crankpaint

Do you use any poplar/birch in your cabnit making? that carves good and floats well? the oaks really porous so it would take some filling of them to make a smooth bait

E-tex should fit the bill,most of the musky guys/gals use it or d2t,so if it will take the beating a musky will put it thru it will stand up to saltwater use just make sure to use stainless wire/hook hangers and hooks or the salt water will eat them right off the bait and the rust can build up inside on reg. wire and break the plug and the wire

it looks like your looking for your cranks to supend or rise very slowly? just ajust the weight till the back of the lure just sits above the waterline and then subtract afew grams for your finish and the wood you will remove when drilling for the weights should get you what you want

If you look on utube theres a great one about what colors fade out at what depth(in clear water) i think you punch in---How fish see color to get it and its a two part video blue is the last color to fade out

i use the devcon 5 min and e-tex over everything so it will be waterproof,also you can use foil as the back of the eyes and it gives it a diff look

And you can really say it's Hand made too,Good luck and good fishing

you can make some 3d eyes with some 5 min epoxy,hole punch and some reflector tape(I use bumper stickers too)just punch out the back part of the eye add a pupil any color you want,then mix up some 5 min epoxy putting a small dab on the reflector tape dot you punched out just so it gos to the edge of the dot let it dry and you have a 3d eye

pictures for the drying rack

i made a good drying rack out of a wire coat hanger.I just bend it to fit the lures i made and can be made long or wide depending on how your bait are made just bend it to size putting kinks where you want the baits to sit on the top n bottom and straighten out the hook so it can be clamped in a vara speed drill(I used a b&d charger type two speed on low speed),put paper clips on the wire were the lower part will be,Then get some thick rubber bands and put them on the upper ends with a paper clip attached to it for the bait to clip to. Clip the paper clips to the lure front and back so the rubber band holds it tight and e-tex the bait and let it spin (mine spins about 10 rpm)

you might also have some oil coming out of the paint or on your hands getting on the bait as you tape the bill or handle it try washing the bait with hot water before you paint it, i have had that happen on new baits it might be the release agent the manufactor uses? and blow dry it before you paint anything

yes sorry about the spelling

its all in the person behind the brush i use a cheap (price tag said $10.00 ) air brush for most of the painting on my crank baits but use a badger for fine details,and i do a good job on them enought to catch fish anyway?? you might try a cheaper brush first(harbor fright) and see what that will do as for compresser auto types are the way to go becouse of the tank you(your wife) don't have to hear the compresser running every ten min. just put a dryer/regulator between the tank and your brush dial in the pressure and paint away

i have a few baits i finished with e-tec that have drip marks in them can you sand the e-tec and reapply new over that to get a clean finish?

you do great topics on making baits,and it helps us newbies alot thank you

if you really would like to reuse them (not a good thing really)most of the time when you knock out the inside bearing the seal will come out with it becouse the outside of the bearing is the same size as the outside of the seal,i made a tool shaped like an L to knock out the bearings just tap your way around it just make sure it can drop out of the hub by lifting the hub up a few inchs i spent 30 years fixing boat/motors trailers 20 in the coast guard!!! so i know of what i speak..lol best thing to do is buy a new one as its cheap insurance and get bearing buddys for the hubs to help keep the water out and when you put the bearing buddys on and fill them with grease don't over fill them or you will push out the seal you just installed, just fill them till the spring you see on the inside starts to compress about a 3rd you just want to keep a little pressure on the grease not alot...hope this helps

nice running bait,should get bit