Jig Man Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) A few years ago when living rubber was flat, one of my buds and I had 10 one pound spools of it go bad. There was no way we could find to seperate the strands and the company was out of business and we couldn't send it back. Well with the advent of round living rubber I have not had this problem until today. With the water cooling I decided to dig out living rubber and make some jigs and put the silicone away. I found one of my colors was starting to clump and not pop off in strands for me no matter how much I stretched it. I had to pull individual strands apart on some of the jigs. If any of you have had this problem and have a cure, I'd really appreciate the info being passed on. Once again thanks. Edited November 7, 2011 by Jig Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljaw Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Jig Man, what happened to you was the exact reason I don't use living rubber anymore. I know how lively it is in the water but the problems with it are too much of a headache for me. Anyway, I did find a way to help storing the stuff but I had to do the same with any lure with rubber on it so it is easier to use silicone but I will try to help. I don't know how much you have but try to divide it up so it will fit in a quart size zip lock bag. Coat the rubber with unscented talc and put some more in the bag, enough so that it is about an inch deep in the bag and put the rubber in it and seal the bag but try to get as much air as you can out of the bag and store in a cool dark place. About once a month take the bag and give it a good shake to keep the rubber coated in the talc, it will keep the rubber from clumping up, and I know it is a pain to do but it is the only way I was able to extend to life of it until I got rid of it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 What smalljaw says makes sense. Anyone remember far enough back to recall when bicycle inner tubes were red and made from rubber? They always had powder on them when you took a new one out of the box. Not that I saw many new ones. I had to keep patching them as long as possible. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Thanks for the idea. I had not even thought of something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WidowMaker Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 Ive never had any of the living rubber to go bad but i know all about rubber skirt collars dry rotting. The secret is to keep living rubber and skirt collars in a heavy guage ziplock bag. Just like smalljaw said be sure to compress all the air out of the bag. Zip the bag about 3/4 of the way closed and then compress all the air from the bag and finish snapping it shut. I have some round living rubber skirt that i made up about ten years ago and the skirt collars are still just as good as the day i first assembled them. I good way to do is put them in a zip lock bag and then place several of these smaller bags into one larger size zip lock bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
