Bassinfool

The stuff from spike it is great. The best chartreuse flake I have found so far.

Hand pour the top and bottom and then shoot the middle layer really hot to ensure a good bond.

I don't have any yet but know several people who do and they all love them. If you're not making baits to sell they fish just as well as a bait made from a CNC mold. I personally will be picking up the swim bait mold as soon as I have some extra funds laying around and possibly the beaver as well. As far as smoothing the molds, I know some folks who have smoothed the jig head molds using a polishing bit and compound and finishing it with toothpaste so you may look into that.

Well, the humidity where I live is, well, oppressive to say the least. That's why I recommend somewhere dry. There seems to be a difference between the baits I leave in the garage and the ones I bring inside. Just my experience making my own lures. My way is by no means the only sure fire way to cure your lures, just the way I've found to work best for me.

Those molds go for a lot, especially if someone is looking for a legitimate beaver copy.

Lay them straight and put them in the coolest, driest place in your home. The rest is up to time; usually 72 hours at least for myself. Others let them sit and cure much longer.

Taper down your temp and the claws should fill in just fine. I shoot all my molds including the BT ones without the bolts and wing nuts and haven't had any problems. I would suggest using your clamps with more pressure, shoot the bait at a lower temp ~320 and put some worm oil on the claw sections to facilitate easier flow.

Great, now please step down from your pedestal we've read enough.

You could try those options but I would look at your temp as well, maybe try shooting it a little bit cooler. If that doesn't solve the issue you may need to open up the vents with a file.

Was it the foot that was oriented to the top side of the mold by chance?

I have to do it mold and its great. Makes some really nice baits each and every time.

If those are hand pour you could just alternate pouring your different colors of plastic. Other than that, swirling the two colors using a twin injector, hand pouring the belly and then using the twin injector. Not really sure, it would take some playing with for sure.

Sarah is incredibly helpful. Always able to point you in the right direction.

Look at the bass tackle 631 mold.

That's a 702 for sure. Great bait.

If you do find one, be prepared to pay a very hefty price to actually get it and keep in mind that any baits you make can't be sold.

Go the bead media route. Baits are soft, clear and very durable. All qualities you won't have using salt.

I will only ever own three companies reels: Lews, Shimano and Abu Garcia. I have a few speed spools, a tournament series from Lews as well as a Calcutta and Curadoi series from Shimano along with several Revo's and Orra's from Abu. ALL are great reels in their own right but for the PRICE you pay, the speed spool from Lews and the Orra from Abu are the two reels I would recommend most in that price range. They're low maintenance, easy and enjoyable to use and flat out work. I haven't run into a single issue with any of my reels so far and the majority of them have been owned for more than 2-3 years of hard fishing. Heck, I still have two old C4 Abu reels that I use from time to time if that tells you anything about Abu's reliability haha.

Zoom has a ton of salt in it which also stiffens up the baits. Your baits will be just fine, they don't have to be the same as a major manufacturer. After all, we make our own baits to be different than the big boys. As for the trimming, that's just part of the hand pouring game.

So, I got the glitter and this is what Yamamoto is using, but in .040 size. The .015 is very small and subtle which may make it to where it doesn't show up in these pictures very well. Anyways, this glitter is FAR superior to the disco glitter from Lurecraft. It withstands the heat very well, even through reheats which was unexpected. Here are the pics, hope you can see the flake in these.

So am I. They're located only a few hours from my house so hopefully it will ship out and be here by tomorrow so I can play around with it.

I placed an order to spike it today and asked for a sample of theirs. If they send some I'll make up some lures and post some pictures to give you an idea of how it looks.

Yeah the disco glitter was a complete waste of money. Not only was the glitter itself a waste, all the plastic used TRYING to make it work was an even bigger waste.

.015 is too small but it is that glitter. Lurecraft sells a disco glitter that is similar but it isn't suited to use in plastics. Call spike it, ask for Bruce, and see if they have it in .040.

http://ispikeit.com/Store/p-831-sparkle-violet-4223-hexagonal-cut-0015.aspx