

There's probably nothing wrong with your hotplate. I made the same mistake the first day I had mine. I thought I could set the temp on the burner and it would then heat the plastic to that temp or slightly less. WRONG. My ir thermometer only goes to 425 and it kept reading hi even with the burner on low,but it read lower temps fine. So I put a pot of plastic on it and found I had to turn my 1100 watt burner well past half to get my plastic up to temp. I always add a nice squirt of heat stabilizer and I haven't scorched any plastic yet. Even above 370 for a short time. oops. I should mention I'm using cast iron pouring pots so they may take more energy to heat up than lighter pots.But, they stay hot and heat the plastic evenly. Plus as the level of plastic drops so does the temp. If I'm pouring small or very detailed baits I have to bump up the temp as I go to keep the plastic flowing. 330-340 has been working well for me. Hope this helps.

3.5"- 4.5" swimbaits have become must have lures for me over the past year. They're extremely versatile and they'll nearly always put some fish in the boat. I've caught everything from big crappie to musky on them. The more time I spend with them the more uses I find for them. Plus they're easy to pour. I also consider sticks,craws,tubes,and worms essential if not as versatile. Thankfully pop is cheap and makes great molds. I too recently started pouring,and I've gone through a pile of it with no end in sight.

I recently purchased this mold. This is one sweet little swimbait. Lots of thump and roll even at slow rolling speeds with supersoft. Should be just the ticket for ledge fishing right after ice out. Medium tightens up the wiggle and imparts less roll.

Yeah I used about a 60/40 ratio. The two glues are not even close to the same. I found the Elmers at walmart. The elmers is very tacky even diluted. It also dries to a very smooth glossy finish. I tried a 50/50 mix first and it was too tacky. One coat dried too thick and lost a lot of definition in the mold. 60/40 or even a little thinner seems to work best for me. If you can find it I think you'll be happy with the results.

I was thinking of trying the pork fat thing myself. I'm a big fan of Net Baits paca craw. Those flappy claws draw lots of bites. I don't know how much the pork fat helps because I soak all my craws in bang pure craw. I rig the middle size paca on a baby boo jig and bass eat it. I've reeled up more than one backlash to find either a fish on,or my jig laying 20' from where it landed. I wonder if the fat softens the plastic as well as give it flavour? Might be why the claws flap harder than other brands I've tried.

You bet Longhorn. Thank you. Your posts on pop mold making have been a big help to me. Just a quick update. I went to my local home improvement store to buy a gallon of Elmers. They didn't have it. So I bought a small bottle of Titebond III Ultimate wood glue to try. No good. It dried to a dull rough finish. I guess all super wood glues are not created equal. I'll be sticking with the Elmers even if I have to buy it in small bottles.

First I tried some spray on concrete sealer. Worthless. After finding this forum and doing some reading I tried the Elmers/water mix. It worked well but took a few coats. Last weekend I picked up some Elmers pro bond professional strength wood glue. Interior/exterior. Lable says weather proof with strong initial tack. Seems accurate. I'm mixing it about 60% water 40% glue. It really bonds well with the pop. I flood the cavity and let it soak for 10-15 minutes. I suck the majority of the glue back out with a baster and save it,then blow the excess out of the cavity. Then pop it in the oven on 180 or so for a couple hours. I've been getting a nice glossy finish and a good seal with one coat. I should also mention that before sealing I bake my molds for a few hours at about 280 to dry them. Hope this helps.--------Best regards.

Hi. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the great info here on this forum. Seems like a nice bunch of folks here.I've been doing a LOT of reading here the last few weeks and it's been a tremendous help. You guys saved me a lot of money and aggravation. My one piece pop molds are turning out nicely and I'll be trying my first two piece this weekend. Best wishes to all.