Sealing Balsa Swimbaits / Lures

[ADAM C]

Im starting to make balsa lures and swimbaits, but I'm not sure what to seal it with. Would regular epoxy do the job or is there a better product or process. 

[Rowhunter]

WELL,,,, Welcome.  There are as many options to that question as there are fish in your local lake, some may be better than others. You could use AC1315, GST, 2 part automotive urethanes, lacquer sealer, sanding sealer, EM 6000 by Target Coatings, any spar varnish cut with mineral spirits, propionate, epoxy as you have mentioned, exterior oil primers, exterior water born primers ( 1-2-3 ) and even super glue!  Well this is a quick short list, I'm sure this is only a portion of what has been tried around here. Each will work as a sealer, each has benefits and drawbacks depending on what you plan to use as paint, how well your shop is set up, time and  how much you are willing to spend. So again welcome, check them out and find one that works for your system, ask more questions and post pictures of the final product.

 

   Douglas    

[Vodkaman]

Adam - first of all, welcome to TU and a great question to kick off with.

I just read a post (No2) by BobP in a thread called 'sealing lures', were he asks what is the purpose of the coat that you want to apply.

Let's say you just carved your balsa lure, you are happy with it and thinking towards putting some paint on there. The balsa is hairy and no amount of polishing with 400 grit paper is going to get it smooth. Plus, as soon as you put paint on there, the grain and even more hairs pop up.

A very good solution for this is thin CA glue (instant glue or superglue). This comes in different thicknesses, you want the thin stuff. What this does is freeze the grain and the hairs and allows you to sand the body to the finish you require for painting. The thin CA will penetrate deeper than the thick stuff and be more effective.

After sanding, apply another coat of the CA, to catch any spots were you perhaps sanded too much. A quick polish with fine grit to finish off and you are ready for primer.

BUT, if you are expecting your lure to stand the test of time or you are fishing for toothy critters, you will probably need something a bit more substantial, like a coat of epoxy. Most use D2T, but there are other good epoxies out there. Avoid rapid cure epoxies, you will never get it on in time and will leave you a lumpy finish again. Some people thin the D2T with a few drops of denatured alcohol so that it goes on a bit thinner.

Once cured, this can be scuffed up with a fine grit and you are ready for painting. For the best results, an adhesion promoter. I don't know anything about this, as I don't paint.

As for hinged swimbaits, the same solutions only a lot more problems;Anywhere with moving parts or removable parts give problems and need extra care and attention. If you are using through hinge pins, the holes have to be sealed and re-drilled. I do this three times minimum.

Balsa is probably not the best choice for a swimbait, but that is a whole new discussion.

Dave

[Vodkaman]

Someone has been messing with the auto text thing. I didn't type 'plaster of Paris' in my previous post.

 

Just to clarify, the paragraph should read:

 

Let's say you just carved your balsa lure, you are happy with it and thinking towards putting some paint on there. The balsa is hairy and no amount of polishing with 400 grit paper is going to get it smooth. Plus, as soon as you put paint on there, the grain and even more hairs raise up.

 

Dave

[BobP]

On balsa crankbaits, I prefer either 30 minute epoxy like Devcon Two Ton, UV cured polyester resin like Solarez, or 6-8 dips into a propionate/acetone solution.  Smearing on some liquid superglue will harden the balsa surface before undercoating, if you want it even harder.

 

I almost always use Devcon to topcoat balsa crankbaits, so using it for undercoating is an easy choice and keeps things simple.  Apply it in a standard thick coating and then sand it lightly to remove the gloss and improve adhesion of the paint. I typically mix in a few drops of denatured alcohol into the mixed epoxy for both tasks.  It extends the brush time by a minute, helps leveling and expelling bubbles, and does not extend the final cure time appreciably.

 

Balsa is pretty fragile and compressible, so a thicker waterproof finish with 2 epoxy layers makes the crankbait much more durable.  If you have Solarez on hand, I think it yields a coating similar in thickness and toughness to epoxy and it is much faster since it cures in a few minutes with UV light.  But I don't like its milky semigloss appearance as a topcoat.

 

You can choose any of a dozen coatings for both undercoating and topcoating and they'll all work.  I think I've tried almost all of them and keep coming back to epoxy for good reasons.  Your mileage may vary!

[ADAM C]

Thanks for info from everyone.....I appreciate it. I'll also be glad to hear what other woods are best for swimbaits,Glide baits, and others lures.. if anyone has other techniques on sealing fill free to post.

Adam

[Vodkaman]

The problem with hinged swimbaits is space for all the ballast and hardware. Also, there is nothing to make the lure dive down as the lure is lipless, so unless you get close to neutral buoyancy or a slow sinker, your lure is going to cruise the surface. This demands a lot of ballast. The more buoyant the wood, the more ballast you need.

 

So for a wood choice, something with a density of 0.5g/cm3 (0.40 - 0.65). You don't want to go too heavy, as ballast is important in the lure design, for stability. I can't name woods for you as I am in Indonesia and don't know the English names for half the stuff I use.

 

There was a recent discussion on this subject. Here's a wood discussion.

 

Dave

Edited March 30, 2015 by Vodkaman

[Vodkaman]

Yes Bob, certainly room for both. I have built plenty of these baits but never fished one

 

Dave