Lure Painting 101

[ducksdemise]

I am just getting started trying to paint some newly carved Muskie Lures.

I have read some pages on the forum & still have ??????s

What are the proper steps for painting from start to finish?

I have createx paints an Iwata Airbrush, Minwax Sanding sealer, Devcon 2 ton Epoxy, lure turner spinner.

I have read a ll sorts of ways to paint.

Like said still confised.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

[mark poulson]

I am no painting or lure making expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but here are a couple of really basic things I've learned over the years by trial and lots of error.

First and foremost, when painting a wood lure, make sure it's sealed completely. Water intrusion will swell the wood, and ruin all your hard work. Do a site search here for sealing wood, and there are tons of threads, which you should take the time to read.

Short story long, if you don't seal the wood well, the rest of your work is wasted.

Second, heat set each coat of paint well before you spray the next coat. Trapped moisture in poorly set water based paints will return as bubbles under the next coat, and ruin your work.

Third, make sure your top coat can expand and contract with the wood. D2T is a glue. It is great for plastic cranks, and really small wood cranks, but it is very rigid, and will fail eventually on larger wood baits. If you've already got a turner, and you want to make big wood baits, think about trying Etex Lite epoxy, or another one of the decoupage type or rod building epoxies, which are designed to flex and move with thermal changes and wood movement.

Last, remember this. Your time is the most expensive part of lure making, so don't cheat yourself by cutting corners, and having a lure you've worked hard on fail because you skipped a step, or cheaped out a component.

And don't be afraid to fail. That's how we all learn.

Good luck, and have fun. That's an order!

[troutninja]

Hey there.. new to This site.. but I have been making my own lures for quite some time... one of the best things to do is practice. I know that sounds lame but that's the best way to get a God feel for the process.. I like to start with my base color that I want my overall lure to have.. then build off of that. Usually darks over lights. I definitely agree with heat setting if using createx. And my final clear coat is usually devcon two ton.. had great results with it...

[BobP]

I am just getting started trying to paint some newly carved Muskie Lures.

I have read some pages on the forum & still have ??????s

What are the proper steps for painting from start to finish?

I have createx paints an Iwata Airbrush, Minwax Sanding sealer, Devcon 2 ton Epoxy, lure turner spinner.

I have read a ll sorts of ways to paint.

Like said still confised.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

The basic steps are simple. I don't use Minwax, but reiterate Mark's advice that your bait needs to be well sealed before painting (I often use Devcon 2 Ton for that).

Then you need to lay down a COLOR BASECOAT of Createx that will hide the underlying wood grain and make your color shots uniform. Most guys use white for that.

Then shoot your COLORS, drying each shot with a hair dryer or heat gun. Note: heating a wood bait with a weak seal coat can cause expanding air to be forced out through your seal coat, bubbling the paint.

When painting is finished, coat the lure with Devcon 2 Ton, spin it for an hour, and let it cure hard for at least 24 hrs before fishing it. I haven't had Devcon failures on wood baits that Mark reports but rarely build musky baits. Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX) epoxy is popular among musky builders. Maybe that's why. But it does require multiple coats and longer spin times.

[rofish]

My

All crankbait builders are aware that heating each paint layer before proceeding to the next is essential. But not all of them apply the same principle to the blank, which I think is also essential to get rid of the air which could cause bubbles to go through the sealing material. So in order to avoid risks, I always preheat the blank before I apply the sealer. There are many ways to do that - hair dryer, heat gun, open flame (my favorite, since I almost started a fire once in the kitchen, and now I got the hang for it). When applying a sealer to a preheated blank, the sealer will be sucked into the wood, as the blank cools. And when you heat the lure with a hair dryer after a coat of paint, there will be no air left in the wood right under the sealer which could cause you problems.