Kasilofchrisn

Pewter is mostly Tin. usually 92%-95% I just have a hard time swallowing the price tag for the lead alternatives. I buy lead at $1 per pound locally. Tin I have to order at almost $20 a pound.

I use a ladle and pot for anything over 3 ounces. I do a lot of big jigs and a lot of ladle pouring.

My mom uses it when making Christmas/Birthday cards. Not sure if it is similar to powder paint or not. I would think it is much more expensive though it comes in 1 oz containers that cost as much or more than 2 oz of Protec powder. And there is much cheaper powder out there than Protec. I am sure there is a way to get you some powder paint that won't break the bank. I mean it is only powder. It is non hazardous and non flammable.

Generally Tungsten is done one of two ways. 1)There is a slot in the tungsten jig head and the hook is Soldered or epoxied into the slot. 2) Tungsten powder is mixed with epoxy and molded around the hook. Can't say I have tried attaching a plain Tungsten bead onto a hook but I suppose it is possible. Especially if the hole in the bead allows it to slide onto the hook to where you want it. Just use some epoxy to secure it.

Exactly right Bob! Just a couple of weeks ago I made some 5# cod sinkers for a customer. Thats right 5 pound sinkers. What for you ask? Well he is fishing 1,200+ feet in the saltwater for blackcod (sablefish). They are a species of fish that live deep and are mainly caught commercially. I hear they taste absolutley delicious. We also use that size sinker on our really heavy tide days. I avoid fishing weights that heavy but sometimes people don't have a choice and must fish certain days such as our charter boat fleet. when you can have 30+feet of tidal movement in one tide change you need bigger weights than normal. Thats where a big pot and ladle really shine. For smaller stuff the bottom pour pot is just the ticket.

Protec does list cure times for each powder paint and they are different. It is a good practice to use an oven thermometer to verify the settings on your oven are accurate.

This would more likely fit the wire baits section as you mainly list spinners and jigs. That and my guess is this is a cheap advertising ploy. Be careful selling your Stumpbuster jigs I suspect Blakemore will be sending you a cease and desist letter soon.

Looking at Barlows the Hot pot is $38.95 + shipping. The lee 10# bottom pour pot is $56.95 + shipping. $18 isn't that big of a difference and for what you get it's worth the price of the bottom pour pot. If I couldn't afford the extra $18 then this hobby likely isn't for you. You can't even buy one new old for the difference in price. To each his own though as I own a hot pot(not used yet) A lee 10# bottom pour pot and 3 cast iron pots that go on my turkey fryer burner. A 20# pot a 50# pot for my saltwater jigs and sinkers and a dutch oven that holds 196# of scrap for making ingots.

I like the bottom pour for jigs as well. Anything under 3 ounces anyway. The only reason I would consider the hotpot is if you are casting jigs or sinkers larger than three ounces on a regular basis.

First spray your mold with a light coating of Frankford arsenals drop out spray. Then heat the mold on top of your pot as your lead is heating. Warm up your hooks before inserting into the mold. Use good clean lead and flux it well. Your problem will be solved. You might also need to tilt your mold as you are filling it. But for the molds you are talking about that is unlikely. If it is a do-it mold with no obvious defects then doing the above will fix your problems.

The Eagle Claw 254ss and 90ss are good hooks and come in sizes up to 9/0 or 10/0 iirc. The stainless would be nice for a saltwater application and that's where I use them. I make jigs up to 48oz so to me these are small jigs. I just cast some squid heads in 4,5,and 6oz yesterday and some 20 oz slab jigs. Going to paint them today.

I intend to paint my tin/pewter jigs anyway. Sine they are lighter than lead they will hopefully give a different action to the jigs that hopefully the fish like.

I haven't yet melted any though I do have plans to do so. My understanding is that you can just melt the pewter and use it as is.

Pewter is 95% tin. You can sometimes find scrap pewter at garage sales and such.

Another option they might use is having a custom "web" diecut sticker made. Then it is just peel the diecut off thebacking and stick on the pre painted blades and clearcoat it. To me a detailed blade like that is there strictly to catch the fishermen and usually does little for putting more fish in the boat.

Looking at his blades my guess is this. Airbrush the blades base colors first. Then using a custom spider web stamp that is sized and curved to fit the blades it is dipped in paint and stamped onto the blades. Then another spider stamp is used to put the black spiders on. Then a clear coat over all of it. Just a guess on my part but thats how I would do it.

Do-it does make a ball head mold that will accept heavy hooks The STL-6-A willl accept a 3/0 in a 1/4 oz and most likely a 4/0 will fit. I have this mold on order from Barlows right now. So if you have any trouble modifying your mold consider the option of ordering a mold that is built for these hooks already.

Another thing I like about my racks from TJ's is that I don't have to open them for most jigs. I just slide the hook in beside the foam on one side and your done. No clamping and unclamping. They come out just as easily.

Smalljaw That looks very much like the one in the youtube video I posted. I'm guessing that is the best way to go to cut thousands of wires by hand. If needed a beefier model could be made but if it were me for ~$32 I would definitely give that one a try first.

This guy has a super fast homemade machine that would work great for you.It even shoot them into a bucket for him. I bet you could fashion one fairly easily.

I love my jig clamping racks from TJ's tackle. Any excess paint runs down the hook shank where it is more easily cleaned off. I do pretty good with not creating excess paint but every once in awhile or when working with new stuff I still get one or two with excess paint. http://www.tjstackle.com I don't have excess paint melting into the hook eye or nipple jigs.

If I remember right there was a thread on these a year or so ago here on TU. It's not for me but it's nice to see people experimenting and working on new ideas.

Me and my customers fish my jigs from 20 feet down to 1,200 feet and catch fish at all depths. The Super Glow colors and UV blast topcoats are what I use to make my saltwater jigs visible at depth. I have never tried Neon colors but so far what I use works.

I'm not sure why neon is so inportant to you but they do make Neon foils. you just have to do a Google search for them. This is the first one I found. I am sure there are others. http://www.amazon.com/Transfer-Foils-Adhesive-Acrylic-Decoration/dp/B00DFXJW3A Of course it may just be that this foil technique may not work for what you are trying to do. It does work for me and I get what I am after using this technique.

Click on Basmans name. Then on the right hand side under his profile picture click on Gallery. It should pull up his gallery pictures.