Kasilofchrisn

My dad just bought a cabin on a lake north of us a ways. We tried fishing the Lake Trout this lake is known for and did OK. Especially considering this was our first time fishing Lakers in the summertime. Caught some decent fish and lost some bigger ones. My dad found some old spinners in his tackle box that did real well then were lost to the deep. So I ordered the parts to replicate them. Ordered several sizes so I can experiment. These will have #3 and #4 french blades. 10# Lakers here are fairly common and fish of 50#-60#+ are know to be in this lake. It also hosts some big burbot and grayling. Knowing this is .035 wire going to be enough or should I opt for .041? I can do up to .041 on my Hagen's and my Twistech. Here's a pic of my biggest catch of the weekend 27" and roughly 8#.

Powder painting is easy and relatively cheap. Plus it is very durable. Moreso than the paint you use now and as Cadman said no sanding required. Just file any rough edges. Baking in a toaster oven cures the paint so it holds up really well. Plating while doable is not an easy process to do right. Plus you will likely need to copper plate then plate in silver. There are acid baths and plating solutuons you have to make. Plus buying the copper and silver. Much easier and cheaper to buy them already plated.

You can't make that on a Hagen's. I believe you can on a Twistech. I own both benders and although I like them both I am starting to like my twistech more. Hagen's does make a additional bender to make the middle loop like that but it's $100 itself. The lure end bends are best made with round nose and nesting pliers.

I use Cadmans white for the base coat on most of my jigs. Great paint at a great price. I also order 1# containers of super glow paints and uv blast from Tj's tackle Powder by the pound, Columbia coatings, and Rosie's are good also.

I own fishing molds from the following: Do-It Hilts Lil Mac Shawn Collins Customs CNC Molds-N-stuff Fishing weight moulds(in England) The sinker shop(eBay store) Herters Penn sport C. Palmer Do-It does have the biggest selection. Some of the mold manufacturers are no longer in business. I think I am up to 120 molds in my shop right now. Custom is the only real way to go for my bigger saltwater stuff. Although it seems there would be more options out there, there really isn't. Especially in the price range of a Do-It mold.

For pressing my foil on I use some carpet scraps placed in a wood workers vice. One piece on each side. I use some carpet with a thick knapp and it works great. Close the vice as hard as I can around the jig. I leave the forceps on in the press as my jigs are hot when I do it. Once tight I can immediately remove it then tear off the foil plastic cover. Looks just like it was vac sealed on. Every other jig or so I try to fluff up the carpeting with my fingers just a bit. This E-tex sounds like too much work for me though. You wait 8 hours for it to get tacky before foil application? Them clear coat again over that? Then again I am strictly doing lead jigs and my foil bonder works great for that. I paint on as thin a coat as I possibly can then heat with my heat gun, apply foil, and into the carpet lined vice. Then clearcoat with D2T or Alumi-UV.

When I do Ice blades I have the same issue. Cadman suggested after painting and before curing to wipe off the overspray with some Lacquer thinner. It works good and my blades end up shiny as new on the back. I use a q-tip for small ice blades but for spoons a cotton ball or rag dipped in the lacquer thinner would likely be better.

My setup is a bit different. But then again so are many of my jigs. For small jigs I use the racks from TJ's tackle and an adjustable temp heat gun for heating. But I do make a lot of bigger saltwater jigs. These jigs can go from 1 ounce up to 48 ounce though 4 oz- 24oz are the most common. Many are slab type jigs with an eyelet on each end with a hook added later. I have a double rack oven. I preheat in the oven set at 500*f. Then I grab them with my Homemade ss hook tool and dip in my powder paint. Often a white basecoat is put on first then a dip in the primary color. Accent colors go on with a powder paint airbrush amd they get a final dip in UV blast. All on one heat. I guess the big jigs hold enough heat for this. Small jigs would need a reheat. Then I hang to cool until I have the jigs done I needed to make. I have hooks in my oven made from sinker slide wires. The smaller loop hangs on the oven racks and I open the loop on the bigger side wider than normal and dispose of the plastic slider part. I can hang 14 smaller say 4oz-10oz jigs vertically from the upper rack. For the longer jigs they hang horizontally one hook on each end of the jig and I can get 7 on each rack for 14 total this way. These jigs can be 10.5" long so this works well. Then I set my oven at 450*f in the convection setting to cure for 30 minutes. 450* because that puts my actual oven temp close to 400* and ~ 30 minutes gives them a full 20 minutes at the 400* as my oven is usually cold to start with. Like I said though this method is mainly for longer bigger jigs than the average person would make.

Yes as was said you must have a EIN with the feds and pay your 10% Advertising on the internet is the easiest way to get caught if you're not paying. There is no hobby level or kids level everyone who sells tackle must pay quaterly using form 720. Also just so you know this site isn't for tackle sales but to learn how to make your own tackle.

Good advice Smalljaw. Also I use less than 3psi. Usually around one or even lower. Works for me that way. And yes you have to shake them up once in awhile or they can stop flowing.

I use the Kingsley foils off of eBay. I set my heat gun to ~350*-400*f and as soon as I feel I have hit the 325*f my foil binder needs to work I apply the foil and put it in my carpet lined vise. After it cools just a bit I open the vise and peel off the plastic. I have not seen any evidence of heat causing issues with my foil.

Yes I have no idea if my foil binder will stick to Etex. But I do not use Etex anyway. What I do is cast and clean the jig. Then apply as little foil adhesive as possible with a brush. I really do mean as little as possible while still covering the entire jig. Then I heat the jig while holding with hemostats. I usually have my heat gun heat setting dialed in to between 350*f and 400*f and use the higher fan setting. Once it's hot I apply the precut foil and place between carpet scraps in the vice. Tighten the vice down good and hard. Then I remove and peel off the foil plastic leaving just the foil. I touch up the edges with silver metallic rc car paint. Then Once dry I airbrush createx accent colors. Once dry again I add the one and only clearcoat which is currently Alumi UV. It is cured in my UV light box for 20 minutes or so. This method works great for me on foiled lead jigs. Certainly use what works for you!

If you read that entire thread you will see I found a way that works for lead jigs and does not require a heat press. A woodworkers vice, some carpet remnants and a plumbers torch. Not exactly another machine. Now the binder I use would not work on plastics as it requires heating to 325*f to work once it is applied. I don't really use plastic lures much if at all so that isn't a biggie for me. I have had people tell me they have had luck using the same foil as me and some Super 77 spray adhesive. But I haven't personally tried it. It is very very thin so should work well for that though. I think the wood workers vise was $22 the foil is fairly cheap at roughly $4 for a roll 3" x 100' with lots of color and pattern options. I would have to look again to remember the adhesive price but I think it was $35 for enough for many hundreds of jigs. As I recall I had enough materials to do hundreds of jigs all told for around $70 including the vice which was a one time purchase. Just throwing another method out there that works great for me and didn't cost me too much $ overall.

I have never used super 90. At work we always use Super 77 spray ashesive from 3M which is good stuff. Here's a link to a thread on how I accomplish foiling a jig with holographic foil. This method work well and isn't that difficulr. The foil is extremely thin and looks great. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/27948-how-to-foil-a-jig-like-this/

I also do foil jigs. My method seems a bit simpler. I use a holographic foil designed for a Kingsley foil machine for greeting cards and such. For my adhesive I use a foil bonder designed for foiling on t-shirts etc. I did a write up on it awhile back. It is an extremely thin foil that bonds well but also requires a top coat. I use D2t before but now am using Alumi UV from Alumilite.

When I do glitter I use the brush tap method onto the hot paint then cure as normal. Works great. It doesn't work nearly as well mixed in the paint beforehand. Fluid bed is a must use item for me. So much better than swishing in a jar. Then tap on as little or as much glitter as you want . You may need to dip then reheat and add the glitter.

I also use scrap. I buy superhard from Rotometals and scrap pewter(for the Tin) to make my alloys for jigs or boolits as hard as I want/need . I have the lead hardness tester from Buffalo arms so I know what I have to start with and where I end up. This tester is nice as I can test ingots, sinkers, basically anything that will fit in it, which is a lot. In my area scrap lead sells for $1 per pound but I sometimes get it for less. I always pick through the lead and only buy what I want. I leave the junk behind. Wheel weights I only use if they are free. My big pot holds 196 pounds when full of clean lead. I use my high output turkey fryer burner outside on a breezy day. Triple flux then make ingots. My last batch of lead was 756# of clean lead stripped from some electrical cable that was new. A guy bought it at auction for the solid copper core and sold me the lead for $.90 per pound. I also routinely have people trade me scrap lead for jigs or sinkers. It works out for the both of us. Though I will say Rotometals is great to deal with and is a great source of good lead. Their free shipping on orders of $99+ is also a great deal.

I believe it was Hagens where I saw they did logo blades? Anyway if you had a lot to make it might be worth it even with the additional cost. For just a few I would try something like cadman suggested. Heres a few I did though not on a blade.

Sorry to hear that. I guess it reaffirms my thoughts of not dealing with them again. Can't go wrong with Barlows!

For me Zeiners threw a 2oz plastic jar of powder paint loosley into a box with a lead mold. Well you guessed it powder paint all over the box. I called and they didn't seem to care. Barlows always tapes the lids. Always! And they wrap in newspaper. Customer service are nice and very helpful people there too! Same thing with TJ's they tape the lids and secure everything. I'm willing to pay a little more for secure packaging and a company that cares!

I have 120 molds give or take and here are a few that I have. First I have a few molds from businesses no longer in business or discontinued molds. Some are Do-It, some Herters, Palmer,Penn Sport, etc. Those can be found on eBay at times. Then there are Do-It molds. These I buy from Barlows. Tried Zeiners but poor packaging and never again. I have several molds(20+) from Shawn Collins customs. He also goes by CNC works on eBay. World class molds but spendy. www.Shawncollinscustoms.net Then there are a few molds I have from Hilts molds. Not bad molds and they had some saltwater jig and sinker molds no one else had. www.hiltsmolds.com I have some molds from Lilmac. They are OK but not my first choice. Had a friend that wanted sinkers from a sinker mold only they had. Their economy molds,are definitely on the lower end. www.lilmacmolds.com I also have some from Bob Lalonde at CNC molds n stuff. Good molds that are custom CNC machined. www.cncmolds.com Next I have some from DB angling supply in Europe. Not the best molds and inserts have to be ordered from them in England. I had one order I never received and they never did help me get it or make it right. Probably lost in customs. www.dbanglingsupplies.co.uk Hopefully this helps. But in reality Do-It has the biggest best selection for most things.

Yup just got the new catalog. They have great customer service, good prices, and are a pleasure to work with. Plus my stuff is always well packaged unlike some of the other popular places (Zeiners)I have used that no longer receive my business.

Yes that's what I use for all my bigger split rings up to a size 10 which is the biggest split ring I have ever found. I use a ton of #6XH and they work great for that. Those pliers are made by Xuron and are a very good quality pliers and I highly recomend them for larger split rings.

I mostly use the Tyvek I get for free from the USPS envelopes. Secured in place with a knock out test cap with the center knocked out. No gluing and I can switch membranes in seconds. I did buy some 8"x 8"sheets of fluidizing plate for a great price off of Ebay a few years back. used two of them and am saving the third one. I have no idea of the micron size. One issue I did have was PVC pipe id does not match up with standard holesaw sizes. So I used the closest holesaw size and finished them by sanding down to size on a power sander. It worked but was a bit of a pain. The Tyvek membranes are free and work great the test caps cost me $.81 each. Having used all types I would recommend not buying fluidizing plate until you have used a fluid bed for awhile and are certain on what size cups work best for you. You may find you do not want to use it anyway. I have also heard TJ's will sell you pieces to fit standard PVC sizes so you can make your own cups.

I have the adapter so I can do .041 wire with mine. But i'm not aware of an adapter for .051 wire on a standard Twistech. I do have the adapter for my Hagens to do .051 wire on it. Either way I see a new wire former in my future.