[mark poulson]

rofish,
I think it will be a lot less work moving my lures that painting my boat cover.
Seriously, I paint and coat my lures in my garage, with the large overhead door open. In the summer here in Los Angeles, the temps. have been in the 80's, and my garage has a black roof, open framing, and no insulation, so it's hot in there when I'm painting.
I have a fan going, but that just moves some air. It's still hot.
And the temps on the lakes have been in the 90's, so there's not a big temp. swing there.
Since I can't heat the lures to the 120+ boat cover degree temps. while I'm paint and top coating, I think I'll just have to learn to remember to cut off my lures and move then after every trip.
It's easier than repainting them all the time.

[benton B]

Mark, I put the denatured A. in prior to mixing the D2T and have never had a problem with it not curing properly. Now I mix the batch for about 2 min for I start applying to the baits.

[Vodkaman]

Just a small related side issue.

It made sense to me, to mix the solvent with one epoxy component first. This would buy extra time, allowing a thorough mix. Then introduce the second component of the epoxy and mix. But I remember someone mentioning that this was a bad idea.

Any thoughts?

[mark poulson]

Originally Posted by Downriver Tackle

Some epoxies react with hydrogen and/or oxygen as part of their curing process. Alcohol contains hydrogen and oxygen molecules that will react with the epoxy before it can react with the hardener. Alcohol is low viscosity, so those molecules are flowing around linking with the resin faster than the hardener can. I'm about positive that even if you used it after the mix, you're still not getting a full cure. If you thin it with DNA, I'd bump the hardener up 10% or so and see what happens. Should get a much better cure and ALOT less yellowing. Remember that an improperly cured film will yellow very fast, no matter what quality epoxy you use.

Benton,
I'm only going by what Downriver said.
Sounds like maybe you're not experiencing problems because you may be going heavier on the hardner, or you're just magic!

I've found that any DN in my initial mix of D2T screws things up.
Maybe it's just me.

Interesting what he said about increasing the hardner decreasing the yellowing. I may try that just to try to keep it clearer.

Downriver,
It's really great to have someone who actually works with these chemical, and unstands the processes involved, here to comment and teach. Understanding why stuff works the way it does is priceless.
If you do a search for "epoxy" on this site, you'll see there are endless questions concerning why and how.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[Downriver Tackle]

No problem. Just here to try and help and get a little info off you guys also.

Interesting about how the two paths intersected for me with custom painting and fishing. About 10 years ago, I worked for bass pro Kim Strickers cousin and nephew who owned a paint manufacturing company. Kim also owns a paint manufacturer here in Michigan. That sparked the interest again in fishing and started the r&d process of making my own lure coatings and techniques. I dabbled with it for a few years, then painted a few lures for walleye pro Pat Cavins. The rest is history. Now I enjoy kicking back on Sundays and watching people on TV fish with my lures.

[mark poulson]

Well I'm glad you're back in it, for sure.
Do you make bass lures?

[Downriver Tackle]

I do, but don't really advertize them. Large volume, easy to paint walleye baits is what I like to do. I'd rather paint 50 $4 lures at a time then 2 or 3 $10 bass lures per order. It's such a contrasting market also. Try to sell a walleye pro a $10 custom and they'll laugh at you, no matter how detailed. On the other hand, a bass pro won't touch a $4-5 paint job, even if it's the exact same thing they're getting elsewhere for $15. Low price paint jobs in the bass world are perceived as junk right off the bat and most guys won't even take the time to find out otherwise.

[mark poulson]

Kinda like some of the people I do work for. They'd rather be hit by a Rolls Royce than missed by a Volkswagen.