eastman03

BBK - that baking soda trick with runny glue is a good one. I've seen Marling Baits on youtube use that for filling in some problem areas/divots. It seems to work well, because you can build up layers slowly to get the right depth and almost immediately move on to sanding. I also use bondo for most of my fills, but mostly because I have a larger holes (from lead or thru wire) in my musky lures. Looks like there are a number of good methods to do it! The spackling compound you are talking about BobP, is that drywall mud? I'm not sure what compound you mean.

Welcome here! Lots of previous topics on solving problems with topcoat, use the search feature, I know I have had my share of issues! This should be your starting point and covers pretty much all issues. If you follow these steps carefully, your topcoat should be perfect!

Salty's that last link is a fascinating read! I'm sure that research would extend out to any of the epoxies that we regularly use for lures. I think the scientists who carefully formulated those products would be shuddering at our need to simply mix volatile chemicals into the epoxy to make it more viscous. Obviously, doing so would be sacrificing some part of the characteristics of the epoxy. Also, by trying to get a more waterproof layer by thinning for penetration, we can actually do the exact opposite! Gentle heat seams to be the best way. Thanks for the read.

I had trouble in Canada here finding a store that would carry it, I ordered some .051" safety lock wire from Malin. Expensive (had to ship it), and it was to soft for my liking (should have got hard drawn instead of soft, but it would work just fine for most lures). I just came across Stainless Steel Tig welding rod! Cheap, straight as an arrow. Lots of different sizes and strong. I bought some .062 for my big lures. If you are making smaller lures, there are all sorts of sizes.

It would seem that maybe it wasn't lexan? I have some very old crankbaits that have been beaten and abused, and the bills seem as good as day one besides cosmetic damage. I don't think cutting it with a dremel would have affected it either. From what I understand with Polycarbonate (lexan) could become susceptible to cracking if certain solvents or cleaning agents have been applied to it? or maybe extreme cold?

Goo gone seems to clean up sticky residue left by tape. As far as epoxy spill over onto the tape, not much you can do, carefully cut it out I suppose.

No No! I take it back, send them over haha.

Just so I’m clear, this is not my bait! I wish. It is a nice technique that I want to try.

Hey guys has anyone ever tried using scalloped shears to make a scale look with foil? Time consuming, but I really like the effect! I will have to find some of these. This guy has some cool videos on testing screw eyes and wire breaking strengths too (I'm not affiliated or anything, just found it interesting).

A mesh bag of used golf balls at Canadian tire. Loofa's. A mesh bag protecting oranges worked well. I got some good mesh from a bag at work from high voltage switch parts. All over the place! I have everyone in my family keeping their eyes open for me.

This has been an interesting discussion first and foremost! I appreciate everyone and anyone who is on here willing to share any knowledge or skills they have gained! I have learned pretty much everything about lure making from this site (and a few others). I think that even in some of the more 'heated' discussions there is information to be learned. I've only been here for a year or two and I thank the long term members for answering the constant barrage of questions about the more mundane aspects of lure making (even though many of those questions have been hashed over to death). I would consider myself a crankbait maker, as far as custom crankbait maker, that is something I'm just getting started in! Yes, I did attempt some copy's for myself simply to try and learn the process of carving, painting and finishing. But, my interest is in playing with designs and combinations of other lures. I pretty much only make musky lures 8" or bigger because I'm obsessed with musky fishing. The trend there seems to be combining aspects of two different lures to make hybrid lures for very specific situations that the fish have not seen. Like adding double 10 blades to a subsurface 'glider' for example. Anyway like Erick said, luremaking is alive and well. There are facebook pages loaded with stunning paint jobs and interesting lures! Lets keep sharing information and fueling the passion.

Simple green, I will have to look into that. I was just wondering the same question to myself. Also, I accidently soaked my air valve in restorer overnight and it loosened up the rubber gasket on the little air nozzle. I probably should not have done that, so just a warning I suppose, make sure you aren't soaking anything with a rubber gasket.

Welcome back Tally! As a newer lure tinkerer the more experience here on the site the better! Everything I learned was basically through this site.

Like Mark mentioned, I use a cheap 3 gallon shop air compressor. I added an inline air regulator, and I also added a moisture trap. I paint in my garage so noise isn't a worry. I only have one airbrush and generally only paint two or three lures in a sitting. My compressor often only turns on once or twice in a sitting (usually scares the crap out of me haha, it is loud). All together though, my air compressor set up is quite cheap (less than $100, Canadian!) and it works well enough for my needs.

Thanks for the info Travis! I guess there really isn't a gap, it is just two different worlds kind of. Great looking carvings there. And as far as burning scales into lures in any numbers it certainly would not work! And I agree that the fish don't care, I was asking more for myself just expanding my own knowledge of what is out there. I'll keep looking for some of those carving tutorials that you mentioned and watching videos. Those carvers at the world fish carving championship are insane! I was also thinking long term, I would love to get good enough to make myself a replica of my first 50+" muskie, but that would be a huge undertaking!

Sounds fantastic. Welcome here and thanks Andy. Hope to be able to order it from somewhere soon! Although, it is often tough to get anything into Canada without crazy shipping prices. Either way, I'd love to experiment with a different topcoat.

I was looking at some youtube videos on how to carve wood more efficiently, specifically scale patterns and gills, and it seems most lure makers use a carving knife and just whittle away scales which is amazing and looks great! However I stumbled down the youtube hole into another niche of wood carving replica fish or wooden decoys. Those guys are incredible! They are basically making a giant lure minus the weight wire and diving lips, and they are amazing carvers! There seems to be a gap in tools and techniques from what I see compared to lure makers (I'm talking one off larger musky lures, nothing mass produced). They almost all create their amazing scale patters using wood burning tools, they even use it to burn in more details fin rays on the tail and the other fins. It seems like a efficient way of producing a very life like effect compared to the time it takes to painstakingly carve individual scales onto a lure. I think anyone whittling any type of lure could learn a lot from guys like hans the carver and many other award winning people who carve replicas (and paint jobs). Basically what I'm getting at is, has anyone use this wood burning technique to create scale patterns? I may have to get one of those tools and give it a try myself. They also are masters at using a dremel tools with all the different bits to speed up the removal and detail carving. One name that kept popping up is Hans the Carver, who makes amazing lifelike wood musky (and other fish) replicas. https://www.facebook.com/HansTheCarver/ Here is another artist in this video. Check out at 8:45 of the video where he starts making the burning scale pattern.

Do you have a picture of the clumping epoxy? Great looking lures by the way!

Vodkaman - Yea I see what you mean, CA glue would be great for that purpose. I haven't used it in that case. Can you slow down the cure time at all to be able to brush it on? Or is it workable as is right out of the tube? (Also, what do you mean you don't finish lures? out of curiousity.) I don't mean to get way off track here. I feel I'd go through a lot of super glue building 10-14" lures also.

If I'm making a prototype one off bait (which I often do, and always with cedar), I'll shape it as best I can and just dip it in spar urethane mixed with thinner and hang it to dry. That way I can add weight with a dab of glue or even tape for the purpose of testing. If I get into super glues or kbs, it becomes more difficult to change its shape or drill more holes for lead. The cedar is fairly resistant to moisture especially with a thin coat of spar urethane (it's usually not in the water that long for testing). That gives me room to play with it before I get the right amount of weight and shape and start the finishing procedure (once completely dried out), filling in the lead holes and wire. At that point I'll sand it smooth and put a coat of envirotex epoxy (or kbs or superglue) and paint and then final finish. Just the way I do it, lots of different good ways to do it!

The clumping of the etex could be a contaminated lure. It tends to pull away from any oils or contamination on the surface and bunch up or fish eye on another spot. As soon as you are to the painting stage, try to use gloves to handle it, or clean it with denatured alcohol (don't wipe the paint job off though!). Another potential problem depending on your lure is the epoxy will tend to pull away from sharp corners. I had this problem a bit with a large popper I made. The finish would draw back a bit from the sharp edge of the popper mouth. You could wait till it's a bit thicker to paint onto the sharp edges. I like envirotex a lot, it is a fantastic product. But it has it's difficulties. Mix very very well. I usually let it sit for 5-10 min like BobP said. I also use syringes to measure it (measured by volume, not by weight). I know I see on youtube guys lightly torching the freshly epoxied lure to remove bubbles, but be cautious, I've over heated one side of the epoxy by accident and had it run and "clump" as well. I'm still learning myself, there are some good tutorials on this site! Some of the most beautiful and clean lures are finished with envirotex, don't give up, there is a bit of a learning curve. Great tips here! I usually read over this like a checklist before I get started with enviortex! lol

Very interesting, good watch. There are a lot of good products out there. The one thing I'm not fully sure on is if there is a difference between a art resin for casting and a epoxy resin for something like bar tops (envirotex)? Or a product like Ecopoxy liquid plastic? Some of the resins are designed for thick pours and some are designed for thin coats. Yea great experiment. It would be interesting to see all these pieces left outside for yellowing testing. I agree with BobP, with the thin coats and a small amount of heat and brushing on, we are using these products basically outside of the manufactures specs. So, with proper precaution bubbles are usually not to much of an issue (at least for some, not myself entirely). Now if I could only get those darn fish eyes to go away.