[Jeep]

Good morning all,

Yesterday evening I found out that my new swimbait has a CRACK..


Now, after a couple of beers and a lot of sigarettes I am able to talk about it.. lol

This one I really tried to seal properly;
- I used propionate to seal te lure: first let all the pieces soak in it for about 5 hours, then dipped them each about 5 times.
- Then after paint I coated all the pieces individually with etex 3 times.
- All screweyes are glued in with 2 component epoxy glue.

But then, before the final assemble I had to redrill the holes for the pins. And I think that that is where the sh.. hit the fan,.. or the water the wood..well you now what I mean.
I tried to glue the pins in, but since the epoxy glue is quite thick my guess is it did not seal those holes properly.....and that's were the water can get in....

I was hoping that the prop would really soak the wood so that this would not happen...

So any advice? I mean, what kind of glue do you guys use to fill those pinholes properly?

Thnx

[diemai]

So sorry about that mess , Jeep , Murphy's obviously got you as well !

Check my thread "swimbait , very first attempt" , page 3 , I have described there , how I did it on my first swimbait .

And I guess , that it was Snax , that advised someone in another thread , that I read recently , to thoroughly glue plastic tubing , taken from "Q-tips" ear cleaning sticks , into the hinge bores to seal them off .

good luck , Dieter

[Jeep]

Hey Dieter,

Aha.. that's looks like a good solution..
The only thing that surprises me, is that the pinholes were allready there when I soaked the blank in the prop.. so I figured that the prop would also get in those holes since it is so thin.

Guess not... I wonder about the earsticks...

Thnx

[diemai]

@ Jeep

May be true , that your preserver has not entered the holes due to their small diameter !

The wood inside could also have been cracked before , you never can be 100% sure , since it is a natural product .

I have had similar problems many years ago with jerks of local pinewood , soaking them into turpentine/linseedoil for some days .

Pretty soon after the final topcoats and first fishing all the four of 'em evolved crackles , that went down right into the wood body , I guess , that the resin inside the pinewood reacted somehow with my preserver lotion ?

Nowadays I only use this method on abachewood exclusively .

good luck , Dieter

[woodieb8]

Jeep. what wood are you using. ???

[Jeep]

Originally Posted by woodieb8

Jeep. what wood are you using. ???

I use beech

[captsully18]

Jeep, I make a lot of wooden swimbaits and I have not had any problem with sealing any of them either with D2T or DickNites. Actually, I like the DickNites best as it is extremely thin and does penetrate the wood very well. After I have sealed each section I re-drill hinge pin holes if needed, assemble sections, paint, then clear coat with the DickNites. When I clear coat I make sure that I get a good drop of clear on top of hinge pins to ensure seal. I have not had one problem with water soaking into wood (knock on wood) but I really think that this is due mostly to the DickNites. This stuff is a breeze to work with - no mixing required, plenty of time to coat any size bait before it begins to set up, hard as nails, does not yellow, and really makes a paint job jump out at you. The only thing that I have found that comes close in the sealing dept. is MinWax wood sealer, but I don't think it works as well as DickNites and it sure doesn't harden like DickNites.

David

[mark poulson]

I've handled that problem two different ways.
My first method was, after the pin holes are drilled, but before I assembled the lure, to put a drop of runny crazy glue into one side of the pin holes, then turn the lure over and put another drop into the other side. The glue usually ran all the way through the holes from one side, but I did both just to play safe. Then I re drilled the holes using a piece of the same wire that the pins were made from.
After the lure was finish painted, I'd pre coat the insides of the joints with D2T, letting it lap onto the face about 1/4" to get an overlap with the face epoxy. Then I'd assemble the lure, push the pins all the way down to their finished position, mount them on my drying wheel, and use Etex to coat the faces.
Now I use Minwax Wood Hardener for sealing the whole bait, including the pin holes. It's very runny, and is designed to be drawn into the cells of the wood to strengthen them. I apply it with a Q tip dipped into the can, and it's runny enough that I think it penetrates the same as the crazy glue.
I still re drill the pin holes after 24 hrs., and then prime with Krylon white primer and proceed.
I topcoat with Nu Lustre 55, UV inhibited, now, but my paint process is the same, and I've not had any cracking or failures.
I haven't made any more jointed lures since Snax posted that tip, so I can't comment on whether it works or not, but I plan to try it. I'm thinking I will still have to seal the drill holes before I put in the Q tip liner sleeve, but maybe I can just glue the liner in and that will do it.
Or maybe the Wood Hardener would penetrate around the pin holes with the sleeves in place, and that would be it.
I look forward to finding out.