Leaderboard

First of all I'd like to thank all these guys, I'm humbled by your remarks. Apdriver is spot on, you are removing too much material, with bucktail you want to add small increments so you shouldn't have to remove a lot of shorts. What you want to do is cut your clump right at the base no matter how long or short your jig requires. Next you'll line the clump up to where you want it and trim, there will be some short pieces in there but it helps add flare and some fullness to your jig. Now you shouldn't get a lot of shorts if you remember to cut ad add small amounts at a time, think layers, that will help. Also, the type of jig can make a difference, try using a jig with a ring or ball collar that you can tie up against to create flare, even a sparse jig will work well if the hair has a little flare to it.

The best auto clears are all two part catalyzed finishes. There are many choices but the only thing I can recommend is choose one with a high solids content. Of course, all these auto clears contain isocyanates (“cyanate” = cyanide) which can cause serious health problems if inhaled so you need a dedicated spray booth with filtered exhaust plus you must wear a solvent rated breathing mask while spraying them. if it were me, I’d just go the easy way and dip KBS.

A few other key tips I forgot to mention. You want to use an Aberdeen style hook for these. Bronze hooks do not hold solder very well and I would not recommend them. Also for those inexperienced in this type of soldering you want to hold the soldering iron against The jig and hook until the components are hot enough to melt the solder on their own. If you melt the solder by pressing against the soldering iron you're going to burn up your tips pretty fast and you won't have the best adhesion. To source the blades I used to buy them from Reinke Brothers and Jan's net craft but I've also bought them from a company called anglers Mart. Anglers Mart has some innovative new shapes and blades but some of them do not fit in this mold very well. They have some fish shaped blades and some ant blades and they are bit tricky to get into this mold. I have not tried the ice ant but the fish shaped used in this mold does work if you play around with it some and find one of the cavities that provides the closest fit. Another popular way to paint these is to use nail polish or as some guys call it "male" polish. you can get a whole host of colors in nail polish including glow-in-the-dark Etc. I've just never been a fan of nail polish in general but it is an option that is available almost anywhere. It doesn't take very long to get the hang of making these and you can whip out quite a few of them in an afternoon.

Small numbers I would go with Marks suggestion, otherwise the local automotive paint store could certainly sell you a 2 part automotive clear that is matte finish, def. not cheap though.

I just recently got a 4” Senko mold, I too looked at all the mentioned brands, as well as baitjunkys, probably some others too. I went with the basstackle mold, only used it a couple time but it’s a great mold. Super easy to shoot, no dents in any of the baits, haven’t dual injected it yet, but can’t imagine it will be difficult in that regard. i looked at the bts and do-it molds too, but went basstackle based on the molds I have from them, and bts doesn’t have a pic of the side inject mold ( though I’m sure that one is great too) and have heard of some denting issues with the do-it mold (I have a few of their molds as well and they are great too)

Man, I love to watch his videos. He makes things look doable! I'm pretty sure that's because he really knows what he's doing.

So here are some pics of my Reinke Brothers ice jig molds. As you can see one of these has been used and has some rosin residue on it. The other one is new that one is my spare in case the first one is ever damaged. They made several different molds and I happen to buy the ones that contain a variety of shapes. They also made molds that contain all the cavities of the same shape most likely for those making and selling who want to make a lot of one particular style. I've also included a picture of a mold with a teardrop blade and a hook in it. I also have some blades that do not match any of the cavities in this mold. What I do for those is I find the closest match and generally I can still make it work for those blades. You can also switch up the hook sizes if you want to. If the hook is too big it just puts things a little out of kilter when trying to line them up but generally you can arrange them well enough to make it work. I like to keep a bodkin and a pair of tweezers handy which makes it a lot easier to pick these small parts out of the box I keep them in and arranging them in the mold precisely where I want them. These molds do a pretty good job but sometimes the parts are still off just a hair and using the bodkin I can position them precisely as I want them. I have a plastic bodkin I'm not sure exactly where I got it from but it seems to work pretty good and I know it won't damage the silicone mold. I buy ice jig solder from Jannsnetcraft but I have also used a lead-based solder from Radio Shack when they were still in business. The key things are you want at least 60% lead in your solder to make the jigs heavy enough to drop at a decent rate and you also want rosin core solder not acid core. Once The jig Is made you will have some excess rosin on it. To remove the rosin I keep a small glass jar handy with some acetone in it. The finished jigs are placed in the jar and gently swirled around and left to sit for just a few minutes. When the rosin is gone then they are ready for painting. I like to powder paint mine but you will have difficulty powder painting them if you do not have an adjustable heat gun. My DeWalt heat gun is infinitely adjustable on temperature. This way I can dial the temperature in so I do not melt the solder which usually melts at a lower temperature than a pure lead jig. Once The jig Is hot I use the brush tap method to add my powder paint. any excess paint on the shiny back of a blade is removed with a q-tip dipped in lacquer thinner. Then these are carefully baked in my toaster oven being extra cautious in watching the temperature so as not to melt the ice jig solder.

I'll second the use of Smalljaws videos on U-Tube. Here is a link to several of his videos. https://www.youtube.com/user/smalljaw/videos

We are very lucky to have one of our members that has shared his techniques on YouTube. Smalljaw ties various jigs and provides really nice instructional techniques and I’ll provide a link. The search function on YouTube will bring up most of his videos. You might be removing too much material or not adding enough back as you see in his video.

https://www.lurecraft.com/4-Y-Single-Tail-Grub-4-Cav-Injected-2-Pc-Alum/productinfo/5XLU-17170/ Lurecraft looks identical to yammy

KBS is an automotive clearcoat... Why not spray that?

Remember that the same long chain polymers that give a top coat gloss also make it stronger. More gloss equals more strength. Have you tried scuffing the gloss top coat with a Scotch Brite pad to knock down the shine? That way you get the strength of the gloss, but not as much shine.

If there is one thing I've learned about message boards and the interblab. ...there is always someone who knows more than you. Or thinks they do. Good luck with your purchase. When your kids and grandkids can't find a job anymore you can sit and wonder why. Shipping is peanuts. If all you can compete on is price then I suggest you look for something else to do. I see plenty of guys with a lathe, drill press and a band saw jump into the wood lure market and sell $30 lures every day. Make a good product at a fair price and do it legit and people will beat your door down. Peace n hair grease. I'm out.