rjlures Posted February 29, 2004 Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 I'm having some of my lures split after finishing them. My process is a piece of shaped basswood, next I put devcon on the bait to seal it. Next I spray base coat white, then I paint my colors using createx. Next I add my diving lip and eyehooks and set them in epoxy. Then I put two coats of envirotex lite as my finish coat. After they're on the drying rack for several hours I set the tail eye hook in with epoxy. Once everything is cured I test them and sometimes they need to be tuned. My problem is when I tune them sometimes the clear coat cracks, although I can't see it crack and if the lure is in the water long enough it seems that the paint and clear coat split all the way down the lure. Does anybody have any advice? Is the wood not sealed properly? What else could be wrong? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overkill Posted February 29, 2004 Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 Are you letting your paint cure before putting the clear on? Also are your eye screws too stout, so that they can't be tuned without putting too much pressure on them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjlures Posted February 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 My screw eyes are brass and nickel plated. Iwas thinking of trying stainless steel. I think everything is cured before each step. I usually let the clear coat dry a day before testing them. and I let the paint dry for at least a day before clear coating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatnik13 Posted February 29, 2004 Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 After reading this I would say the simplist way is not to clear coat till after you test the lure. Infact if your lure is waterproof protected then the paint will not change the lures action while testing.After its tuned and tested with the hardware in place > then remove the hardware and now you can paint /clear coat while keeping the pre drilled hardware holes coverd or pluged. I'm not a fan of that expensive basswood and I would test others we talk about if you are open for suggestions. What or who's brand clearcoat do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassNator 1 Posted February 29, 2004 Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 My Concern on reading this is what is actually splitting? Is the wood splitting? Or Just the Paint or both? I agree above with the dont overtighten the screw eyes. If your too tightened, then the small tweaking either way will of course split the paint. Too much more tightening of course could possibly split wood. Another option to consider is to not tighten the screw eyes all the way down until AFTER your final clear coat. You can put your screw eyes in as the NEXT to last step with the 5 Minute epoxy, as well as the lip. Then one more 2 ton coat and call it a day. I am actually testing my lures on Sunday (today) I painted the lures, applied one coat of the Devcon 2 Ton to water proof it. (Basically!) Attach everything else loosely including the lip and give it a cast. ANOTHER thing to consider if you are testing your lures AND tuning them, if your lure is running way to the right, you can file a tiny bit of the lip on the right to counterbalance the lips running. You can use a small little rasp to handle this task. Remember only a little bit can go a long way! Cody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tally Posted March 1, 2004 Report Share Posted March 1, 2004 What are you using for a base coat? Are you scuffing the Devcon before you apply your base coat. You will probably have to give all of the details for someone here to correct your problem, and they will if they have all the info. I would try to find the cause and not side step it. If the bait is cracking on you, it will crack on whoever buys it. Tally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeeter Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 What type of bait is it. It sounds to me that the line tie that you are adjusting to tune the bait is surrounded by the clear coat. When you move the line tie to tune it, then the clearcoat around the line tie is cracking. Have I got it right? If so, try the Devcon for clearcoating the lure also. It is thicker and may take the line tie moving better. I have adjusted the wire for the belly hook hanger the same way to straighten it up and have never cracked the clearcoat. I would give this a try. Skeeter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjlures Posted March 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 Skeeter, yes that's exactly what's happening. I was also wondering if stainless steel eyehooks would be better than the brass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeeter Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 If the lures are for bass you will not gain anything using Stainless steel eyescrews. Poes used them because they could not screw the eye in without them breaking if they were brass. You have to predrill a hole to screw brass ones in. Even if you predrill through lead the brass ones will break off. I use brass and have never had a problem. I drill a 1/32 hole and then screw them in. I don't use them for the belly hook hanger. Skeeter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
