kbonanny

What is the best, most cost effective flux out there? What is everyone using? I've been pouring for 38 years now, starting at the age of 11. I have 2 OLD Lee pots...the original "hot pot" with the coils inside of the cast iron "cup" of the melter and I also have one of the original 10lb bottom pour pots that sees a minimum of 50 hours usage every single year. I have never used any flux, and I have never had an issue with either pot. The only issue I ever encounter is getting incomplete pours on some hard to make jig heads...but I'll heat the molds themselves with a propane torch and that usually solves my issue. The way I melt down lead is to use the small hot pot as it is super easy to use an old table spoon to continually scrape the bottom and the coils and then simply skim the trash off of the top. I use a real old metal tray to mold my ingots, and the lead I use is all scrap lead...I owned a garage for 28 years so I have access to tons of wheel weights.I will melt down roughly 25 lbs of lead at a time, which I integrate into my pouring sessions as this way I am always doing something while waiting for a mold to heat up (by resting on top of my bottom pour furnace) and by doing so I am always using my time productively. I have found that gave me the= I still do get some slag rising to the top in my larger furnace, but the amount is very little compared to the amount of slag I get when I use the small hot-pot to melt down wheel weights, old sheet lead removed from the walls of a Dr's office that amounted to several hundred lbs used to contain X-Rays within that room. I had a contractor customer who would buy 10-12 dozen round heads, tapered tube heads and a lot of hand ties )buck tail, Marabou, dressed treble hooks etc etc) along with smaller amounts of weedless jigs, wacky heads etc etc..so he gave me all of the sheet lead he took from the job...He told me there was 2-3 times as much left on the job, but it was gone when he got there the next morning. I also have acquired a couple hundred lbs of lead from a plumber friend who is also a customer. I have never had lead that I melt down NOT produce at least a little bit of slag, but the sheet lead was by far the best as I got very little slag from it and being it was in sheet form it melted almost as fast as I could add more to the pot. I have thought about using some kind of flux for over 20 years, but never got around to doing so....I couldn't justify spending over 20 bucks for a small box weighing 4 lbs once shipping and tax is figured in....and being i have had very few issues over the years I never saw the need. I didn't know you could use Paraffin wax. I have also read some people use salt, candles (same as Paraffin) .. but I figure there has to be other items as I've found fellow jig head makers are quite an ingenious lot of folks! Thanks for your advice! Kirk Bonanny kbonanny@gmail.com Jenkins Twp (Pittston-Wilkes-Barre Pa)

I was going to respond that the plastic part (yoke) that holds the gear and is held down by the springs was installed upside down. I learned the hard way about this exact issue YEARS & YEARS ago when I myself had misinstalled this very piece and assembled the reel only to encounter essentially the exact same issues you ran into! One tip is to have a black Sharpie pen on stand-by on your work space to put a dot on the side that is facing up prior to disassembly. I did that for years until I became so familiar with bait casting reels of most every design and brand that I could diagnose most issues without disassembling the reel. It seems to me you learned the "hard way", same as many of us who disassemble countless reels to clean/maintain, repair or upgrade. I began by doing my own reels and those of a few friends who went fishing with me hundreds of times per year when we were teens, and slowly built up a reputation as a local guy to see for any issues with ones' reels. I began doing hundred of reels per off season once I joined a moderately sized bass club, as almost every member had my go through their reels every off season or whenever an issue reared its' ugly head....and in or around 2000 I began getting reels with the only mission of upgrading their bearings to the best available on the market. I still do a number of reel upgrades per year, but i have the owner's buy the bearings anymore as I can't find a reputable source that sells high quality bearings for a *REASONABLE* price....too many suppliers on this end treat performance bearings as if they're made out of 24K gold!!!! There is a ray of sunshine for you in this story....you will know EXACTLY what's wrong with the reel the next time you encounter this issue! I've come across almost a dozen over the years that needed new gears, new pinion holder and new springs (and usually bearings by that stage) but most weren't upgraded or even repaired as the necessary parts cost more than the reel was worth. I kept 3 LH Retrieve Curado's for myself that my customers no longer wanted and upgraded/repaired every single part of them and I'm still using those 3 reels (along with a solid 12-15 others) often....even though I have had them for well over a decade! Drive on my man, drive on! Kirk Bonanny

I service & repair a lot of reels personally. If you need my information let me know and I will forward all of my contact information to you. I have literally had THOUSANDS or every type of reel imaginable apart in most every brand and have been servicing & repairing reels for over 35 years! I am not a business, which is why I am not adding my contact information unless you request it. There are some good businesses that also rebuild/repair/maintain reels of all sorts...you just have to ask your self if it is worth repairing as that is not a very expensive reel. Thanks, Kirk Bonanny

.065" nylon works for you? that's far "thicker" than what I'd figure to use. Do you have any of these jig heads made up so you can attach some pictures? Thanks!

Does anyone have links to the source material for making your own wire weedgaurds? I'm especially interested in a way to make a double wire weedguard for use on modified Do-It molds, such as the ball head, tube head, mushroom headed jig heads. Thanks!

Howdy all! I've been pouring my own jig heads and such since I asked for and received my 1st mold (various sized round-head jig mold using Aberdeen hooks) along with a pack of 570 eagle claw #1 & 1/0 hooks for my 11th birthday as we lost at least a dozen every single time we went down the Susquehanna river in Exeter, Pa were I grew up as there was always three of us (at the minimum) with myself, my best friend and my brother virtually living down the river making a minimum of 250 trips to the river per year. Being pre-teens and from working class families, we had to earn our own money for fishing gear, which drove me to ask for a mold & hooks (started out melting lead on a Coleman gas stove in a small, old cast iron pot) and I taught myself how to tie marabou jigs, buck-tail jigs as well as countless 1/8 - 1/4 ounce jig heads for throwing grubs, worms etc etc. That was the only way we could afford to keep up with having enough lures to fish until I learned I could cross the river in hundreds of spots and be able to go out to retrieve my snags. I was cutting grass, shoveling snow and even delivering newspapers to come up with enough money to fuel my desire to go fishing just about every single day until ice flows made fishing impossible for a couple of months every year. I now have at least 30 molds and a couple thousand dollars worth of jig hooks, mold inserts etc on hand and probably pour at least 1000 jify igs/heads per year these days as I "supply" many of my friends as well as bass club members I've come to know through the years...I still hand tie at least 100 jigs per year, sell skirted jigs, dressed treble hooks etc etc as they're always in demand! There is one item I can't understand WHY it isn't available and that is a light wire, double wire weed guard such as those found on many commercial jig heads! This brings me to my question....does ANYONE know where I could source these weed guards by the hundreds or thousands??? I know there aren't any available molds for these to fit into, but I know I can easily modify a number of molds to make them accept a wire weed guard. I've already "customized" a few molds with my most in demand "custom" being ultra light tube jig heads (1/32, 1/16 ounce) utilizing hooks as large as 4/0 for bass sized tubes as a slower, erratic fall is often a game changer on heavily pressured waters! I must pour a couple hundred of these heads every year since i modified a mold to accept the larger hooks close to 20 years ago! I must have sold/given away/used several thousand of these heads alone since I devised this idea. I HOPE someone has some insight into these light wire (or even stranded wire) double wire weed guards. I greatly appreciate any and all information on this subject! Kirk Bonanny kbonanny@gmail.com

Has anyone ever added tin to their lead or used straight tin to our jig heads? I know tin is harder than lead, though PURE tin, when cold, will crumble like sand. I'm certain a lead - tin alloy would not crumble and would be a harder head. The other potential upsides would be making larger jog heads that are lighter. I know weight matters when punching through weed mats down south, but fishing the Susquehanna River up here a larger, lighter head would be great for a number of reasons....1) the larger the head, the less often it will get snagged 2) larger head/larger bait = larger bass in most cases 3) most of the water we target bass in up here is between 2-6 feet, any jigs over 1/4 ounce seem to fall too fast and snag far too often I figured I'd see if anyone else has ever played with alloys, and what their results were. I know tungsten is going to be far harder than anything we can pour at home, but when you might go through a couple dozen jigs in one outing, you're certainly NOT using tungsten! I've been fishing the river for nearly 40 years and rarely lose any jigs, but my son & his friends & most of my friends are constantly snagged - snapping off - tying on another one. Let me know what everyone's opinions, thoughts, ideas and advice are on this thought. I figure there has to have been people who've done this before me which is why I'm asking. I've actually been adding tin to make a 60/40 ratio tin/lead when pouring larger heads, which to me is anything from 1/4 ounce and up to 1/2 ounce. The only molds I have that create anything above 1/2 ounce are among the 1st molds I ever bought when I was 12 or 13 for weights when we'd frequently fish for Catfish or with bait. I can't honestly remember the last time I fished with "real" bait as it's been at least 15-20 years as even when I walk trout streams in February, I'm throwing streamers or miniscule spinners/spoons. Thanks! Kirk

Regular "Bondo" (it has numerous brand names) is not water resistant at all. What you could use, and is much, much tougher is fiberglass gel....for more toughness, and a lot more work you can easily get short hair fiberglass, but A) It is very slow to sand, and you'll want to wear at least a dust mask . The thicker you lay this on, the more you change the profile of your lure. Probably not an issue on a large muskie plug, definitely an issue on a bass style crankbait. The fiberglass gel is the easiest to work with, but it may require multiple fine coats. Here are some pointers for working with fiberglass gel (or any of this stuff).. 1) Wear those blue disposable heavy duty latex or rubber gloves. You can buy a box of them (100) for around $10.00. You don't want mixed fiberglass gel on your skin, as it will not be coming off for quite a while. 2) Be careful when sanding this, wear a dust mask. If possible, do it outside....it will make a mess. 3) Cover your work surface with an old shirt or drop cloth. Once fiberglass gel hardens, it is incredibly difficult to remove, and most likely will damage the surface of your table or bench. I've been a professional auto technician for close to 30 years, and bodywork is a hobby of mine. All of the above info is some of what I've learned over the years. My advice aside from the internet to buy any of this stuff is an automotive paint store, though many parts stores will also carry these products.

I have a simple question, if interested reply and if not you may ignore. Would you give a "BUY IT ALL" discount price on the collars (reg & rattle) & all skirt tabs. Thanks for your time,Kirk.

1) Do you still have these? 2) Is the price negotiable....not too negotiable, 3) Will you sell a mold separate? Thank you for your time.

What type of file is this? I can't seem to open it. Thank you!

I aquired some of this years ago and haven't had too much trouble with it. The biggest pain is that it is paper backed, so you are going to need to flux your pot eveytim you add more, and than flux it again. It is pure lead as far as I was told, and pours well. I wound up giving a lot away as I had nowhere to store it all, but still have 30-40 lbs left. Kirk

Howdy. I've been making my own jigs and such since I was 11 or 12 as my best friend & I used ti fish the Susquehanna River well over 200x per year and it gets expensive when you have to buy that many jig heads on a 3$ week allowance! I'm 38 now and have numerous molds, making anything through full skirted bass jigs through ultra light crappie jigs and loads in between. I also have a small a=lbeit loyal group that regularily order and buy lure from me. I became disbaled a number of years ago (rare autoimmune disorder) and I'm getting an itch to start expanding what I offer tothe locals. I already can see my initial investment isn't a drop in the bucket as just the molds, hooks, components, skirts, blades & such can easily put me over 500 and that is not all that much, just 2 styles of spinnerbaits/weights and two of the keel buzzbaits with various weights. If anyone can offer me some advice I'd greatly appreiate it. If anyone has all of this stuff and is looking to get out I'd certainly listen to what you have to say also. Please email me @ kbonanny@gmail.com and thank you for your time. Kirk