Zygotor

I've kept plastics in gulp juice and there are no issues.

I think you under estimate the humble Aussie Bass. Even small bass will easily take a 2/0, 3/0 spinner bait. I think if you went down to hook sizes 4,2 even 1 you will be making life hard for your self trying to set the hook, as all bass will hit hard and fast. As you probably know the bass's eyes are often bigger than its stomach and they have no issues hitting big lures with big hooks.

No lure blank manufacturer will recommend running the lure without at least a clear coat, even those ultrasonically welded. Once a lure is painted and sealed, even the cheapest of china made blanks will be water tight. Some one previously mentioned about only glued lures being sanded, which is not entirely correct. Depending on the model, a number of ultra welded blanks are also sanded on the seams.

I've used aluminium glitter in the past and it did occasionally spark. Mostly when there was a piece on the surface and it was resting against the edge of the pyrex. I only use high temp polyester glitter these days, as I'm very cautious and even one spark every 100 jars of plastic, is one spark too many for me. The stuff does have a high temp rating though, from memory the glitter I used had a temp rating of 460 degrees.

I have been bending both heavy and light wire (Not Forged) jig hooks, near the eye to fit in to molds for several years and with thousands made I have not had one failure. I also use a stronger lead mixture with a higher percentage of tin, to ensure the bent area is encased in a strong head. It is impossible for these jig heads to fail at the part I bent, rather then the actual hook area. I have only bent a few forged hooks and have had no failures, so I can not give a definitive answer on the success of bending forged hooks, but I would suspect if the bent area is encased in a very solid head, the actual "hook bend" would fail before the part enclosed in the lead.

Lure company got back to me and apparently they use a matte paint only, there is no top coat. What ever paint they use it is super tough, but they weren't giving up any secrets.

I sell a number of lures from an Asian company and one of their colours comes in a very nice matte finish. It is a pure matte finish and looks and feels very different to normal coated lures both above and below the water. It doesn't actually look like there is a top coat on it, so I suspect it may be some special paint they use. It is a very tough finish and is actually more durable then their standard top coated lures. I sent them off an email tonight to see if they will give up any secrets about the paint/top coat, if I get any info I will update the topic.

You are exactly right in people preferring junk. I don't sell lure blanks here is Aus, because there are too many ebayers selling the cheap stuff which people gravitate to, because of price. I ordered a few blanks from one place to see the quality and out of the 5 lures I ordered. 3 had rusty shot inside the lure which prevented it from rattling. They all had cheap wire, the seams were raised and required sanding and to be honest they were only good for practicing painting, I would never swim one.

A very interesting topic, although I can't comment on shelts lure blanks or any other US based seller (I'm located in Aus), I do have a bit of experience with lure blanks. Many would be surprised to know that a lot of the high end Jap lures, actually come out of Chinese factories. The bodies are made in China and are of a very high quality and then shipped to Japan for painting and attachment of hard ware. I have been buying lure blanks for a few years from China and I have seen a lot of low end stuff, but there is also some very nice lure blanks available. The blanks I buy have an excellent finish, with perfect seams, stainless steel wire used and each lure swims true without any tuning. Each lure arrives in an individual plastic bag. One thing I learnt quick is that there is no such thing as copy write in the big bad world of lures. You can have a copy write within the manufacturer you deal with, but there is nothing stopping the lure manufacturer down the street making a complete copy. A person could have any lure on the planet, in production within a couple of weeks, its that simple. Some mentioned Wlure, I have purchased a few blanks over the years and they have some good blanks and some poor ones. It really all depends on the blank you want. Wlure don't buy all their blanks from the same manufacturer, that's why their quality differs. Also some one mentioned lure molds costing $5000. If you are paying that much, you are getting ripped off. Depending on lure types, the production cost of a mold should be $1500-$2000 USD and will have no MOQ attached, as you own the mold.

The wood working vise I use, actually has clamping plates which are bigger then the side of the mold, so each side gets even pressure over the entire area, of each side. I'll make sure I do the drilling prior to removing the hinges.

Thanks for the info on the molds, I will check them out. I have exchanged a few emails with do-it and it appears the hinge is the issue. They stated that they are looking at replacing the hinges on smaller molds with pins. When I get time I will remove the hinges from my molds and will drill and tap a thread and use a bolt and butterfly nut. So I guess I haven't wasted any money, only the time it will take me to make them useable.

I have sent an email to do-it in relation to the molds, but as yet haven't received a reply. Even with the mold placed in a wood working vice which puts even pressure on the full surface of both sides and tightened to a point where I need a hammer to release it, both molds still leak. Very dissapointe4d in the quality of product. Most of my molds come from Bass tackle and all are fantastic, but I couldn't see a similar grub in their product list, so I made the mistake of trying do-it.

Hi, I am after a mold similar to the do-it thump grub or (Slider bass/wall eye striper grub). I recently purchased 2 x thump grub molds, which turned out to be a waste of money, as I can not clamp either mold tight enough to stop the plastic flowing out of the mold. Any one know of a mold manufacturer, which makes a similar mold. Thanks