Football Jig With Wire Weed Guard

[rabbithead15]

What is the best way to get the mold to except the wire where the lead doesn't cover the wire during the pouting process and also the best wire to use that is sturdy unlike the wacky rig wire guards

[Jig Man]

Look up surflon or sevelon.  They are what I use.  They come in various # tests.  I use 90 for my purposes.  You just need to fill the extra space by the entry to the weedguard.  I do it with tape.  I have used modeling clay but don't like the cleanup.

[rabbithead15]

Thanks jig man

[Jeff Hahn]

I use a small diamater (1/8 inch, I think) piece of stainless tubing, cut to fit inside the cavity carved in the mold for a fiber weedguard.  I put the wire for the weedguard inside the tubing, put the tubing and hook in the mold, and pour.  Sometimes the lead will creep up the tubing a tad.  But, it is easily removed once the tubing is pulled off.

[smalljaw]

I'll give you my way of doing it and 3 different wire weed guards to use. The first thing is how to get your wire in there, well the easiest way I found is to take a rubber skirt collar and insert your wire, the skirt collar will hold the wire securely and then you put the skirt collar with the wire in it in the weed guard slot right where the cavity starts. Once you have the skirt collar in place and the wire in the position you want, simply close the mold, hold it tight and pour, you may get a tiny bit of smoke off the rubber collar but your wire will be perfect in the head and it leaves only a little bump to clean up but you don't even need to if you aren't selling them. Next is the wire, I use to use 7 strand nylon coated leader wire in 90#, the coated wire keeps it from unraveling although you can use uncoated and heat and dip the ends in powder paint, that is one option. The second option, which I've come to really like, is to use size 4 or 5 stainless steel wire, .013" diameter for a 1/4oz and smaller and .015" diameter for 1/4oz and larger, and you can even use 2 that size and then bend to a "V" configuration after the pour. The 3rd way is to go to LPO (Lure Parts Online) and look under melting equipment and then mold insert components, not wire inserts. Once you are in there you'll see they have 2 wire weed guard options, the one says "Do-it wire weed guard" and the other is item number 5679 wire weed guard, $1.99 per 20, I have used these to see how there were and while a little more than making them, it is a big time saver and good for just learning how to do wire weed guards. They are made of braided wire so you should head and dip the ends in powder paint or a quick epoxy coat over the ends to make sure they stay together. I hope this makes sense and if there is something you don't understand please feel free to PM me and I'll try to explain a little better.

[rabbithead15]

Thanks small jaw