jonister

From a science stand point. . "Rapid State of decay" is relative. Plus, technically, everything is in a state of decay. We however can not live long enough view things like petroleum products break down completely. So being relative... 20 years is "rapid" compared to 20 thousand. Like AnglinArcher pointed out, is will take years, not decades. Don't ask me any more on relativity though. I fell asleep through most of that class.

I like to make sure my hack job, hair brained ideas work before I paint them and probably make them look worse than before. That being said with blanks you can probably just tune after paint. I guess if you tune it before hand you would he assuring it swims and isn't a dud though.

Come to think of it you could even pin them in place. Just like a eye/pin hinge.

Oh dang those swivels are an awesome idea. It would be just like having a swivel on any lure.. eventually it will fail but I'd imagine it would take forever. your bait would probably be toast before the swivel broke. trust me those heavy ones are awesome. They work great for salmon and sturgeon. My 80# Dacron breaks before the bead chain will. I'd imagine they are stronger than the other bead chain posted as well.

I think unless your spraying automotive paint or setting up a electro coating process, the factory finish look can not be obtained. I'm not saying something else can't come close though!

Art resin. go with art resin. it goes on better, mixes better, won't burn easily from a torch, and most of all doesn't smell!

Polyurethane is cheaper I will say, however I always found it yellowed over time. Us fisherman can especially prolong that, leaving a bait on the boat all day or keeping it in the sun.. it also came off easily for me. If I was doing a high quantity, KBS would be my go to finish. I just never used it all before it went bad, so I have not bought any more. I have the same bottle of 2 part Art resin that I've had for a little under a year. My only problem there is I'm almost out. I like Solarez but I only use it on my own baits, or if a friend is super desperate. That also chips sometimes.

I found it is legal in Oregon since they are are being used for flies. Sweet. Now for the season to start.. I'm ready. .

OK. I'll contact you guys when I shoot birds.. I like a trade. So wings or a bag or wings in a bag? Would you like your wings fried or baked? Can I give them away though legally?

OK so I've got people interested! I keep mainly the feather tips, on teal and mallards and such, with the pretty colors. Belly feathers too. Pretty much anything. I can fill a bag up with one duck. I don't know the specific names but pretty much what looks pretty. Sometimes I just cut the whole wing off and borax it but that makes it a pita to pluck them off when I need them. I freeze all feathers to kill the mites and such.

Sitting in line at a coffee stand at 4:30 am, I realized its getting very close to duck season. Thinking back to the last few seasons, I got a lifetime supply of duck feathers for tying. I know it's legal for me to keep them for personal use, but is it legal to give them away? I was thinking I could ship them to members interested. I just hate throwing stuff that could be used away. I believe different state laws occur as this has been talked about before. Thoughts? I don't remember if we came to a conclusion last time.

Update.. I make a screw eye out of the brass wire and secured it down. I pulled on it with a scale until the scale maxed out at 55 lbs. I kept going and all it did was deform until it broke off where I secured it. I think it will hold up to bass just fine. I'd imagine the balsa bait would break in half before the through wire breaks.

I completely agree. I have some soft temper stainless but it's a little big for bass. I'm going to try it on saltwater stuff though. I think I'll do a weight strength test on the brass. I figure I'd probably break the line before I break the wire. The wire States it has a 10 lb breaking strength. I'll see how true that holds. I couldn't break the stainless for the life of me though. Just deformed it. The reason I got the small brass is because ace hardware didn't have any smaller stainless. I usually just use hard Malin wire.

Is this what you guys mean by brass? It doesn't feel super strong but it's not brittle. I can break a tow eye with pliers..

From personal experience and frustration with similar hinges, try possibly tightening your screw eyes until the bait will not hinge all the way over the edge. Etex and table top resins have a very soft and sticky effect, almost like a door stopper, wedging every time the edges hit. You might find that as you fish the lure a lot, this will wear away. I don't think it roots in your topcoat however. I found this problem with Art resin as well as KBS diamond clear, both creating a wedge. I think Solarez is the only topcoat ive tried that didn't wedge on me in situations, mainly because it is so hard.

I always had that problem. It haunted me for months. I think my problem was improper mixing, however it sounds like you got your mixing down. Here's my theory on the sun doing that.. so picture it as a piece of rubber, you bend it, and it stays rigid while flexing. If you were to hold it in your hand for a time, or even put it to a heat gun, it would be much softer and flexible. Just as a soft plastic bait does in the sun. Likewise, if you were fishing in the winter, it would be very very hard to dent. The sun is just heating it which causes it to soften. This would be exaggerated on a bait as its a thin layer. So that's my theory. Someone else might have a better one but I fiddled with that stuff for ages before I switched to other clearcoat. I have since found art resin to be similar yet much easier to work with, and it doesn't heat up on me so much like Etex did.

You mentioned smallmouth on the whopper plopper. I get the finesse aspect, however don't be afraid, even the smallest smallmouth will choke the 90. Can't tell you how many dink days I had on that lure!

This is all I have right now. Currently it's a little more refined with some detail. Have a adipose fin waiting to be sanded as well. This stuff is amazing. It's like JB weld and sculpey combined.

I've recently been playing around with fins. Specifically on a little trout desk piece I'm making. I cut a fin out of lexan, drill and shape a socket out for it, the set it with plumbers epoxy. The stuff comes in a stick and you knead it. Sets up hard, fast. Basically it is a plastic putty. I think any would work. Has a hard azek feel, and you can sculpt it onto fins and then carve and sand it. I can post a picture of what I mean after work. I'm sure it would hold up to fishing as well as just a replica. The stuff gets rock hard, while retaining slight rigidity and carveability.

Mark I tried what you are talking about with wood glue and put a hole in the ceiling turning it on a lathe. I will have to try the pvc glue. kinda a duh moment reading that for me ;D makes more sense than woodglue. . Hahaha! Hey a tip for all lure builders.. if you haven't already, a lot of times I just get my Azek from the lowes/homedepot 70% or free cutoff bin. Usually just cut out the bad stuff. Always check it when your there.

Let's show this on some seriously green flashers. Found these today and thought I'd update. Another tip, beware the red/black algae and barnacles. Soak those overnight in a dawn dish soap, baking soda, water solution. It softens everything up. A scotch brite pad helps a lot, but the green side will scratch, so unless the lure is going to be sanded and repainte, stick with Tue yellow side and your fingers.

I once was testing out the casting ability of a pvc jerk bait I had made, in my back yard.. long story short I hit a fence pretty hard and cracked it in half. . I mean that freaking bait was probably 3/4" thick and 4" long but it just broke in half. I epoxied small dowel rods and zap-a-gapped the crap out of that thing. A little sanding, paint, and Solarez later and it seems to hold up just fine. That was the trim board I believe. It seems to hold the screw eyes just fine. I think once you get a good strong clear coat over it, it should be just fine.