goodtimesfishing

Frank- They say 1 LB is equivalent to 1 gallon.

SWEET!

Dip then wait one hour and dip again. This seems to be the best for me. I would recommend cleaning any eyes/holes you want open while still wet. If you keep the storage container as close to full as possible, it will have a longer shelf life. One last thing, after bait has hung for 5 mins or so take a brush and absorb the drip at the bottom. This is a good time to clear eyes/holes.

If you need to make some non crimped hooks work, you could try wrapping a small amount of wire on the shank in the same way you would lay a bed of thread for tying. Make sure wire is good and tight and crisscrossing, and only where lead will be. Just a suggestion as I have not used that mold. Hope this helps.

I put a piece of press and seal(plastic wrap) between the jar and the lid, this prevents the lid from getting stuck to the jar. Also I will usually push some of the plastic wrap down in the jar to displace some of the open space when the jar starts getting low. Not sure that makes sense....picture a square piece of plastic wrap...set it centered on jar...push center down until just before it hits the liquid...fold plastic down jar...now put lid on and tighten. Hope that makes sense. The quart I got has last over a year now.

Yes, it helps prevent the foam/bubbles. Anywhere there is a puddle or build up of the diamond coat you will get the bubbles. However as 21xdc has mentioned, if you thin the KBS with xylol/xylene you won't get the foam/bubbles.

KBS is thin as water when fresh, and can be used without thinning. Over time it thickens....mine was aprox a year old before I felt the need to thin....I dip. If i was spraying it, I would have thinned sooner. The main thing to remember is if you get any pooling, be sure and remove drip/pool before drying or you will have bubbles in it when it dries.....just grab the drip with a paint brush a few minutes after dipping and you should be good...another thing to remember is do not use a turner like you would with envirotex or you will get bubbles. Just my opinion hope it helps.

If you try it you will like! However you do not want to use a turner with it or you will end up with bubbles. Just let it drip off. You can brush it or dip it or spray it. Use xylene/xylol (spelling?) for thinning.....you don't have to thin but can like 20%. KBS is very thin however will thicken over time....but NOTHING like dick nite mcu. One coat is good, however you can recoat in about an hour. Very durable, very clear, outstanding clear coat. Does not surprise me that LPO is stocking it, it is perfect for lures.

X2 on the KBS diamond coat.......great stuff!

For jigs the canisters are the way to go. Get those and the foodsavers at second hand stores for dirt cheap. Hose is usually missing but can be purchased online cheap enough(have to have the hose for the canisters). As for bags, cabelas are good quality and they often have them 50% off....I love the 8 x 24 inch bags for freezing salmon and steelhead fillets.

kbs diamond kote has a matte finish, I have not tried it just saw it on their website.

Another thing to mention, although co2 is NOT toxic, in large enough amounts it will displace oxygen so if you want to get technical co2 can kill you especially in confined spaces.

If a 20 tank is lasting for months, then your breathing is putting more co2 in the atmosphere then using co2 for airbrushing. Let's not forget we all breath out co2. Plants love it! In return the plants give us oxygen.

Cadman- I have the same thought every time I see one of those. Seems everyone has the opening facing the least ideal way. With the opening forward it would have less chance of losing swivel and blade. I would think it would fit either direction but I don't have the mold so I don't know, but curious myself about that.

It use to drive me crazy how much my pot would drip. When I started using frankford cleancast flux the dripping all but stopped. I can't think of a single negative thing about the cleancast flux...once I found out how little it takes, even the cost is great in my opinion. I will not melt lead without it ever again. Also since I started using frankford I have NOT ONCE had to stick wire up the spout. Prior to frankford I don't think I had ever heated up the pot without needing to shove wire up the spout.

x2 on large amounts of epoxy unless you know you will be using that much in a short time. I wish they would put a manufactured or packaged date on the packages so that you know how old the epoxy is. I always try and find the clearest, least yellow(fresh) packages the store has. I believe it does make a difference. When the hardener starts getting more yellow colored it does not seem to work quite the same. Just my 2cents

I found the most information about vitaflux by looking up "imperial vitaflux" that is what was on the label.

Hearing how hard it was to find, I bought the last tube when I saw there was only one left. I absolutely love frankford, so when it sounded like vitaflux was maybe even better and that hard to find, I figured $15 was worth testing out. Let's face it when working around molten lead who wants frustrations or less then perfect pours if you don't have to.

smallmouthaholic- how would you compare the frankford to the vitaflux? Does the vitaflux smoke/flame?

Frankford cleancast fluxing compound! Once you try it, you will never go back to wax, sawdust and such. Can't say enough about it! Yes I know it is not free but you get what you pay for(or don't pay for).I know the free stuff seems to work.....until you have tried frankford then you see what you have been missing out on. Since I switched to frankford I don't have all the issues I use to have....dripping pot, incomplete pours, plugged spout, slow flow from spout and more issues I am not thinking of right now. Bottom line, it is well worth the cheap cost, and FYI it only takes 1/8 teaspoon for 10 pounds of lead and NO SMOKE OR FLAMES just clean casts!

Pig lead ingot is 52-55 pounds and measures 3 x 4 x 10 (says 99.9%) regular price $99 with free shipping. This weeks special is $97

Might try using a torch and melting the large chunk into muffin pan. I purchased several 12 lb down rigger balls(price I couldn't pass up). What I did, in the garage I hung a wire from the rafter so the lead ball was about 8-10inches above the floor. Then I put my mini muffin pan under it, fired up the torch and starting at the bottom of the ball or chunk of lead start melting away at the lead, moving pan as each cavity fills. Does not take long at all....of coarse use all the safety equipment. I had an attachment point because they where down rigger balls(by the way they had not been used so I didn't have to worry of trapped water in ball). I am thinking pig lead comes in a brick, so what I would do is drill an adequate hole thru one of the corners and run wire thru hole to hang. Make sure to secure well enough that there is no chance of lead ball or brick can NOT fall and land in molten lead. The torch I use is just one of those that mount to the small propane bottle. Hope this helps. Worked great for me.

I could be missing something, but I don't think you need the clear acrylic tubing. When fishing the fly it is not going to be in tubing, so why if you want accurate test, would you need that. I think it is there to TRY and justify the outrageous cost.

It is a single can with a extra chamber inside......then there is a button on bottom of can that when activated it combines the 2. You are suppose to shake can for 2 minutes before activating and 2 minutes after activating.

Bobp- I read that the pot life depends on the ambient temperature. Higher temp less life, cooler temp longer life. It stated that at 20 degrees Celsius(68 Fahrenheit) it has a pot life of 48hrs. That is from the manufacturer. Read in another place that it last anywhere from 2 days to a week if kept cool. I was actually surprised that it would last that long considering it is a 2 part mix.