Tiderunner

Trying to duplicate Berkley Power Bait Camo. Not having much luck. Tried the recipe in the cookbook but it comes out looking like mud. I want to make 7 1/2 in ribbontail worms which is all I use. I can easily buy some. But I have enough supplies to make enough to last till the end of time. Anyone else male these? Or this color?

Harbor Freight. 25 lbs for 39.95 of 80 grit

You need to use beaded glass. Adds weight nicely. I buy 10lbs. at a time. I add same as salt. I take 6oz of plastisol and add enough glass beads to raise the volume by two ounces. Softener needed but makes a nice floppy wiggly stick bait. And casts like a rocket. The glass will score your injector, but after years of use mine is still fine and functional. I replace O rings maybe once a year. For glass beading I use 70-100 Ct

Great! Thanks everyone! Now y’all have me searching websites for motorized or hand cranked grinders for cutting my pucks. Tell me again how pouring my own is saving me lots of money. I do see a couple cheaper hand and powered grinders and may consider one. In the meantime I’ll keep my scissors sharp.

I highly doubt it’s your plastisol. Are you certain your temps are at 350? What thermometer are you using? Is it cold in your work area? Your mold may be too cold to begin with. And your injector as well. Heat them both up before you begin. I pop mine into an oven. Start with these easy fixes first.

I'm just a hobby bait maker making about 500 baits a year for myself and friends. I use just plain every day 1qt. slide lock bag from Walmart. They come in boxes of 75. Never had one leak or dissolve, disintegrate, or whatever. I've got some with salted oiled and scented baits going on 4 years now without any problems. When I was buying commercial bags I believe it was from either LureCraft or Barlows.. There is a big seller out there of all types of packaging materials. ULINE. Check them out Send for their catalog ( it's huge ). You should be able to find something in there. Otherwise most bait making suppliers have bags of all sizes, double laminated, with tabs for hanging on hooks. https://www.uline.com/

For years I've used really sharp scissors to cut into small pieces. Tried a hand vegetable chopper once. Didn't do a thing. Tried knives, etc. Haven't tried using the wife's new blender yet though that might add a funny taste to food afterwards. Suggestions? I waste about 15 minutes just chopping up the pucks for reuse. There has got be be a better way!

This. But be aware the more color you'll need and even though the blend may be a "super soft", you'll still need to add softener. If you really want to get to know the weight of your baits get yourself a cheap digital scale from Amazon. One that can be set to weigh grams. I use MF plastic, and I find that I use 6oz of plastic, and add enough salt to raise the volume to 8oz. And remember to write your recipes down.

Not familiar with the Dead On Plastics worm blend, but to add some action to you stick baits,I'd add softener to to your raw plastic. Especially,if you've added salt. If you haven't added salt ( I use glass sandblast beads and salt ) your bait may sinking too slow to add any action. A typical yamamoto senko weights about 9.5-10.5 grams. I fish deep water so mine will go around 11.5 grams. When adding salt or beads. Then you absolutely need to add softener. After you cure your baits, or even right after demolding, are the floppy? Wiggly sort of?

While not sure what a corky is, I think you might be looking for The Holy Grail. If plastic is soft, it's not firm, and if it's soft most likely it's not durable. The durable plasitisols would be the flex type, stretch type, or saltwater types. Too soft and they rip apart off the hook. Too firm and you probably won't get the action you're looking for. Once your baits have a chance to cure, about 24 hours or so, you can bag them up with whatever scent you choose, and after a while the baits will be impregnated with the scent. I make a 50/50 mix of scent and worm oil to bag mine. Then sprinkle with salt. As far as your plastic, you may have to spend some time researching. Some suppliers do sell sample sets. Bait Plastic.com being one of them. Don't forget to order softener and hardener to custom make exactly what you want. Another suggestion. MF Plastisol. Get the flex or med flex, and use the hardener or softener to adjust. and remember to right down your recipes. When making baits, there is no none size fits all.

Seeing a larger pic, I'm changing my mind. I'm seeing watermelon green. It's possible it's a combo of green watermelon,AND green pumpkin? Green watermelon, then a drop of green pumpkin to brown it just a tiny bit.

I'm seeing green pumpkin. Fire red flake, and emerald green flake. Maybe it's just me, but the cloudy look almost says salt is added. Or it could be the pics I'm seeing.

It's weird how the tin bismuth alloy expands. Sort off defeats the laws of physics. My method of removal is simple, though unorthodox. I keep a small tack hammer on the workbench and after the whatever I just poured cools enough, I open the mold, and give the sprue a tap with the tack hammer, and that usually does the trick, while at the same time the sprue usually breaks off. as far as the excess sprue material I buff all my baits with a Delta 1" bench top belt sander. I can do 25 jigheads in no time at all. The mold I have a real problem with is a CNC bullet weight mold. Each cavity has its own pin. I wanted this mold because of the concave base. Those pins only come out when lubed with an anti seize compound. I've tried everything else, Pam, oil synthetic oil, etc. Anti Seize works the best. and is still a PITA to remove. Unfortunately where I fish throughout New England, non toxic is the only game. Every state except my home state of CT. So I either pour bismuth. Or buy tungsten. I've been gradually changing everything in my tackle bags over to tungsten. Honestly, I do like using it better than lead. And I let some other shmo make them so I don't get aggravated with bismuth. There are times when I'm in a hurry and will leave jigheads on the work bench, and forget about them. Then I can't remember if lead or bismuth. I'll take one and whack it with a hammer. If it flattens, it's lead. If if shatters, it's tin bismuth. When weighing my jig heads and other weights made from bismuth. The difference in weight is very very negligible. Maybe a couple of grams difference. Of course the big difference is the density. Lead will always win that.

Yes indeed. That's what I'm doing. Thought this dual injector was gonna save me time over using laminate plates. Not so sure yet. I've been shooting 2 Do It Yamamoto Senko CNC molds and then move over to an Angling AI 3.5" skirt mold which uses hardly any plastic at all. I can only shoot one skirt before the blending block runners harden. I usually will shoot enough baits for a season for my son and myself. But probably not many more that you're shooting at one time. About 24 senkos, and maybe the same number of wacky worms. I wasn't thinking of getting a fancy hot plate. Just something from Target to keep everything warm in between injecting. Like a pancake griddle type. Got a few gift cards there. And while helping to keep everything warm, I can also keep my coffee mug on it. Investment is around $40.00

This is the alloy I use https://www.rotometals.com/lead-free-bullet-casting-alloy-bismuth-based/. Tougher than pure bismuth or bismuth tin. Melts at a higher temp, pours at around *500. I started using this when I figured if it's togh enough for bullet casting, it's gotta be tough enough for jig making. It is still brittle but not as brittle as other tin bismuth alloys. I have dropped some one the floor and had them crack. I also powder paint mine. I use an alcohol lamp and hold the jig over the flame for about 3-4 seconds then dip. Then to an oven around 200-250 degrees. These are a PITA to remove from the mold!

I’m over 44 years working for USPS never heard of a clerk confiscating a parcel due to liquid. Hazardous liquid maybe. I’m not even sure they’ll confiscate a kilo of weed if they do they’d keep it for themselves. So I sent a question to a friend of mine that handles that stuff. Here’s the answer. Non hazardous- ( anything that won’t ignite ) … hopefully not bio hazardous either - if smelly — be sure wrapped well/ double- non breakable container.. packed well.. don’t want anything to leak cause suspicion… when asked “ liquid , fragile, perishable, potentially hazardous, perfume , lithium battery, or mercury? You say yes - liquid- then they ask what kind ? So parcel should be given fragile sticker… and non hazardous.@

Your eyes were fine. And yes you were right, the PO will ask if you have liquid, anything hazardous, etc. Ibelieve there are stickers they use that say Fragile. Liquid, Handle with care. Or something along those lines. A few years back I sold off a bunch of mold, glitter colorant . Shipped it from the northeast to the midwest. The liquid made it there fine.The buyer was not happy about glitter being everywhere. The box was crushed when he received it. And smashed the plastic bottles of glitter.

I think I got it figured out. I made some fire tiger senkos tonight. Orange and chartreuse. Tough colors to laminate. It seems my blending block cools down too fast. When I'm done injecting, the plastic in the blending block is already hard, but the plastic in the injectors is still liquid. I'll need to find a way to keep the injectors and block hot enough in between shooting. I'm thinking a hot plate. But I'm not sure if the circuit at the workbench is enough to run a hot plate, some lights and a microwave. Who knows what else in the house is running off this circuit. I may have to run a new circuit. Oh yeah. Heating everything to shoot baits with and heating plastic a little hotter, and more pressure was able to shoot 8- 5" senkos at a time, plus one 3.5" skirt. The cooling down is why only one skirt.

I've tried most brands, and now use only MF. A lot of guys here prefer DeadOn Plastics floating. I think it's called white feather? Either brand has the word floating in the product name. As far as additives, you'll need to use Micro Bubbles. How much is totally dependent on your needs. A word of caution. The Micro Bubbles are tiny glass bubbles, and extremely light and can become airborne when adding to your liquid plastic. WEAR A RESPIRATOR AND EYE PROTECTION! When using this product it will affect your color and you will need to add more than usual. And again depending on your preferences you may want to add softener. I make a lot of bigger floating baits, flat tail worms, lizards etc, that are used to glide over lily pads and such, so a lot of the bubbles are added, and believe me when I tell you I use a lot of colorant to achieve the color I want.

Been working there going on 45 years. We deal with broken bottles all the time. Hence my advice pack the bottles in plastic bag.

None that I know of. Just make sure they’re securedAnd wrapped in plastic. Shipping costs have gone crazy so be warned ahead of time.

I bought the dual injector to speed up the process. Until I get past the learning curve it is actually slowe. The belded sprues become black. Even my reject baits with laminate plates...black. I grab whatever black disc I have, and remelt it, then add the bi-color sprues. I have a lot of black discs for reheating!

This gets my vote. I use MF soft. and that's pretty darn soft. If I want it softer, I'll add the softener. Lately I use only the medium stretch, and add softener or hardener depending on my needs for whatever bait I'm making.

Ive never had an issue with the fine powdered salt scoring my injectors. I do grind it down into dust before using it. I run ith through a coffee bean grinder. Please don't tell my wife! She thinks it died and got thrown out. The onlt thing that gets salt are certain senkos I make. Other wise I use glass sandblasting beads. The only salt I use on the majority of my baits is when I bag them. I squirt scented worm oil into the bag and sprinkle kosher salt into the bag. The only problem with that is, when baiting your hook with these, if you have a cut anywhere on your hands, the salty baits will let you know! As far as the scoring of your injector tubes, I wouldn't worry about it. I've never seen it with salt, but I do use a lot of the glass beads, and they will certainly score your injectors. BUT...I've been suing the glass beads for over 5 years in some injectors, and they still work fine. And as far as the O rings go. I replace them once a year if the mood hits me. I'm sure I could go even longer with the O rings. If you need weight in your baits, switch to glass sandblast beads. New stuff not the reclaimed. And just coat the baits with salt if you think the salt makes the fish bite better, or hold on longer. This method has been working for me for years, and no swelling of the baits. Just for the record, I fish deep for small mouth, sometimes as deep as 60'. When making baits, I'll use a combo of alt and glass beads to help the sink rate. I toss my used baits the the floor of the boat, and usually don't clean the boat till I'm ready for the next outing. Still no swelling. And I have found old used baits in my gravel drivewy that have gone through rain, sleet, snow etc, and no swelling. Color fading yes, but no swelling.

Some de-gas the plastisol before and after heating. If heated to proper temps, it will be still hot enough to inject. Especially with the small baits you're shooting? You getting a lot of bubbles? What brand of plastic are you using?