Tiderunner

Sorry then. This "hobbyist" with over 30 years of bait making experience shouldn't have answered your question. Just thought I'd help. I promise it won't happen again.

Welcome to the world of making your own. 1. To best duplicate the softness of a factory senko it's probably best to start with a soft sinking blend of plastisoL. If I'm using 6oz of plastic, I'll add enough salt to raise the volume by two ounces. Then I add about an ounce of softener. I prefer my senkos wiggly. I don't worry if they tear. I'll just make more. The softness is your own personal preference. You'll have to experiment, 2. Add the scent to the bag of cured baits. No sense adding the scent then having it boil off in the heating process. When bagging I even sprinkle some regular table salt. Doesn't hurt the baits, and I'm not sure it helps the fish bite. Again. Personal preference. 3. I have never seen a video where the molds are put on ice. The molds are aluminum. Think of having a car engine heated and then throwing cold water on it. The aluminum block will crack. Time for a new engine. I don't know for sure if the molds will crack but at the price of a good CNC mold, you don't want to find out the hard way. Besides, a hot mold shoots better, why get it heated, just to cool it down, just to have to heat it again. 4. No need to coat the molds with anything. Plenty of oils in the plastic. The baits will come right out of the mold without sticking. If using a sand casted mold, some guys coat the mold with PAM or a similar product. That's just for shine. Some bait makers have said the fish don't care if the bait is smooth and shiny. Again the same words...Personal preference. Not sure what a pneumatic injector is. I use either a single or a double injector. The plunger type. The usual type. In all my years of baitmaking, I have never had to keep pressure on the injector for 1-2 minutes. At most, I keep pressure on for about 10 seconds. If your molds aren't filling, check the temp of your plastic. Fresh plastisol should be injected at around 360*. You'll need to reach around this temp to convert the plastic. You can inject reheats at about 325*

White glitter sounded like a good idea when I bought it. I've used it maybe twice, now it collects dust. Add that jar to all the other I experimented with and never used again. I put it right alongside the bottles of colorant I've experimented with and never use.

Adding it before heating would only cook it off.. And if indeed it is water based Do Not add to raw plastisol before heating. Make your biats, let them cure day or so, then add BaitFuel to your bagged baits. But only do samples one or two baits, because you don't know what effect Bait fuel will have on finished baits. over the long term Once you see it's harmless, feel free to add as much as you want to your bagged baits.

Or some old lead chimney flashing.I know exactly what you mean. When the first run comes out, it's awesome. The shine is incredible. Then comes the reheat, and bleh. Add it to the pile that is used to make more black. It's a shame because the shine from this stuff is intense. Just small batches.\I guess is the way to go.

The string glitter hardly handled the heat. Even the sparkle glitters I have used, and I use them a lot handle the reheats. I will probably use the string glitters again. but only make small batches.

Was scrounging through my supplies the other day looking for a silver hologram glitter to replicate fish scales and I found a jar of string glitter I didn't even know I had. Decided to give it a try. And never used it before. Was making paddle tail swimbaits. Heated my plastic first, then added the glitter. Awesome! It was perfect! Exactly what I was looking for. Plastic was clear and the glitter was awesome. Ok reheat time. Imagine my disappointment when after reheating to just under 320* the glitter totally disappeared. Disintegrated. This has only happened to me one other time, When using white glitter. Which I haven't used since. I will continue using the string glitter, but I will only cook enough of what I need to make one run. I have done this and so far so good. Heat plastic to 360 or so, let it cool, then add glitter. Anyone else have this experience?

Just checked Barlows. They have them as well, and also in smaller sizes than Janns. They used to be sold in metric sizes but I see now they're sold in standard measurement for us American folks.

Not sure what you mean by "crimping beads", but try Janns Netcraft. Do search for Hollow Metal Beads, or Solid Metal Beads. Pretty sure either of these can be crimped.

I have an Angling AI 4" and %" twin tail, and an old Del's 4" single tail. I just looked at those, and others online, and I'm now wondering if they all use a thick body , larger dimensions to avoid copyright licensing infringement issues. The bodies are all thicker, the tails are different. I used to use the Yamamoto exclusively when I first started smallmout fishing. And I still haven't found what I'm looking for. But the Angling AI is a close second, though it might be too thick for your application. I fish my grubs on a 1/8-3/8 round jighead, using either a 1/0 or 2/0 hook.

I did an experiment over the winter. I had bought a skirt mold. Made some blue/black 5" stickbaits, and using my hot knife attached the skirt to the top of the stickbait. I threw everything but the kitchen sink at those bass, and became the king of pickerel. My son tied on a blue/black stickbait with a blue skirt, and nailed a 3lb LMB. not bad for a day with 15mph winds. I also have firetiger stickbait skirt combos. Twin and single tail grub skirt combos. May even make a few craw skirt combos.

Is your Blue Plum a commercial color, or one you made yourself? I can't seem to find the MF Blue Craw, or maybe it was never put on the website? Is it similar to the DOP Blue Craw?and I'm guessing that Bear's Marine is a relic? Strange word to spell. Phthalo is short for Phthalocyanine

I use only phtalo blue. Kind of a florescent blue.I make a laminate with blue flake, and the other half is black wih blue flake. While I'm not a user of this bait my son is. He slays 'em with this combo . Oh yeah...this is a 5" stick bait. I just start using blue craw colorant to make yup, craws. My first impression was" this color sucks" till I hung up to cure. The blue came through in the light. Not in the light they looked brown. Haven't used them yet but I should grab a few small mouth with them. I also made a laminate crawof blue craw/orange. Again, when I demolded " this color sucks". When I threw them in a water bath. The entire color changed. I really like the combo. Again, a small mouth bait for me. I do need to get a regular blue colorant though. Just to make some usual blue black laminated baits without flake.

Did a search on Harbor Freight. No meat grinders came up. Lots of them on the bay place for sale I may have to get one

Is this electric or hand crank?

This is my method too. This way I can make any color combo I want. I have added legs and skirts to senkos, and grubs, and craws. Using the heat knife I can add them to anything I want. For years I had been trying to figure out how to attach legs or skirts to nail weights for neko rigging. Glues didn't hold, and hot metals of course just melted the legs off when I tried to pour. I have never tried using skirt material strips. I've got tons. Something new to try. And thanks to everyone that posted the threading needle from TW. Now I have something else to spend my money on.

Cut your pucks into very small pieces or find a way to grind them up. Do not try and reheat the entire puck. Go slow on the reheat. I find the brighter colors, orange, yellow, clear, will darken some after a few reheats. Not a lot, but it will be slightly noticeable. I've got pucks up the wazoo, and I'm always reusing them for something. Or blending them to experiment with colors. I just cut mine up with sharp scissors. Takes a few minutes. I'm pretty sure someone here has a better way.

While I e never physically seen this bait color, trying to go by photos I see every shade from straight light watermelon to brown pumpkin.Maybe what I’m seeing as brown pumpkin could be that amber coloring as alsworms stated. In some of the pics of the baits the color reminds me of Berkley camo. How about posting a pic of your finished bait?

The price makes it attractive that's for sure. My experience with Dead On plastisol though have not been good ones. Way too many bubbles. But I'd be willing to give this one a try. Have you used an entire gallon? After a while plastisol does absorb moisture, and that's where it becomes bubble city.

I'll be darned! I will say, after going over all my bottle of watermelon variants and I have a lot, only one had the NB on it. I guess I never noticed because i usually only make all watermelon colored baits. so even if they bled I wouldn't notice. That lureworks 101 may work out for me. I really don't need anything else though, and I hate to order only one thing. I am going to be needing plastic soon, so maybe I'll order the watermelon, and a gallon of their medium soft. I'd still prefer MF, but if I can't get it I have to look at options. MF also has a non bleed watermelon. But again, I don't want to order just one item. The shipping will cost more that the item. Thanks for opening my eyes!

Almost out of the last of the MF plastic and cant seem to be able to get any. Has anyone here tried the DOP Red Label? The price does make it attractive. I really hate all the bubble in DOP plastisol though. But with the money saved I can buy a vacuum chamber.

Not a great pic, but this is close to what I was going for except the watermelon bled into the blue

Don't know if anyone here watches the " Baitchuckin" videos, but I started making a laminate that he makes, and it actually catches fish. It's called " Moon Juice". One side being a pumpkin watermelon blend, and the other half being clear with blue highlight. I was getting ready to make some more tonight by remelting the leftover pucks which I stored together, and make fresh baits ( 5" stickbaits ). When I took the pucks out, the clear pucked looked burnt, but I hadn't burned it. And I realized the watermelon color had bleed into the clear puck. Being the genius that I am, I checked the last run of stick baits and sure enough they were now totally watermelon color. In all my years of doing this I have had only one other color combo bleed and that was Firetiger. The colorants used were MF, The plastic used was MF. The blue highlight was LureCraft. I may have added some softener. Any idea what would have made the watermelon side bleed into the clear blue highlight side? I have some laminates I made 3 or more years ago that have never bled, yet this combo did. I like this moon juice color, but if the colors run, I'm not gonna make 8 baits just to take with me on an outing. I need to get out to the garage and see if I have some moonjuice left over from last season and see if those bled as well.

I do something like that I get black or a color that reminds me of clay

I've been considering a vacuum chamber. I have been a fan of a certain supplier of plastisol for a few years now, and can no longer get my preferred brand which was already degassed and nearly bubble free. The other brands I've tried were bubble city. So to overcome this issue I will have to change brands, and vacuum. But this is only my personal preference. I'm fussy. What can I say? That said if I were just starting out, I'd invest money in molds of the baits I use most. Stickbaits, craws, are a good start. I do like that G4 mold, but I prefer the FGF mold that reproduces a Keitech type ribbed swimbait. Then of course for a hand pour you may need the addition of a hot plate. Plus I can make 8 baits at once rather than one using the FGF injected mold. I also have an AI mold where I can make 8 non ribbed swimbaits. I also have tail molds so I can change things up a bit if I want. How about laminate plates for your stick bait to start out with? That may lead to a dual injector in the future. There are all kinds of things you can invest in before a vacuum chamber. One of the best parts of this hobby is you can go crazy getting the things you want. Become an artist. Add colors, textures. If you do it right eventually you will be just like the rest of us. Lots of glitter we never use, colorants we can't remember what they're for. Through the years I'd say that's part of the fun of it. Getting rid of bubbles can come later. After 30 years I'm only just starting to think about a vacuum chamber. I'd probably have one by now if the dang mold makers would stop coming out with new molds!