Kasilofchrisn

My jigging Rapala molds all take a popper hook. IIRC it's a mustad 33903 These have held up to fish as large as 40# on jigs out of my molds.

You might look into LED by Larvalace. It's like the lead wire but flat and comes on a small roll.

Always! I always preheat my molds. They always cast better that way and I don't waste time doing a bunch of casting to heat it up.

I generally use whatever lead I have on hand. Usually some form of mixed scrap lead. Rarely do I use pure lead for casting jigs or sinkers. Pure lead is hard to come by in my area so I save it for making ammo for my muzzleloaders and for making shotgun slugs. Really hard lead I try to save for when I'm making cast boolits. Though I do keep some super hard from RotoMetals on hand to make up harder alloys for boolit casting. Since the only alloy I really buy is the super hard I have a lot of scrap lead I have bought that is what it is. I do have a cabine tree lead hardness tester. But, it's not needed for making jigs and sinkers.e Precise alloys are essential for boolit casting though.

Yes the red RTV high temp gasket material is great. Comes in a small tube that's easy to work with. Let it cure and it's good for a long time. Yet fairly easy to remove.

Water quenching may gain you as much as one BHN. Adding a small amount of tim may also gain you one BHN. The tin may also help your lead flow better which will not help with your flashing issue. When I really want to make an alloy harder I use super hard from RotoMetals. It's a bar of lead that's 30% antimony. You could add pure Antimony but it will not melt till you get it over 1000 degrees. But the super hard has already been alloyed together so will melt around the normal temperatures for lead. I have a lead hardness tester that I use when I'm casting bullets. So I like to mix up a batch and then make an ingot once the ingot it is cooled I test it. When I reach the proper hardness that I'm after, only then I will start casting bullets.

Another option although more expensive is to buy this CNC machine mold from eBay. It's more like The larva dig mold in the new do it mold version but more than twice the price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/125133487544?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=18lxa_ygSxC&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=aPsD89BBSHS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I did do a search in the forum and found a little bit of information on these. Apparently the wire in the front not only help bite offs and adds abrasion resistance when fishing in the rocks, but, it also helps keep the lure from tangling on the line during casting. Certainly looking forward to casting up a few of these and giving them a try this summer!

So I just got lucky and was able to find and purchase an Earie Dearie spinner mold in the smaller sizes. Now I just need to find the mold with the larger sizes (or have one made) but, that's not a priority right now. That being said I now need to be sure I have all the other components. I do have a Hagens wire former as well as a Twistech and a Twistech magnum for forming the wire eyes. And I'm going to order the wires from Barlow's to be sure I have plenty of them. I did notice when looking at authentic Earie Dearie lures they run a second wire about as long as the first wire in front of the spinner via a loop to loop connection. What is he purpose of this extra wire and is it really neccesary? Also it appears they used a French blade on these spinners. What size blades to you guys recommend for the 1/4 and for the 5/8 sizes? I have a bunch of all the blade sizes but was thinking of ordering a few extra just for this project. Any insight on making these would be helpful. Thanks for any input you might have on making these spinners!

I can't testify to the customer service from Do-It molds because I rarely if ever order from them. You see I can get molds and supplies significantly cheaper by ordering from vendors that sell Do-It molds. For instance a mold that sells for $56 at Barlow's sells for $62.50 directly from Do-It. That's a $6.50 difference on just one item! The reason for that is because most large companies like that make more money selling wholesale to other vendors such as Barlow's, LPO, Jann's netcraft etc. But since they're the manufacturer technically they could undercut those vendors in price. So they purposely charge more to encourage you to buy from the vendors who sell more molds than they do. And I can say I have gotten the best, most excellent customer service from Barlow's! Both before and after covid and that's where I order the majority of my supplies from! They have reasonable shipping rates(even to me here in Alaska) and excellent packaging as well. Typically if I get bad customer service such as I received from Zeiner's Bass shop I just don't use those companies anymore. So if you're looking to save some money just order your molds and supplies from Barlow's. You won't be disappointed!

First off may I ask why you're limiting yourself to Do-It molds? As Cadman said the discontinued Do-It molds are hard to source and find anyway. But Do-It probably has more competition these days than they've ever had. A few minutes of Internet searching will reveal that they definitely aren't the only game in town. There are so many good mold makers out there that if you're looking for something different you shouldn't have any trouble whatsoever in finding something. I mean besides Do-It molds there's also Hilts and Little Mac molds as far as sandcast molds go. And I also have molds from Sean at Sean Collins customs. Victor at bug molds. Kent at lakeside molds Bob at CNC molds N stuff. And some others that I'm forgetting off hand right now. While Do-It may be the largest mold maker out there, there are plenty of other options for you to look at if you really want to be throwing something that the other fisherman don't have!

My IRS statements were just an example of how other people have gotten away with it for a while and then gotten caught. The way you are going to get in trouble is that you have readily admitted to violating Z-Mans patent. They specifically told you not to sell in stores and you are admittedly selling in stores. And you have readily admitted to this on the internet. Which means you have provided all the evidence they need to file a lawsuit against you in court if they so desired! All they need is a screenshot of what you've already said in this thread. It also kind of sounds to me like you are bragging about violating their patent rights and that just might upset someone with the company. Most of the time it's just wise not to mention your activities on the internet that could get you in legal trouble. Good luck to you! And good fishing!

I'm guessing the difference is that your lures are not patented and The z-man lure is. It's just like the people who sell lures without paying the IRS. Some get away with it for years and other ones end up paying the IRS Large sums of money when one of their competitors turns them in. I hear you when you say you're not concerned about it but I certainly wouldn't be posting about it online. It's just not worth it to me to risk potential legal troubles that may cost you money. People are just trying to help keep you out of trouble.

As was mentioned above just because it's the number three doesn't mean they're all the same size. Also different blades from different manufacturers can be different depending on who made the blade. So a number 3 blade from Lakeland may be a different size then the number three blade from Worth. And different vendors will carry different brands of blades though they often times won't list the brand that they are. So if you ordered number three blades from Barlow's they may be slightly different size then a number three blade from LPO. I like to carry a variety of sizes and then I can put them together before I finish the spinner and see how they all seem to look and work together.

My local craft store has a lot of different brass tubing in different sizes. I think they're all one foot pieces where you could just cut them to whatever length you need. I'm sure a hobby or craft store near you would have the same thing.

Another thing you could try is putting the spout directly into the gate. Use the pressure of full pot to force the lead into the mold. Sometimes that works well for me with molds that don't want to completely fill out.

No we do not. I'm merely attempting to point out that one need not run their pots at the highest settings to get them to work properly. And that doing so is an unnecessary health and safety risk. Don't worry your mold collection will eventually grow bigger than you thought it would! Good luck and happy casting to you!

Yes lots of assuming! I've actually tested a lee 4-20 pots temperature. Here's a picture of a lee 4-20 pot on a setting of 8. As you can clearly see the temp is nearly 900° f at this setting. So just over 8 would surpass your assumption of 930°f I'm guessing at a setting of 10 you'd easily be upwards of 1,100°f or higher. So yes you could definitely be putting your health and safety at risk running at a setting of 10 on a lee 4-20 pot and I wouldn't recommend people run that hot. The reason I tested the temperature of my pot was because the mold manufacturer of a recent CNC mold I purchased claimed that other buyers of the mold we're having to use their lee pots at a setting of 10 to get the mold to work properly. But I proved them wrong and my mold works great at 7 and lower. Anyway you have a good day! Hopefully people reading this realize how hot a lee pot that most of us are using can get. And they figure out their casting issues without unnecessary health and safety risks.

I've got 162 fishing related lead molds in my collection at the moment from one off customs to the standard do it molds. I've never once had to run my pot at a setting of 10 to make any of them work. I'm just trying to let Mark know that he shouldn't have to run his pot that hot and risk giving off toxic fumes in his workshop. And that by using his head and some information from the members here he should be able to figure out any lead casting problems and not have to risk his health and safety and that of those around him in his workshop. I've only been casting lead for 15 to 20 years but I have figured out every lead casting problem that's been thrown at me and maxing out the heat setting was never the solution. I'm not trying to start anything but just because you've been doing it for 30 years doesn't mean you've been doing it right for 30 years! I will readily admit there's people here who know more about this than I do. But it is also obvious that there are those here whose skill set isn't as developed as mine. Between myself and a lot of the other helpful members here anyone can learn to Cast lead properly and safely and get jigs that are fully formed with lead molds that work as they should. And properly working lead mold should not require temperatures over a thousand degrees to get a complete cast. You cast your lead your way and I'll do mine my own way. But I highly recommend you try figuring out how to cast at lower temperatures so you're not adding additional risks to your own health and safety every time you make some fishing jigs. A lot of these fumes that can kill us are the ones we can't see. Good luck to you and good fishing!

Wow that's just nuts! I rarely run at 8 or above. Lead starts to give off hazardous fumes at 900 degrees. A setting of eight on my pot according to my lead thermometer gives me a temperature of 950°. So running at 10 you are definitely filling your workshop with fumes that you don't want to be breathing! I've never seen any need to run at 10. A little drop out spray and pre heating your inserts or hooks and you should be good to go. If I had to run at 10 I would be looking at figuring out what I am doing wrong as you should not have to run that hot and your risking your health and that of those around you!

Another good alternative to try if the swivel idea doesn't work out. Thanks!

I have a thousand of the size 0 from Barlows and as I mentioned in my original post they're too big!

Thanks! I think cadman gave you the best advice. He is the master of the brush tap technique! I may do some in powder paint myself as it is a good durable paint.

When I make my jigging raps the tail goes on just before clear coat. But generally I use holographic foil on mine and then airbrush them. I've done a few with powder paint but I prefer the foil and airbrush. But to get the foil delay on there properly the tail has to come off. I can't wait till I get my hands on my new 1/2 oz jigging rap mold from lakeside molds. I'm out of town for work at the moment but when I get home it should be there waiting for me. I got a little heavy-handed with the red on this one. This is holographic foil and airbrush just before clear coat.

Those look to be the size of a standard American sinker eye. So no, I don't think those would work.