Table salt for baits?

[Troutfishing303]

Hi, what happens if I use regular table salt in my baits instead of the stuff that's made for soft plastic baits?  What's the difference?  Can I make my own "salt for soft plastic baits"?  Sorry if this has been covered.  I think there's something wrong with the search button lately. 

 

Thanks,
Troutfishing303

[Bass-Boys]

you can use it .. some people grind it up finer with a blender or some type of grinder .

[wallyc14]

Grind it. It will suspend better in the plastic.

[Jig Man]

I buy kosher salt and grind it with a coffee grinder.

[Driftwood]

I use sea salt and grind it.( but not with the wifes blender)

[mark poulson]

Be careful.  Grinding salt too fine will affect the bait's color, making it murky.

I use Kosher salt, and just stir the heck out of my plastic as I pour.

 

[Baitjunkys]

Ground salt sucks IMO. Get some good plastic that has a natural higher viscosity and it will suspend just fine. 

 

 

[Troutfishing303]

Thanks everyone for responding.  I guess I will have to experiment with all the different kinds of additives out there.  Kosher salt, ground salt, glass beads, sinking formula, etc.  I'm making stick baits so I wanted them to cast far and sink faster than they are now.  Just like the original senkos. 

[wallyc14]

Glass beads work great.  And so does Salt .I use a mixture of the two to get the ballast I’m looking for. I will say this,if you use say soft plastic and add salt or glass beads. If you add softner  to it . You will use a different amount of it depending on the  ballast used . From my own experience I have found I can use less with the beads than I can with salt. From a use standpoint the beads will produce a far more durable bait than the salted one . Many folks here will agree with that. 

[Troutfishing303]

7 hours ago, wallyc14 said:

Glass beads work great.  And so does Salt .I use a mixture of the two to get the ballast I’m looking for. I will say this,if you use say soft plastic and add salt or glass beads. If you add softner  to it . You will use a different amount of it depending on the  ballast used . From my own experience I have found I can use less with the beads than I can with salt. From a use standpoint the beads will produce a far more durable bait than the salted one . Many folks here will agree with that. 

What grit size of glass beads do you like to use?  Any particular brand I should get over the other?

[mark poulson]

This is what I use:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-LBS-Glass-Bead-Medium-Grit-MIL-SPEC-8-70-100-grit-Sand-Blasting-Abrasive-/111672165459?hash=item1a002e0453:g:VocAAOxydgZTKU6c

[Troutfishing303]

On 7/13/2019 at 12:08 PM, mark poulson said:

This is what I use:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-LBS-Glass-Bead-Medium-Grit-MIL-SPEC-8-70-100-grit-Sand-Blasting-Abrasive-/111672165459?hash=item1a002e0453:g:VocAAOxydgZTKU6c

Thanks for the link!  So do glass beads not cloud up your baits at all or just a little less than salt?  My goal in adding salt is to make my stick baits cast far and sink faster than normal plastic.  Just like the Senko.  I'm contemplating on whether I should buy glass beads and have super awesome looking baits or get a coffee grinder and grind my own salt and be more efficient.  The cost of the salt plus shipping from the big online stores is just too much, in my opinion.

[Troutfishing303]

So I tried using table salt and now I know what you guys are talking about when you say the salt doesn't suspend.  This made the weirdest feeling baits I've ever made.  Soft on top and hard/salty on the bottom.  If you pinch the bait, it leaves a dent in the bait lol.  So for all the n00bies out there, don't use table salt because the salt won't evenly suspend the way you want it to inside the bait. 

[Troutfishing303]

On 7/10/2019 at 7:22 AM, Baitjunkys said:

Ground salt sucks IMO. Get some good plastic that has a natural higher viscosity and it will suspend just fine. 

 

 

@Baitjunkys what do you use to make your baits sink like a Senko if you don't mind me asking.  I have both floating and sinking formula plastisol.  The sinking formula doesn't sink fast like a Senko so I think an additive like salt or glass beads will be necessary.

[mark poulson]

14 hours ago, Troutfishing303 said:

Thanks for the link!  So do glass beads not cloud up your baits at all or just a little less than salt?  My goal in adding salt is to make my stick baits cast far and sink faster than normal plastic.  Just like the Senko.  I'm contemplating on whether I should buy glass beads and have super awesome looking baits or get a coffee grinder and grind my own salt and be more efficient.  The cost of the salt plus shipping from the big online stores is just too much, in my opinion.

The glass beads don't cloud the color very much.  I still get good "transparent" colored baits.

 

[Bass-Boys]

How are the glass beads on the aluminum injectors ?

 

[wallyc14]

 I use the ultra fine grit. Mark is 100 % correct it will make the color more translucent  And it’s hard on the one injector I have but I’ve been using it for 4 1/2 years with glass beads and all I’ve had to do was replace your rings

[Troutfishing303]

@mark poulsonWhat would it look like if you put glass bead media in clear plastisol with no colorant?  Would it be clear like glass or clouded glass?  That'd be cool if they made super clear glass bead media. 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Troutfishing303

[mark poulson]

1 hour ago, Troutfishing303 said:

@mark poulsonWhat would it look like if you put glass bead media in clear plastisol with no colorant?  Would it be clear like glass or clouded glass?  That'd be cool if they made super clear glass bead media. 

I've never tried that, so I don't know what it would look like.  I'd guess it would be slightly cloudy, because the glass beads have a different angle of refraction (meaning they would bend light passing through them differently) than the plastisol, due to their round shape.  But I am a carpenter, not an optical engineer, so I could be way off base.

[Troutfishing303]

12 hours ago, mark poulson said:

I've never tried that, so I don't know what it would look like.  I'd guess it would be slightly cloudy, because the glass beads have a different angle of refraction (meaning they would bend light passing through them differently) than the plastisol, due to their round shape.  But I am a carpenter, not an optical engineer, so I could be way off base.

@mark poulson I'll have to try it out some day. 

Anyone ever used salt flour?  I found this: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/morton-50-lb-bulk-salt-powder/102SALTPOP50.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw67XpBRBqEiwA5RCocR7DGFJ6AeT35OewTit28GpI-p8Gqootbzk45RDduudAzeioM3zWnRoCQ90QAvD_BwE

I bought a coffee grinder last night too.  Trying to get all this started!

[mark poulson]

3 hours ago, Troutfishing303 said:

@mark poulson I'll have to try it out some day. 

Anyone ever used salt flour?  I found this: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/morton-50-lb-bulk-salt-powder/102SALTPOP50.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw67XpBRBqEiwA5RCocR7DGFJ6AeT35OewTit28GpI-p8Gqootbzk45RDduudAzeioM3zWnRoCQ90QAvD_BwE

I bought a coffee grinder last night too.  Trying to get all this started!

I tried using salt flour, and it was the worst!  Clouded up my plastic so much it looked like I had added white colorant to it.  I would not recommend doing that.  I use coarse Kosher salt, and just stir really well just before I fill my injector.

[Vodkaman]

Mark - smart boy, it's a refraction thing, like adding a second coat of D2T to a scuffed bait. But, the densities of salt and plastic are not the same, so the salt is still slightly visible. With coarse salt you are adding a couple of hundred grains (guess), but ground salt, who knows, hence the opaqueness.

Dave

[Troutfishing303]

2 hours ago, mark poulson said:

I tried using salt flour, and it was the worst!  Clouded up my plastic so much it looked like I had added white colorant to it.  I would not recommend doing that.  I use coarse Kosher salt, and just stir really well just before I fill my injector.

@mark poulson  Thank you so much for that info!  I kind of had a feeling it would cloud it up but I wasn't sure.  Why do you use Kosher salt instead of regular salt?  You don't grind your kosher salt?

[mark poulson]

3 hours ago, Troutfishing303 said:

@mark poulson  Thank you so much for that info!  I kind of had a feeling it would cloud it up but I wasn't sure.  Why do you use Kosher salt instead of regular salt?  You don't grind your kosher salt?

Someone here posted here about how using Kosher salt didn't affect the color, so I tried it and found that it worked really well.  I don't grind it, I just make sure there are no big clumps, and I stir it right before I pour, to be sure the salt is in suspension.

[Travis]

A few things going on in regards to light transmission and suspension of salt.  

First all these salts are the same as in NaCl.  Where they differ is  purity/additives.   Salt by it very nature is problematic in that it picks up water.    NaCl is used to calibrate some instruments that measure water uptake based on its very well studied water adsorption.  So unless you store your salt properly and dry it you are adding some water to your plastic during the heating process.  Adding some cloudiness to the end product if not all removed (not a big issue as often gets boiled off during heating).  Additionally to counteract salts water loving tendencies manufactures place anti caking agents in it to avoid it turning into a brick (and iodized typically). So you have impurities playing a role in regards light transmission.  Other issues that cause cloudiness are result of tackling the suspension issue..  

The salt crystal shape plays a role in suspension.  Table salt and others are cubodial.  The shape results in crystals that don't suspend readily.  So guys grind it to make the particles smaller but in doing so exponentially increase the surface area and further cause issues with transparency (lack of).    Sort of like  fill a glass with ice and pour a margarita mix over it versus putting that same ratio in your blender.  You also are adding defects in the crystal in the process.  Think of safety glass: pre and after hitting it with a hammer.  

Kosher, Maldon, and other salts prized by chefs are different in shape.  Kosher typically is forced into a flat shape under pressure to form flakes.  So take two cubes the same size/mass.  Take the second cube and compress it flat.  Drop them in a liquid guess which one hits the bottom first.  The shapes vary in regards to displacement.   The flat shape will displace more plastic and will sink slower than the cube and is the reason Kosher salts suspend better in comparison to table (cubodial) salt.  Cargill uses a process called Alberger process to make some of their salts.  It results in concaved plate/flake.  These salts Kosher, maldon, the Cargill select products are typically larger particle size to boot so often get the best of both worlds... larger crystals (less defects and less surface area) with a shape  but do to the shape suspend better than cubes.  Additionally they often don't have anticaking agents.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Travis