Leaderboard

The EC 635 is a heavy wire tin plated hook , so it is no going to rust because it was plated for salt water. I sell a lot of these and never had any complaints. The comparable hook although a little costlier is a Mustad 91715. On another note, many guys I have dealt with are switching over to black nickle hooks. I have been told by several of my customers, that they work just as good as the tinned hooks, and naturally a wider variety of hooks in the black nickle series that fit a wide variety of jigs.

I never did add dust collection to my table router. There are two methods; top fence or underside box. There are plenty of videos on YouTube. here is a good video explaining the underside box method. Dave

Just some word of advice, yes making , pouring your own baits can be rewarding and alot of fun. Saftey is so important. So don't forget to use common sense. Make sure your mentally all there. Prior to getting started.Take your time dont rush it! Take precautions! if inside or outside have plenty of ventilation use respirators, gloves, goggles. Protect your eyes there all you have. Don't ever pour your baits around animals or let young children help. Make sure your working on a very steady area or work space.Never work around flammable liquids, gasses or any materials that can ignite . Don't joke around As there can always be potential for an accident waiting to happen. Fumes and temp of heated plastic can be toxic, and can cause serious burns ,water or any moisture should not come in contact with hot plastic. Especially when pouring lead. Dont make a big mistake. Always protect yourself the time that you spent doing things in a safer way will save you from the hazards, accidents and problems that can happen as a result from being careless , and expensive medical bills, or from causing a fire as a result of not taking the time to think about what I should of done before not after.

Turns out to be the paper filter. Switched to a coffee filter and I have flow. Thank you.

I weigh my plaster molds on a gram scale. When the mold stops losing weight in the drying process then the mold is 'dry'. From personal experimentation; PoP loses weight at a constant rate, there is no gradual slowing down of the weight loss, so it is very easy to determine the dry point. I mention this because over drying in the oven can make the mold powdery. A cracked open oven works well, but the ideal rapid method is a warm box with fan circulation. I used 3x 100W incandescent (filament) bulbs as the heat source. If you make a lot of molds, this simple wood construction oven is worth building. Dave

Good advice Mark. Fully cured/dried molds is extremely important. I pop mine in the oven at 150 for several hours with the door cracked open a wee bit to dry them.