Splitting Rubber Skirts

[Mags]

I am adding some rubber strips to my football jigs with the silicon. Is there a way to split the pieces without pulling them one at a time? The rubber looks great incorporated into a jig, but spliting each piece is a real process. I also found that getting the rubber into the band with the silicon is going to take another kind of band expander. The one I usually use (a pippet and hooked wire) isn't big enough. Thanks.

[Basseducer]

Mags,

I tie my skirts on and don't usually use the bands. Once the rubber strip is tied on I grasp the end and pull slightly while cutting the end off close to my thumb and forfinger. This causes the strands to shred off as you cut. I don't know how this will work with the bands. Hope this helps.

[rsinyard]

The flat rubber is harder to split than round IMHO. I use the round in some of my jigs. I use the skirt expander from Naked Bait Co. It will hold your skirt collar open and you can push the silicone and rubber pieces through then close the skirt expander and pull the collar off. Then I thread the collar onto the hook and put in the position I want it before tying with wire. Once the skirt is tied on, then I just pull on the rubber strands to separate them.

[21xdc]

After the skirt is pushed on, wrap the collar with a piece of 22 gauge copper craft wire tight and clip off the tag ends close and bend over.

Then pull the whole skirt pad and cut close to your fingers with a dull pair of scissors. Each strip will shoot back individually. Pull tight and cut slow...

[Jig Man]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/JigMan/DSC01760.jpg

[Mags]

Got it. Thanks for the help!

Steve

[Munkin]

Man that stuff is such a pain to split apart! The cutting never seems to work so I end up pulling each strand by hand.

Allen

[Basseducer]

Allen,

After you cut the strips to the desired length try grasping them by the ends and stretching them a couple of times before you tie them on. Sometimes this makes them shred easier.

[21xdc]

You guys are not pulling the material hard enough when you cut. I have bought and tied thousands of pounds of this.

Cut the desired length 1/4 in longer than you want, Then after you stretch and cut it, It's perfect.

Edited December 1, 2008 by 21xdc

[balsa butcher]

I have found that if it is hard to seperate, you can tear it into three or four smaller strips and then cut it. This enables you to stretch it farther from the jig allowing the strands to seperate a lot easier.

[pirkfan]

Put the jig in a fly tying vise, grab the rubber with a pair of hemostats right at the end and stretch it waaaay out (not enough to pull the hook out of the vise though), cut the strip right next to the hemostat slowly

[Minuteman]

I found that when pulling on the rubber, to pull at a slight angle instead of pulling straight back helps. I guess it puts a slightly different tension on strands next to each other and they snap away from each other.