Dustinmul

I appreciate the info and thank you for the detailed explanation of the differences. I also didn’t think about bondo as a filler. You may be into something there. I have heard people for and against both the main 2 epoxies. Is there an inbetween option? Hard but flexible? Maybe goes on easier than d2t but thicker than etex? I tried to heat it up and even with a good 50/50 mix, it drastically reduced my work time. It essentially became viscous then in a few minutes was a thick spongy like unusable batch. So I redid it without heat and was okay. I just don’t know how people get multiple lures done. I am using really small synthetic brushes, but still, after one it’s starts getting harder to spread. I suppose I could thin it with a few drops of denatured alcohol or maybe acetone.

How does or would kleer kote stand up to teeth? That glide bait has, for some reason, been a bass magnet, but its intended for for musky and pike. I’m am also planning to make some walleye and bass lures in the future, I have an addiction when it comes to fish with teeth :]. But I like catching anything that’ll put up a good fight.

Thanks for the advice! the wood itself is actually good. that little guy actually only got through 2 of my 3 layers of epoxy and the wood is sealed with 2 coats of poly. So I don’t think I had any swelling. I had to touch up some paint between the first and 2nd layers. Scale pattern didn’t play ball to well on the bottom half. I too T my hooks usually. At least more so on plugs and jerks. I didn’t think it would matter as much on a glide since it is a much slower moving lure. But I also didn’t think about when it lands in the water. I thought those punctures were tooth marks haha. There was also a small spot on the front. That pike hit and swam the same direction I was working it and I never felt him hit the lure. Just as I went to glide it and I had nothing but slack. That hasn’t happened to me to many time so it was interesting. But I will try and t those hooks as well. The permasteel ones are new to me and kinda cheaper, so they shouldn’t be as stiff as owners. aside from the breakage, I did catch the front hook with my leader more than I’d like to admit. Any suggestion on fixing that on the next run? Maybe back the front hook hanger up some? But all 4 fish I got on that lure had both hooks pretty firmly attached. So I like the placement. Could just be me though haha. I switched to a more sturdy musky rod that morning cause the lures I chose were a bit heavy to toss all day with my medium rod. thanks for further breaking down the 2 epoxies in regards to wear and tear. I think I will make that change to etex. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I figure it’s easier to sand down a bit of epoxy and reapply a fresh coat if it gets that tore up. At least compared to what I’m gonna do to repair that one. In the end I’m not mad about it. Just don’t want to lose big chunks if I can prevent it. The lures effective so I am happy to get some marks on it

Harbor freight or even dollar tree probably will have cheap ones. I know the dollar tree by me has some tools though... I’m gonna look next time I find myself that way. Cause then I could cut out a few glides at a time and have a set up for a few lipped ones and be pretty set. my motor spins at 3 rpm and I plan to also apply epoxy Off the wheel. I have issues with it thinking my rounded corners sometimes even though it’s a decently thick coat. I am hoping the wheel fixes that problem. But I usually use a little fire and move it around back to where I need it. Not the cleanest finishes, but it’s not to bad for hand spinning I don’t think.

I found a guy that uses vice grips and clamps. He used the Vice grips on a hook hanger then uses a clamp to to hold the vice grips and lure to the wooden shaft. He was spinning big baits and It seemed to work well. At least if you use a strong enough steel wire. I assume you do as those baits look pretty nice. I think I’m going to make a wheel that that clamps and a blank square section for the vice grip method. I haven’t started doing multiple lures at once yet so I don’t need a ton of room. Do you epoxy before or during the spin?

Thank you for the info. did/would this work with soft tails? And how did you secure the lure to the wheel? I saw people using rubber bands. I feel like I’d get a lot of sagging and swinging though with larger, heavier lures

So I’m in going to build a drying a rack this weekend and I’m not sure how I want to set this up. I generally make larger 6-9 inch lures. One is a glide bait with a soft tail. I’m not sure how to make a drying rack that can accommodate the fact I don’t have a rear hook hanger. Also they weight between 1.5 oz and 3 oz. So it needs to be able to handle the weight and handle both lipped and lipless lures, some of which, again, don’t have a rear hook hanger. I’ve scoured google and every forum possible and can’t find a good answer. Some other insights. I like the pvc option cause it’s easy to find small pipe and the friction fittings. Figure out a way to get the screws to stay in the pipe and that’s solved all my problems. But I put my hook hangers before I epoxy lure because I feel like it’s easier to get a clean finish without breaking chunks of epoxy off. Since I see pvc as a common method, I assume I am wrong and I can unscrew those bases even after the epoxy cures and drill the other holes. Is that accurate with d2t? I plan to switch to etex and give that a shot because I now know d2t is prone to chipping. but I don’t know if drilling into either epoxy after it’s cured is a good idea. If hardware can be removed without damage I suppose I could add small screws to every spot I need a hanger/joint. any other ideas or tips are quite welcome. Thank you guys for the help!

So I made a glide bait and it has proven to be rather effective out the gate. In 5 casts I had a 5 lbs large mouth (4th cast while testing) and a 3 lbs 9 oz bass (first cast of the first fishing trip). I ended up catching another 2.5 lbs and a small pike on its first run out so all in all it’s a win. I couldn’t believe bass were eating this 9 inch glide bait but that little pike took a good chunk of epoxy with him. That was 3 coats of D2T with sanding in between. Maybe this is expectation management, but I figured that a little 2 foot pike wouldn’t cause this much damage to Devcon. Is ETEX better for them toothy critters or an I just doing something wrong? I’m pretty new, the bait above is the 7th one I made and the 4th that worked as intended. That 5 lbs bass was the first time I got a fish on something I made. It was awesome! Not to mention a pb for large mouth . But I would like these to kinda stand up to larger pike and musky. Any suggestions or knowledge would help. Thanks in advance if you wanna see the fish they are posted on Instagram dsm_baits. I plan to make a couple more of these for obvious reason lol.

I too am building and painting my own as a hobby. You can get craft woods like poplar from Home Depot for relatively cheap and make your own shapes. Styles colors whatever. I too don’t have a lot of extra income. Just slowly building up with things I want. I’ll mass epoxy what I build this winter in a month or 2. But with poplar or balsa. You can find balsa at michaels probably. A good nice and sand paper can go a long way here then epoxy to seal. I seal mine with a white stain/sealer first. as a note pine sucks if your doing a lot of this by hand. The hard and soft grain takes a lot of work to get right. It here’s 2 I made. Doesn’t take to long. Mostly waiting for the sealers to dry. The 1st one I literally painted over aluminum foil and googley eyes haha. Worked though.The 2nd one I painted them.