Anglinarcher

I can tell we have similar intents. Very few on this site know my name, and like you, I do not help to become famous or well known. As an engineer myself, I tend to be detailed oriented, sometimes too much. As a scholar, I like to debate, but hate to argue (yes, there is a difference LOL). As a pragmatist, I tend to realize that sometimes shooting for the stars is a worthy goal, but an unreachable one that should be moderated.

Did you degass your silicone when you made your mold? Venting might indeed help, but .......... I am not a Smooth-On guy, more of an Alumilite guy myself, but a lot of the things are interchangeable to a point. If they can help at Smooth-On, best to get the information straight from the horse's mouth; but, if not, then come back to us and perhaps we can work it out.

Thanks DIY, and I remember the two recipes. If I lived where I could not get the premade materials, I would be very interested in your recipes. Sometimes we take for granted where we live as individuals and forget that we each live in different areas. Also, the satisfaction of doing something yourself is different for each of us. I have fly tying materials dating back 55 years, and have spent far more on my stuff then I care to remember. To date, I can assure everyone that I could buy flies cheaper then I can tie them. Still, I have very few purchased flies, very few recognized "patterns". I tie flies to satisfy myself, and that has made the 55+ years of collection worth it.......to me. There are going to be some that find making plastisol to be equally satisfying.

One thing is for sure. While I personally don't think there is value as Old or Antique lure(s), I believe there is substantial value as folk art. My wife likes to watch the TV show "American Pickers" a lot, and I see things selling there for prices that I would not even consider. That may indicate I am cheap, or that I not the collector type. In fact, there are a lot of less flattering things it might indicate as well. But, my wife went through my tackle box and removed lures that my father and my grandfather used, and some of the ones from my childhood, and is keeping them for a shadow box collection. To her, they are history and deserve to be collected - to me, it means I have lost some favorite lure choices when I am fishing. I have to maintain peace at home, so her shadow box is more important than my lure choices. I am glad that my wife did not see these, because I am sure she would have added them to the shadow box collection. LOL

I guess that I would want to define what extremely ment. So far we are are talking allergies, and my wife has allergies to almost everything so I don't want to discount that as a problem, but my wife has allergies to perfumes and aftershave and so far no one admits that perfumes and aftershaves are "toxic" and definitely not "extremely toxic". PS, my wife needs to carry a rescue inhaler in case one of the smells gets her too bad........ happens several time a year. The fact is that too much water is "toxic". Many people have died drinking too much of it to "hydrate" before an athletic event. It is not common, but it happens often enough, but most of us don't consider it toxic. Of course, not having enough water sure would be considered "toxic" or at least the results are toxic. We won't talk about how toxic it is if it gets into the lungs. LOL Can we say drowning victim. Same issue with breathing 100 oxygen, or ....... We live in a society where we can make claims without substance and then they are accepted or expected to be accepted as fact. To question or object to that fact makes us a "hater" or a "bigot" or a "place your favorite political weapon of choice here". I think that it would be appropriate to ask the to substantiate his claim, to define what "extremely" means to him. Not to be a "hater" or a "bigot" or a "place your favorite political weapon of choice here", but to put the onus back where it belongs. Perhaps when we understand what the "well respected guy" means, we can establish a common frame of reference to discuss the subject. From my point of view, varnishes, urethanes, moisture cures, etc., are all "more" toxic than Etex or the other epoxies. After all, the aforementioned all produce far more fumes and vapors then the epoxy class, and have the potential for the same skin irritations, eye irritations, etc. Nevertheless, I am open to learn, to discuss, to advance the knowledge base regarding the toxic levels of anything, as long as I know what "toxic" and especially "extremely toxic" means to the discussion in the first place.

Weird, I just pulled it up, entered "Archimedes dunk test" and it gave me two pages, back the 4/25/2011 when Vodkaman did his post. I wonder if it was a temporary glitch?

Being normal causes cancer in California. Once told my family that I was cutting off the branches of the family tree that extended into that State. I was joking then, but not so sure now. LOL

Finger nail polish remover has oil, but straight Acetone from hardware stores do not. But, that nail polish remover can be a pain.

Probably dipped in clear plastisol.

So very true. I can write some of the greatest equations for determining these things, but I can do it trial and error faster. ROFLOL YES, so very true. I have a swimbait I am working on now, waiting for clear water to video and make a determination, and three versions of it have no ballast, just heavy resin on the bottom and either high MB on top or foam. Truer words have never been said.

Epoxy like Devcon 2 Ton, Etex, AlumiUV, even thin superglue then sanded (a little less "smooth" unless you use very fine sandpaper). I don't know which silicone you are going to use, and the platinum cure ones are more sensitive, but these will work. I normally use AlumiUV.

Nope. The CMYK color chart that applies to paints (subtractive) does not allow for that?? But, using Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-black, or their close look alikes, you sure can get a bunch of them. LOL http://www.color-chart.org/cmyk-color-chart.php

This is Alumilite White, so I would use the Alumilite Microballoons. It has a density of 1.07 g/cc but even with an equal volume of microballoons, the density is still about 0.67 g/cc. An equal volume of microballoons to resin is the max that Alumilite suggest for pouring, and it is pretty thick. Still, for your lure, if you use a squish type mold, it will work ok. Mike Faupel with Alumilite shows how he did this in the following video. https://www.makelure.com/store/pg/54-How-To-Videos.aspx#prettyPhoto/7/ The density chart is the following: https://www.makelure.com/store/pg/177-specific-gravity-chart.aspx If you do an Archimedes Dunk Test (Vodkaman posted a link on this several years ago) you can get the density of the desired lure. This will give a good start to help you find the right density. I do the dunk test on the lure without hardware on it so all I have to worry about the top coat and clear coat. For that lure (6"), I would guess about 5 or 6 grams. Yes, they sure are. But they are one way to solve the problem. Still, the Alumifoam is the density of Cedar. This is light enough that you will have lots of room for ballast. Done right, you can match a lure in probably 4 to 6 attempts. Determining the location and amount of ballast is as hard as find the right mix, but that is true of making lures with wood as well.

I am going to venture some educated guesses on this one. At the very least, my thoughts might spark some memories or thoughts from others. 1) The hooks seem fairly modern, like within the last 20 years. They are not held on by split rings, so it means it is hard to change out hooks. This suggest it is fairly new. 2) The popper has a belly ballast weight, but it was crudely finished. This suggest either old or hobbyist. 3) The paint was hand done, with brush marks showing in the paint. This suggest hobbyist or old. 4) All of the old paint jobs I have seen, even the never used lures, seem to dull with age. These lures seems very bright, very clean, almost too bright. This suggest they are fairly new. 5) When I zoom in the BB7 looks like it was done with a brush, but the BB9 looks like it was done with a sharpie. This again suggest a hobbyist. If they were the same, I would think they could have been done later by someone else, but I think that it was just done at different times by perhaps the same person. My guess, somewhat educated guess, is that it they are 10 to 30 year old hobbyist creations, never used. The popper would surely catch fish today. The other one may not swim at all, and with the line tie in that top head location, I am sure that is what was intended. I suspect that the markings BB7 and BB9 are lost with the Hobbyist who made them. I don't know if this helps or not, but maybe it will spark some conversation about the observations.

Yes, have done it. I prefer 100% so there is not water in it like rubbing alcohol. Etex is thinner so it deposits less. Dick Nites and KBS are thinner so perhaps..........

Hi John, nice to have a new person on the site. This would be a good case for posting a picture.

Or bad ballast like some I got several years ago. Pretty hard to drill and ballast hollow plastic lures. LOL I tried.

Just remember to do this, it makes a huge difference and is the one thing I don't see done in most videos.

Yes, it is. When you coat with an epoxy clear coat or some other slow cure clear, then this allows the material to self level and it gives a more uniform coat. If you use a moisture cure, or other material, a short cure material that you can dip, etc., then the lure turner or dryer serves no purpose that I know of. For example, I have a lure turner that I use for Devcon 2 Ton, and also for Etex. I don't need it for the AlumiUV because as soon as I coat it, I let it self level, then I zap it with UV so it stays in place and does not sag, etc.

Of the three, I suggest the gravity feed Neo CN Gravity-Feed Dual Action Airbrush. I use a Talon and love it. I have a bottom suction feed and do not care for it unless I am doing lots of one color painting. That is the one I use. I have a second one for big jobs where I need to keep the pressure up all the time, but, almost never plug it in. I use the big one more to fill my vehicle tires. LOL Great question, but in the end, it depends on you. For example, I have tons of lures that have terrible paint jobs, some that are just worn, some that I touched up 30 years ago, some that were just not that good to begin with, but they all catch fish. Personally, I would rather have a bad paint job in my tackle box that works then a pretty lure that won't work. I can practice on something else, but if I am ready for lures, I plan on using them, or giving them away to someone that will. Again, another one that depends on you. I have never used any ventilation for water based paints, but legally, I won't take the risk of telling you that you don't need one. In this world, I can sue you because I don't like the color of your eyes, and if I get the right judge and jury, I will win. Sure, it is not likely to happen, but why risk it. Get the safety data sheets for the products and determine yourself. In most cases, they say non-toxic, then even they have 5 pages of disclaimers to keep the lawyers away. To play records, also called vinyl. LOL I have been doing lures in one capacity or another for 40+ years and that is one I did not even know of. One last thing Jake, welcome to the site. We need new people, new blood, new ideas. To see our past discussions, and maybe to check out bait suppliers, hover your mouse over ACTIVITY at the top right of this screen. On the drop down menu, go to search at the bottom and click on it. Once you have it up, enters the keywords and hang on.....years of great info.

You know, heating Silicone molds occasionally is one way of making them last longer. It removes hardeners and other things that permeate into the silicone. BUT, I would suggest painting the mold with Silicone oil after your are done for the day, just to keep them "healthy",

It can be hard to find the search feature on TU. Hover your mouse over ACTIVITY at the top right of this screen. When the drop down menu comes up, go to search at the bottom. Enter your keywords and hang on. Lots and lots of info. Welcome to the site. Perhaps, for sure I won't be trying to make my own.

Hi Lock, good to have another new person on the site. Welcome. To help out on this site, hover your mouse over ACTIVITY at the top right of this screen. When the drop down menu comes up, go to search at the bottom. Enter your keywords and hang on, lots and lots of information. Now, we have had discussions on this site recently about the subject, and we have a couple of young guns that are doing excellent work with 3D printing. I am impressed! But, the take I get from it is that it takes several hours to print out a lure, not much cost per lure, but time. I think that prototyping is the most common thing I hear done. Excellent prototyping, and Hughesy has done some excellent ones. Unless Hughesy does it, I don't know of anyone that actually prints and then paints lures veres making them out of other things.

Oh yes, and the jelly to. I normally take a cold chisel to the seam line on the Vac-Master to open it the first time. But, sweet after that.

I have not tried making molds from fiberglass, but I have out of difficult materials like Alumilite Vac-Master 50. On my silicones and Vac-Master 50, I find a light coat of Petroleum Jelly works well. Also, most of the problem comes when you try to seperate the molds the first time. I find that is from the top layer seeping around the edges of the bottom half and bonding to it. I remove the bottom half from the mold box and coat the edges of the bottom half with the jelly, then put it back into the mold, then coat the bottom half exposed layer, then proceed as normal. You might try petroleum jelly and see if it works for you. I also get excellent results from Alumilite's UMR but the jelly is available over the counter (Vaseline and the like).