Jeff Hahn Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I have a question for those of you who know metals. I make my own vibrating jigs. I have found a new figure 8 connector link to use. (Like the others I have used, one end of the connector is attached to the hook and the other end serves as the eye of the leadhead.) I have made a few baits with this new connector link, but there is a problem. When I catch even a 2 pound bass, the end of the connector that serves as the eye of the leadhead will bend slightly, requiring me to tune the bait again. This new link is made of smaller wire than the others I have used. Plus, it's made of nickel, rather than nickel coated brass. Is there anything I can do to harden this nickel connector link so that it won't bend so easily? Will heating it help...heating and squelching? Thanks for any info! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Hahn Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 This morning I heated and squelched (in motor oil) the small figure 8 link. They looked really good and were much more difficult to bend...just like I wanted. So, I poured two baits with them and when I went to bend the eye out slightly to add the blade...SNAP! Heating and squelching hardened them so much that they were super brittle. So, I just heated two more and made two baits. I don't think that just heating them made the metal any harder and might have even made it softer. I'll give those baits a shot this week and see how they perform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 It's not made nickel. There's something under that plating. It sounds like there's Quenching steel in oil will harden it...but also make it brittle. It sounds like the connectors you've found are not really suitable for your purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Hahn Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 It's not made nickel. There's something under that plating. It sounds like there's Quenching steel in oil will harden it...but also make it brittle. It sounds like the connectors you've found are not really suitable for your purpose. You're probably right. But, I am going to continue to experiment with them, as they produce an action that I like better than the larger connectors. Once I lose a good fish on them, then I'll know I should have not used them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted October 23, 2016 Report Share Posted October 23, 2016 I seriously doubt that the pieces you have are 100% nickel. Nickel is used mostly as an alloy in other metals to enhance certain characteristics of a desired material or as a plating material such as gun finishes. Heat treating metal is, at best, a crap shoot for the home builder. To properly hear treat metals you need to be able to control temps, exposure time, cooling temps, etc. As you have found out it can be fairly easy to make some metals hard. The difficult part is then annealing it so it isn't so brittle that it easily breaks. On a part that small you are going to find it extremely hard to control how fast the part cools unless you have a furnace that will allow you to bring the temp down gradually. The annealing process is just as important, if not more so, as the hardening. Several years back I tried something similar with hooks. I wanted a hook with a specific bend in it and at that time nothing was offered in a factory hook. The first couple I did worked great. After losing the originals I tried bending more to replace the lost ones. Never was able to duplicate the original result and ended up losing some good fish due to the hook snapping. Good luck on getting something that will work for you. Ben 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
