Quick Tips...take em all, but leave one of your own!

[fatfingers]

Skeeter, that sounds great. How 'bout a picture?

[Tigger]

I found Naptha works great for thinning enamel paints for shading. It dries faster and doesn't seem to have a bubbling effect with the epoxy when you take the heat gun to it.

As mentioned before. I started weighing my epoxy on a digital scale to mix it. I do larger musky lures and it works great! Once you now much to mix per lure it is like clockwork. I have only been doing one lure at a time. Not sure how you would do it for production batches.

[lazaro]

Need very small bits for your dremel?

Get used ones for free with a dentist

[fatfingers]

For painting larger baits, a small pair of vice grips can be clamped onto one of the hook hangers. The vice grips handle is secure and allows you to turn the bait as you paint it. It allows you to sit down and move the bait or turn it over instead of standing over the bait as you paint.

Walmart sells a very small pair of vice grips for $2.00. Check in the hardward department.

The vice grips also work great for holding the bait by a hook hanger while applying the final clear coat of expoxy or envirotex.

[clamboni]

For thinning paint/mixing epoxy/anything you need to mix 2 precise amounts of something. Once you figure out how much you need to thin whatever it is you're thinning for a specific application, write it down for future reference. Now, go on ebay or to a medical supply store and buy a bunch of 10cc syringes. You get the same exact mixture every time and no making a mess when you pour your paint all over your workbench. They're graduated so you know exactly how much you're drawing up, easy to clean, and if you do ruin one, they're cheap enough to just throw out.

Nonrelated to fishing usage also, the bigger ones when attached to tubing are great for sucking up water quickly or starting a siphon.

[Swede]

print the lips you want to cutout on piece of paper ,glue onto your lexan with white woodglue. Saw them out by band or scrollsaw &rinse under water &the glue will release from lexan or polycarbonate

[gtlegs]

For attaching trailer hooks, I use I.V. tubing. They are very strong, and don't come off or rot. I have many nurses in my family and they can usually score me one when I need some more. One tube will attach a ton of hooks.

-Trey

[cesportsman]

for mixing up devcon i use a piece of wire and a bathroom tile, its hard, slick and when you finish a simple squirt of thinner and it wipes clean ready for the next bait.

[snooterfish]

To maximize the holding power of the lips, you can do as BobP does, and, I think, as the majority of the crankbait builders do, or, you can take a needle file, triangular one or similar, to make "V" shaped cuts at the end of the lip. I prefer this solution, since I do not have a workshop where I could have the necessary machines ready to use, so it saves time for me.

The sanding of the lip in the epoxy area is a must.

unless the wife fishes too, as in my case....

[rofish]

unless the wife fishes too, as in my case....

Lucky you!

[braveviper]

I use the leftover plastic from the bottom of the pot to make window clings.My kids love to decorate for the hollidays.I used the leftover watermelon plastic to make shamrocks to stick on the windows.The light shines right thru real nice, impressed the hell out of the wife as well.

[Tigger]

YOu can take old rolls of blueprints to use as a bench cover. You can go to any contractor and ask for some old ones. You can get sets up to 1" thick sometimes! You can make a mess,drill holes in parts and mix spot epoxy right on the paper. Cut with a razor at the binder and discard that layer when done. I really like this. A friend showed this to me.

[fatfingers]

Thats a great idea, Tigger. I sometimes use a magazine on the bench, when I'm applying Devcon epoxy. When I'm done, I just rip of the page.

[DeHeron]

Cut your fingernails before sanding!

[fatfingers]

Sometimes its a good idea to clear the bait before changing colors while painting. I often clear during the painting process after getting the bait to a certain point with 2 or 3 colors and before I add the remaining colors and touches.

That way if you have an error in painting, you can wipe off the error while preserving the work already completed.

[gtlegs]

fatfingers- I dont know why I never thought about that before!! I wish you would have posted that about 4 hours ago, as I ruined an awesome paint job while I was putting kill dots on it. Do you use an epoxy or what for the clear in between colors?

-Trey

[fatfingers]

It works great, Trey.

I sometimes use epoxy since I like to wind up with 3 coats or more on the final bait. But more often I use automotive clear, which may not jive with Createx-type paints.

I paint strictly with enamels, which are thinned with lacquer thinner, as is the automotive clear.

I wouldn't hesitate to put on a thin coat of epoxy if the automotive clear won't work over water-based paints, but I dont see why it wouldn't. Not sure though.

[fatfingers]

By the way, I use electrical tape for my kill dots. I use a paper punch and punch the kill dot out of the tape and stick it on. Nice uniform round dots every time. The epoxy clearcoat blends them in nicely.

[mossy maker]

I also use electrical tape for dots but also use the colored tape for things like gills. One of the biggest advatages to this that I have found is being able to reposition them easily if they are not exactly where you want them.

mossy maker

[Cranky Fish]

Just another twist on the perfect shad dot: I use the back end of an 1/8 or 3/16 drill bit depending on the lure size.

[fatfingers]

Make your own line ties:

Take a block of wood, like a 10 inch piece of 2x4 and hammer two nails into it just far enough apart that the wire fits in between the nails.

Slip the wire between the nails and you have a great wire bender.

Experiment by trying to duplicate the lip wire shapes and line ties you see on commercially sold bait. Its easy and you'll be making your own line tie wires in no time.

Doing it yourself allows you to make a variety of different types and you can also use different wire strenghts and diameters.

I use spinner bait wire for the line ties on musky baits.

I'd recommend you buy only stainless steel wire or something similar. Rust and corrosion are your enemies.

[skeeter jones]

If would be great if this thread were made a sticky again. It was lost along with a lot of tips during the recent site crash and burn...

I agree. It gives some good tips and ideas to search. I have to find it and it gets put back in the pages.

I learned a tip for practicing painting. Use a piece of plexi glass/lexan to practice your painting on. Back it with a piece of white paper so you can see your colors. Use it to test your paint pattern and flow before actual lure application. I was using paper before and the paper asorbed the paint but it would run/splatter on the lure. Plexi glass is more like the lure surface . I'm Going to practice more to get the right mixture of thinner and paint.

[fatfingers]

That's a great idea, Skeeter. If you clear the stuff first, you could wipe it off when you're done and you're ready for the next time.

[hazmail]

To get "PROPIONATE" to dissolve quicker- stick it in an old coffee grinder (rotary electric) and belt the crap out of it. Fine crystals of plastic will dissolve quicker in acetone because of greater surface area in contact with acetone. Be aware of the fineness of the plastic and eyes/ lungs. Pete

[Vodkaman]

When writing post replies etc, of more than a couple of lines. Write the text in a word document save it for safety. The text can then be selected and pasted onto the TU message.

A lot of members are already doing this. I have lost countless hours in retyping lost text due to crashes, internet freezes etc.