gonefishindd

I think the metal might be Babbitt,used for pouring bearing .I know of 2 types ,babbitt 1 and babbitt 5 It a mixture of lead,tin and other alloys. It is header than lead, but more brittle.

I package my bucktail jigs in small zip top bags. example: 2"x8 "' bag, cut a peice of copy paper to fit into the bag , drop in the jig. the paper keeps the bag stiff ,hair in place and tangle free.For freshwater jigs ,smaller bags . Jann's carries small poly bags

Forceps, are handy.Flea markets,their is always someboby selling them. I think I got a dozen for $ 10 bucks. I like the ones that have the curved points about 6 in. long. They work good for soldering flutter spoons or ice jigs. On my dryer I use a pool noodle,cut every few inches.I keep my lures on the forceps and slip it on the noodle while it rotates. That only for lure i want to rotate vertically, but you can hold them with the forceps for painting and clearcoats

acetone,work good,but i never let the brush get hard. When i'm done spreading my top coat,i just put the brush in a cup with a small amount of acetone,let set for a minute or two,wipe in a paper towel,that it

I've used that style of hook for a stinger rig,but the place i got them from is no longer in business.VMC makes a hook called" cone cut outbarb barbarian treble".It is listed in Hagens catalog ,you may be able to adapt in a pinch

I'm assuming your talking about hooks made by Partridge of Redditch,England. I've used some of their hooks for fly tying,but don't know if a fly shop would have what you need. You could try a search of the company :

I paint plastic baits with createx also, but i use devcon epoxy for my top coat. Don't know how a water based clear top coat would hold up,but i have my doubts. I've had a few lures that i have coated with devcon ,chip or wear away, and when that happens the waterbased paint goes too. I'm not set up for spraying anything but waterbased,so I've started to apply my top coat twice,so far so good. I paint alot of shad style lures and on the sharp edge it hard to get the epoxy to buildup. Sorry i couldn't be of more help

I will be visiting both shows,Harrisburg is the BIG one, in feb 7-15. I will kept a lookout for your booth . Good luck

I live in eastern Pa. The shows we used to do were Fisherman's flea markets.In this area you can do one almost every sunday thru winter and spring.That show drew about 1500 people in about 6hrs . This is a guess,but he had do $300. His display bins were 2'x2'x3" . He took 1/4 in.plywood for the bottom and 1x3 in. pine boards for the outside frame, and made divider about 2 inches sq. inside.Just picture a large divided box with out a lid. When the show was over,he stacked them up on his buggy,put a piece of plywood over the top one and went home..We talked about tying and fishing and he told me his biggest seller were small dry flies which he did a very good job on . I guess their are a lot of tiers like me, poor eyes and fat fingers

I use soft lead (old lead pipe) for my jigs. Your problem might not be the lead,but the paint.I use vinyl paint with few problems, itis very chip resistant. Littlebear is right on,tire weights are harder

I've set up next to guys selling flies over the years and one guy had a nice setup. He had all his flies in devided wooden display cases. For people interested in buying the flies he would give them small plastic cups,like you find in restrautant supply store or sam's club and a pair of tweezers and let them have at it When they were done ,he would add up the price snap the lid on the cup and that was it.He had a large variety of patterns and sizes and a good knowhow of what worked on local streams.As far as beads,plastic bags are best and cheap. Consider making some tabletop displays out of peg board sheet to display them. I think the most important thing to remember is rental cost is your biggest overhead at the show. Let say you rent two 8 foot table at 30 bucks each,try to get your stuff on one table and you cut your overhead in half.When you sell small ticket items it make a big difference. good luck

I go to the local scrap dealers. Ask if they have any old lead pipe or sheeting. The lead pipe is a little dirty but it is nice soft lead.Melt it down outside in a frying pan then pour into useable ingots.I've used the wheel weights for saltwater sinkers but perfer the soft lead for lures and jigs. I spend a morning, melt down 30 or 40 pounds outside then you are ready to pour in the winter

nice job, that will catch fish for sure

devcon 2ton works good for me.Reasons: cheap,available, durable finish and setup time is reasonable.Example: 6 3" shad baits,coated with less than a 1/2 tube,cost about .15 cent each,dryed overnight,hooks onthe next morning,fished in the afternoon.how can you beat it

thanks for the info,i'm not set up for pictures yet ,hope to be soon