Tiderunner

That one is a pic from the mold makers site. It looks like its plain black. The commercially made bait that I use has a sort of iridescence to it, as though it's made in two layers. As soon as it hits the water you can see it. That is why I asked earlier too if glitter can be added to the clearisol. So I can experiment with this bait, and expand beyond just what is available from the maker. Different water and species, at least for me call for different colors. or even if I want to paint them intead of just colorings, and glittler. The materials are cheap enough. Let's be real, we all spend a buttload of money, so whats a few more dollars? And I am also going to start making paddletail swimbaits which most likely I'll paint. I'm pretty sure there are others here that like to play and see what they can come up with.

Can glitter be added to the clearcoat?

This is the lure I plan on making, that will be dipped.

Thanks for the tip Joe. I bookmarked a number of different suppliers that sell the beakers, and will order from one of them. Next question. Should I wait until original lure cools before dipping, say 24 hours? Or can I dip right away, or not so much right away but within an short period of time?

As the cold weather sets in it's time for me to restock the workbench. I want to try something different . I want to clearcoat my senkos, and my wacky worms. I got a pretty good idea, on how to clearcoat the items, What I don't know is what type of container you heat the plastisol in? I need sometthing that is deep enough for 5" senkos, and the 5" wacky type worms,then from there I'm going to start pouring paddle tail minnows. I'm guessing that multiple reheats will discolor the clearcoat , so what type of vessel do y'all use so you don't waste a lot of the clearcoat? Also best brand of Clear plastisol to use?

Through the past couple of year I have made a lot of "experiments". Not exactly the color I want, old and curling, too heavy, too light...etc We all have these. Started cleaning out the work area the other day, and while I usually just remelt these "experiments" back into black.because of the laminates, and glitters there are some that I put aside until our experts can respond. The put asides have already been scented, and worm oiled. Can I remelt these? I know the scent is ok, but the worm oil? All M-F and Lurecraft, name brand stuff. Maybe I can wash them off in soapy water to dilute the oil? There has to be something I can do with these. I figured I'd wait until I hear back. No need to blow up my microwave, or fry off my first three layers of skin.

I'm a little late to the dance, but better late than never. For my perch senko baits, I use Lureworks Scuppernong for the amber color, and a baby bass or green watermelon for the green. Light of course. For the amber side I have tried amber, mustard, and a few others. Scuppernong seems to work the best. Orange glitter in the amber part, and green glitter and a tiny biy of black for the green part. I think the glitter I use is Emerald Green. Weight is around 10.5 grams. About the same as yamo weight. The laminate comes out somewhere between a perch color and a pumpkinseed sunfish coloring. Has been deadly for me.

Haven't been on in a while, but taken some advice from you all. I beat the hell out of it , stir and stir some more, and seems to work out ok. Not a fan of the stuff, but I have a quart and it will last me until hell freezes over. Once hell thaws out I will go back to the M-F hardener.

Just bought some from Lure Works about a month ago. Is it discontinued or out of stock?

Add stir, heat remove stir, heat remove stir, heat remove stir. This stuff is almost like a caulk. The other brands I've used were liquid. This stuff though certainly making the plastic hard, just doesn't seem to want to stir in completely. I beat the hell out of the stuff, and still won't mix in completely. It just seems to turn into lumps in the plastisol.

Recently bought a quart of LureWorks hardener and having an issue with it. Whenever I heat it, it seems to burn, or turn into lumps and these lumps turn reddish purple ruining whatever bait I happen to be making. I have had problems with the hardener on reheated plastic, and new plastisol. I'm not new at pouring and never had this problem before. Any idea whats going on with this. I used MF hardener in the past without issue. I only bought the LW because I had an order there, and was running low. I have a full quart. too much to to toss. This is happening whether I add at the beginning of the heating or during. Nothing seems to change the outcome. Ideas?

I was making these a couple of years ago, and never wrote it down. figured it out while experimenting. I was making Senko type. I need to make more. As soon as I figure it out ( again ) and write it down this time I will post it. I remember using amber green, some watermelon, and green and orange glitter. I find this color deadly.

Got my eyes on an Angling AI mold for 5" grub. Sale priced so reasonable. ON the homepage for their website is shows a 21-28 day lead time. Does this mean that mold is made one at a time, or is it a stock mold that can be sent out. Do I wait 3-4 weeks for my order? Or does it mean its 21-28 days for custom molds. I figured I'd ask here first, cuz if their that busy I didn't know if an email would be answered. Any other suggestions for a 5" grub mold supplier? Thanks in advance.

After s year of using glass and 2 years of heavy use my Do It large (9oz ) injector shows a lot of scoring inside, but no damage to O rings. However using the injector this past weekend I can hear air coming out of the Oring on the plunger. Actually I feel lucky to get 2 years out of the O rings. That said, I ordered 2 new O rings from Do It, Price was $4.98 shipping with the "Super Savor" was 8.95?? imagine if I didn't use a "Super Saver " . They could put those two things in an envelope with fist class postage for .49 Where do you guys buy O rings? I really hate to spend a few hours wandering around the orange superstore looking for those small items. Or another 2 hours wandering around the blue superstore. Not sure if these rings are a standard size.

I also used floating worms back in the early 90s. Great for fishing over slop, and lily pads. I had found the Power Worms to be the best, then they changed them to suspending. So that's when I began pouring my own plastics. I use a hand poured 7inch paddle tail which I believe I bought from Barlows many years ago. I've recently tried reproducing those worms from 20 years ago with no luck. I just can't seem to add enough floater to keep them floating. The finished product comes out tacky and brittle . Don't know what has changed in the products But if you do end up making your own, write your recipe down. That seems to be my problem. I am wishing that someone made a 7"or 8" paddle tail worm injection mold.

Ditto for me too. At one time I used Camo PowerWorms exclusively. So it was only natural to make my own. I've been trying for over a year now, and can't seem to get it quite right. There is an iridescence to it that I can't seem to duplicate. I've tried a number of glitter combos, reds, greens, hologram, to try and get that but just can't seem to get it. I am going to try and add some hi lite to my colors soon, if LureCraft ever gets my order to me ( 11 days and counting I even paid for premium shipping ) I'll let you know how that all works out. Oh yeah, I got the oxblood, and moss green from LureCraft.

and if you decide to split up Id be interested in the Senko and 5" double tail grub molds, and possibly the single injector.

I have laminate plates for my molds, so I/ll use the leftovers that won't fill an entire mold to male laminated baits. I can only make a few at a time because the mold, injector get too hot, and make the colors run together. Sometimes I'll add my experiments together, and just get a non nondescript color, or a color sometimes close to the original. I'll use these myself when supplies run low, or if the color comes out pretty ok, I share them with friends. There's always something you can do with left over plastic. Also, I pour my hot plastic into the injector, not suck it up, then I bleed off air. Much like preparing a syringe for an injection. Keep your stirring to a minimum. This should help with bubbles.

Right to left. No additives, then with 320 grit glass beads. then with salt and glass beads, then trying to duplicate GY 197 Plastic is Baitjunkys medium.

I found and maybe its my imagination that I need to heat the plastic higher when using glass beads. I've scorched it a few times Call it careless. I'll try going sans stabilizer and see what happens I think the lack of clarity in my bait when using the extra fine media is that you have to use a lot of it, Same weight, but more volume due to the size of the beads. That puts a whole lot of those tiny beads in a bait, when a larger bead would have the same weight as a number of the little ones. For the darker baits I made, that extra fine stuff made a great bait. heavy in weight. Lots of wiggle yet durable.

Nope , using glass beads. But even finer than what you're using MIL 13 down to 320 grit. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-LBS-Glass-Bead-MIL-No-13-170-320-grit-VERY-FINE-Sand-Blasting-media/122024856622?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 I'm going back to the 80 grit for clearer baits, already ordered them . and I'll use the extra fine stuff for dark colors. And I'll experiment with a combo of the two.

OK... The experiment begins The photo shows 4 , let's call them Bobbos, I poured from CNC cut mold. The plastic is Baitjunky soft. To that I added 2 tsp. of stabilizer, 2oz. by volume of extra fine glass media to 4 ozs of plastic. The result if the first two Bobbos without tips cut off. Weight on these was 10.5 grams The other two with the tips cut off were the same plastic mixture but with 1oz of fine salt added. That bought me up to 11.6 grams. with only a negligible difference in transparency. I had cut the tips off so I remember which was which. The scraping inside the injector which is a do it large size was almost non existent. However I'm still not sold on the transparency. My go to bait depends on being almost clear with red glitter. See the GY #197 For any other color this would be fine. This is also my first attempt with BJ plastisol. I bought the sample pack and tried the soft first. Too soft. I've been using MF soft sinking for sometime now, and had been looking for other options, Next up, medium and hard, same recipe.The experiment continues.

I've used the 70-100, and using a Do -It large injector i find is does scratch the innner tube- a lot. I have also found it's just that...scratching. In a year of use my injector is still going strong, with no damage to the O rings. I am however not getting the clarity I see others getting, and I have gone back to a 2:1 ratio of salt to glass with pretty ok results. I was going to order more of the #70 grit, and I saw there were smaller grits. So I am going to try 10 lbs of the smaller stuff, say 200-320, and see for myself, and I will post my results. I use the glass and salt for stick baits, and worms as well. Next up, some big grubs for saltwater, and maybe some smaller 4"-5" grubs. I think the glass beads will work great in both the saltwater and smaller grubs. As far as abrasiveness, maybe each successive drop in grit size smooths out the scratches fro the larger sizes. Kind of like compounding out scratches, or wet sanding. One last note, the Do-It large injector tube seems to be very soft. I imagine a stainless steel injector would be tougher. Like the marinade injectors for meat and poultry.

Started using #80 grit sandblast media in my soft plastics with some success. As I was getting ready to order more I began to think about this... Is there any advantage to using a finer grit media? Something as far down as a #320 grit? Opinions anyone?

Many years ago I began dyeing my own bucktails. Living in CT. we get a generous harvest limit. 13 if you have all your tags. I only got 9 this season, but archery season is still open. Having problems getting quality bucktails or the colors I needed I decided to go back to dyeing my own again after all these years, I remember brushing them out, scrubbing them, bleaching them. Then either salting the the tail or using borax to dry them. What I don't remember is, if I skinned them out or not before dyeing. Can anyone here help me out with this? Skinning is not an issue for me, I can skin one out in minutes. But I don't remember if I have to do so. Also, couple of color questions. I'm looking for a deep wine color dye, any suggestions where I can get the dye? Or buy a quality bucktail in wine color if I need to? Where can I find a color chart for Fly Dye? They offer lots of colors, but I can't find a color chart. Where do you guys buy your dyes, and what if any other than Fly Dye do you use? It's been so long the last brand I used was Herters. And finally what color is cerise? It means cherry in french, but what color does it come out to be?