Leaderboard

MF has been unable to source one of the key components in their Motor Oil color. Last we spoke with them, they were still working on reformulating it, but hadn't come up with anything they were happy with. We haven't found any alternatives that are very close to MF's version.

Thanks aulrich . It's made from miscellaneous parts even a cog from an old clock stuck in the bottom above the hook. My version of a clicker . Caught a couple fisherman with one of those.

The best silvery finish I have achieved is with Silver Leaf. It looks great for the silver sided Kokanee Salmon. It is available at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. It's the stuff they use to emboss picture frames in gold or silver. I didn't use the spray adhesive, I still used D2T. After mixing a small amount of D2T, I used a finger cot to rub a very thin layer of D2T on one side of the bait. Then you have to "float" this very very thin sheet of silver leaf and let it decend on the bait. Tap the silver leaf down on the bait very gently using only a cotton ball. Then I turn it over on a towel but I have the towel covered with saran wrap (food stretch wrap). Do the other side, fold the stretch wrap over it. Then I sandwich it between two pieces of foam padding on the floor and set my tool box on it. Come back the next day, stretch wrap comes off, coat with epoxy again to protect the silver leaf.

One of our TU members, Barry Baits, mixes glitter into his epoxy topcoats all the time and his baits are beautiful, and hold up. I mix fine glitter with Createx transparent base and brush it on wherever I want it. After drying it with a hair dryer, I can topcoat with epoxy, Solarez UV clear, or Rustoleum X2 Gloss Clear Acrylic.

Yes, exactly. Just drop a chip of wax about the size of a marble onto the surface of the melt. Be ready to stir it in thoroughly with a long-handled spoon or ladle. Also be ready for the wax to catch fire and flame-up for a few seconds. Keep stirring until you see a bunch of powdery black crud floating on a surface of silvery, shiny metal. Skim off the black crud, and start pouring. When you add more lead or ingots, you should flux again. Only takes a minute or less, but avoids a lot of frustration later on. A basic rule-of-thumb that virtually all highly-skilled lead pourers adhere to is: Head-off any problems before you start pouring. Fluxing is an integral part of that strategy. After fluxing, you should see that the melt has a smooth mirror surface. It certainly should help your pouring go smoother, as long as you're doing everything else right. I used to pour a lot of salmon balls in 1.5, 2, and 2.5lb sizes. By removing the lead oxides on the surface, and making the melt less likely to form oxides, fluxing will help make sure the metal is as fluid as possible, so pours go easier. But please read up on fluxing before you do it. There is plenty of info here if you do a quick search for "flux". Now, as far as helping the lead molds release the lead castings, well, that's a different issue. First, inspect a cooled cannonball sinker from your 'sticky' mold, and you'll likely see some scuff or scratch marks along the mold part lines. There's a burr on the mold edge that's causing those marks, and that's your culprit. Locate that area on your mold, and file, scrape with a knife edge, or sand down the offending burrs. There may be several, and they may be small, so search carefully. This problem is very common on large cannonball molds, as they often see a lot of hard use and abuse-- but the good news is that it's fairly easy to fix. Also, be sure to smoke the mold cavities thoroughly with a sooty flame (again, part of the "avoiding problems before they start" rule). This will help with both fill-out and mold release. These several changes to your pouring practice should make a big difference for you. Let us know how it goes. Hope this helps, good luck!