JBuff

Depends on the bait your making, certain colorants have black added to them ie...green pumpkin, you can play on the colorant and reduce the amount of black you need to mix and still arrive at a good degree of opaque without sacrificing color. Don't exempt the amount of flakes you may use as well. Also depends if you're laminating 2 colors, one can be more translucent than the other, determine which one you want to be dominant.

Sad to hear this he was my first supplier and I still have several bottles of colorants I use sparingly. RIP

I see a constant in that the colors you list are translucent or slight bleed very little colorant in both. How I've mixed when creating a new color is a process of starting with a mix I already have a recipe for that's similar so I already have a base. If you don't have a base mix recipe then the best way to start is minimal colorant and work up. I start with the same amount each time 8 oz. I keep a mold handy of the configuration I'm making the color for so that with each additional color or drops I add I mix and will pour out a sample in the correct mold so I can see what I need to see. Yes it is trial and error but it's controlled so the error possibility goes down and in the process you'll find that along the way you may create another color you'll want to use later and you'll have the recipe.

What I see is the salt opaques and milks the limetruse bottom so I would start with 8 oz 1 drop of Avocado, 1 drop of Chart. If you don't use salt add 1 drop of white until you reach your taste of opaque. It does look like a Dirty Sanchez IMO.

Assuming you're familiar with taxes. Add up: Energy cost, raw materials cost, incoming shipping cost for raw materials, sq ft cost<tax write off, mold costs< tax write off, storage cost, packaging cost, incoming shipping cost for packaging/supplies, time to package, last but not least your time to make the baits. I'm sure I've missed a couple. Taking out the above I'd say you're going to need to Net around $23-28. an hour give or take.

My standard bone is 8 oz. 3) Drops of white and a paperclip drop of Scupp

Ask yourself 3 questions for starters and weigh your answers: 1) Am I willing to give up a good portion of my fishing time? 2) What do I deem as success monetarily? 3) Am I self disciplined?

I started Fringe Tackle out of necessity...I needed an income. I'd been making baits for myself as a hobby/competitive edge previously. That was then and through time I've experienced extremes good and bad. I have a few regrets but none measure up to the loss of time I've had to fish for the last 10 yrs. I'm nearing the end of my bait making for pay days, when I decided to sell off my remaining swimbait molds it dawned on me I'd better make some for me....I hadn't had the opportunity to throw my own bait...always making them for someone else.

In 2010 I went down the rabbit hole intending to locate and purchase the molds. After a bunch of phone calls and misinformation I gave up eventually thinking they had gone to scrap. I could've done with out seeing this thread.

What appears to be bubbles is actually the contraction of the plastic when you drip or miss center. By design the "rings" are cut to prevent capturing bubbles, I've poured thousands and can honestly say I've never had an air bubble in a ring. One thing though if you fill too fast you may see some air trapped at the top just below the reservoir. It should take in a 5" about 5-6 seconds to fill the cavity, fill backup and top off the previous pour (eliminates dents). As I posted previously practice hitting the center and you'll see this go away with repetition. A tip for success is to get in the habit of always holding your pyrex at the same height and always start with a narrow stream.

By the photos those are cold cracks caused by not heating the mold first and you didn't hit the center of the gate when you first start pouring. Try heating the mold and pour until you get the pour stream and center consistent, once you have those down you can go with a cold mold. It's all about repetition

I tried to accomplish different "shimmy" actions via different blends of plastisol but because of the configuration there isn't enough density of material to make a noticeable difference. Personally I take 10 penny nails and cut the head off and insert in the bait. Depending on where I can get to swim in a circle or fall backwards on a dead stick.

$115.00 plus shipping out of the incoming drum.

I'm really not into the whole "covert" thing that has allowed plastisol to gain a life of it's own LOL. I stated one drum as a trial run for reasons that involve logistics, I don't need to elaborate further. I did however learn something from both of your posts, we talk to some of the same people and you assume I'm an idiot when it comes to something as simple as shipping.

For logistics purposes since we just relocated the first trial run of Med should be delivered today or tomorrow, I completed the ramp for offloading yesterday. 1/2 of the drum is ordered so I still have some of it available. I'll offer this up 2 single gallons $38.00 plus shipping until I run out on this particular drum. PM me if your interested. J

Thanks Frank, I appreciate the input and this is why I'm monitoring this thread. Now that we've relocated into a much larger shop we'll have the needed space to degass. I would point out this, for nearly 7 months many people were under the impression they were still acquiring Baitjunkies degassed when in fact they were getting poly sol that as far as I know wasn't. In effect Fringe is in the process of getting back people who were use to Calhoun via Leonard. Degassing is one of several avenues to achieve that. Thanks again.

I didn't believe it would I just hadn't seen any posts on the subject.

An issue I've never seen addressed is whether or not degassing affects bouyancy? So much is made of bouyancy of different grades of plastisol.

I've let this thread play itself out to a degree in an effort to establish what the most common thought patterns are. We're the Calhoun Distributor as was Baitjunkies and Leonard did an outstanding job, it's our goal to continue what he established. I've been pouring (not injecting) Calhoun for 10 yrs and like the cell phone (what did we do before their invent) have never used degassed plastisol. There are two trains of thought. 1) The plastisol is to blame & 2) Over mixing Understanding DIY as I do having the same roots, there's going to always exist a base of 'need' depending on whether a person can use a certain amount of plastisol within a given period of time. ie if a person has limited time to pour/shoot with limited cavity counts they may only go through a gallon every two weeks. This scenario requires different re-mixing of material. If a person has more time and higher cavity counts they will use more material and faster which in turn will require fewer remixes. I do find the degassing issue interesting in so much as not having ever done it I have to ask "does degassing save time"? It's seems to me that the amount of time it would take would be similar to just heating and wait for the bubbles to rise naturally. On the outside it appears to me that a step is being added with the same end result. I'd like to read some responses.

Same plastisol not degassed.

That would be me..Fringe Tackle Co. What can I do for you?

Attempted to pm and it's not going through. If a mod would contact us we'd appreciate it. Fringe Tackle Co 254-239-9697, e mail fringetackle@yahoo.com Fringe has recently became the Calhoun Distributor. Thank you, Jeff

Could you please send me some pics of all? email to fringetackle@yahoo.com or text to 254-239-9697 Thanks J

Kudzu black flake over Smoke blue flake

Don't forget you'll also have your State sales tax as well. I've lost track but I believe some states will make you charge sales tax if you ship into their state. Leonard probably knows more about this than I.