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I wanted to give an update on my ordering placed back in late January/early February. Amazingly I received my custom cut aluminum bugmolds.com the end of last week. Dang! Those fellas did an amazing job simply off a few pictures of a bait. I just saw they updated their site stating the shop is back up and running too.

Without thinking, I placed an order from baitmold.com several weeks ago. Then I realized they are in the Ukraine. I emailed them about my order and they responded today. I will patiently wait for my order. Hopefully they are staying safe and their lives return to normal soon.

I would bet it's easier to dig it out and start over. Cured silicone like that is hard to shape or cut precisely.

I have not found a way to reshape cured silicone. Once it sets, all you can do is cut it or dig it out.

I know you're using an AB, but I thought some of this might help. I use a similar 2K auto clear, but I don't use an air brush. I use the spray gun. I had some orange peel issues when I started using the HVLP spray gun. It was pretty much a matter of getting the atomization of the droplets to the right consistency and the orange peel was minimized. This is easier with the HVLP gun than an AB IMHO. Can we press down and pull back exactly the same, each time with an air brush? The trigger on the HVLP gun is pretty much on/off, not like an AB with the pressure increasing as you pull back the trigger. Easier to maintain consistent air pressure/clear volume @ 29psi for correct atomization. I also found that putting a very, very light tack coat on first and letting it flash off for 15 min before applying the second coat helped also. After the 15 min flash off time, I will apply a heavier 2nd coat followed by 15 min of flash off and then a 3rd coat quite heavy. Depending on what bait I'm clearing, maybe a 4th and 5th coat. I have about one of the cheapest HVLP guns available but I can still get great results with it. I use the small hobby gun pictured here. https://www.harborfreight.com/professional-automotive-hvlp-spray-gun-kit-94572.html I like having a pressure regulator inline just before the gun helped get me dialed in on maintaining the right consistent air pressure @29psi . Should you go this route with an HVLP gun, and clearing a higher volume of baits, an airbrush compressor even with a tank won't be able to supply a large enough volume of air consistently without waiting for the comp to catch up. Hope some of this helps... so that's what a clean work space looks like, nice!

It worked flawlessly today.

The DN referred to is Dick Nite Fishermun’s Lurecoat, type S81. In the decade since the post, another MCU option has also become popular, a MCU sold by automotive online stores (can’t remember the product name -a little help please!)

I buy a lot of eagle claw hooks and I only get a bad one every few hundred hooks. To be honest I don't remember the last time I got a bad one. I mostly order from Barlow's but I don't know that that makes a difference. I'm sure if you call LPO they'll make it right with you somehow.

You can get from Lureworks Spike-it https://www.ispikeit.com/product/772/flotation-beads-4009

Must be a Florida humidity thing because I haven't poured a worm in 10 years and still use baits that I have on the wall.

I'm pretty sure going with stronger hook will work and is the right thing to do if you have a lot of baits to deal with. In the meantime, came up with the following. Just wrapped some fine-diameter copper wire (from speaker wire I had out in the garage) around the bottom of each bend in the treble and added a clearcoat to the wraps to keep them from shifting. Easily added 0.3gm to a single treble hook. This would be the way to test out whether adding weight to the hook achieves what you want, then could look for a hook that gives you the correct weight.

Jig Man, just so you know, the original non-weedless Midwest Finesse Jig mold did the same thing to me. I finally broke down and filled in the hook eye cavity with hi-temp RTV silicone gasket maker - Permatex. I was able to minimize it without the silicone but had to use the silicone to eliminate the problem. On my mold it seemed to get worse as the mold got hotter. I use an RCBS pro melt and found that slowing down the flow of lead did help but I'd still end up with too many with lead in or around the eye.

This is not normal at all and different than what I experienced. I have only had 3 bad ones out of thousands but the Matzuo sickles were really bad. I'd get 100 and I'd have between 20 and 30 bad. The worst was an order of 1000 Matzuo sickle in which I had 331 unusable and over 160 that I had to bend to make them work. The EC version has bee a lot better but it looks like they may be having some issues.

not normal, I would call LPO and send pick.

It actually looks kinda cool that way.

Check out this old post https://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/7629-need-recipe-for-blue-fleck-worms/

I hold the jig head and not the hook. Hold the sprue with a pair of big needle nose pliers. Rocking the pliers side to side.( not front to back). The sprue come off more evenly. If your lead is hard it may leave a hole in the top of the jig. I don't use hard lead.

wood choices: most builders experiment to settle on the wood they want to use on their crankbaits. With experience, you realize producing a crankbait that performs well requires limiting the variables that can otherwise screw things up. One important variable is wood density and the workability of different wood species. It doesn’t matter which wood you decide is right for you. What matters is gaining experience using it. How to shape it, how to ballast it, how to finish it. Eventually you need to settle on a limited number of wood species because if you don’t, your baits will tend to disappoint you. At least that’s been my experience building baits for 20+ years.

You can buy them in bulk from fishingskirts.com at a cheaper price. You have to call but they will sell in bulk. Allen

I use KBS with createx and the only time I have seen what the picture shows was from the paint not being dry enough. Outside of that I have not had an issue with KBS and createx paint so they are compatible from what has been described the paint was cured in the OPs case so I don’t know what went wrong

Heat plays a roll in suspension as we’ll . Example plastic at 350 the salt will settle out fast. I usually shoot at around 310-320 when making stick baits to keep the settling at bay. Over the years I have gotten to the point I use worm salt and glass media. Some where around here MonteSS posted some pics along time ago of clear plastic with just glass media in it.

I couldn't get ahold of them sometimes but i've never had the least bit of a problem with them.

Mine is about 10 years old and the oil is white from sucking up plastic. Still works fine a little slow but same vacuum. Let it run for awhile and see if it gets better. I paid 69 for mine.

Just a heads up on this old thread but i ended up doing some trading with Frank & got a dual injector off of him that has two 6 ouncers & glad i did. I also like that fact that I can also take it apart if making single colors & with the other 6 ouncer i have can shoot 18 ounces at a time to pump out a bunch of lures pretty quick.

harbor freight acid wash brush dipped in worm oil

The fish don't look that closely...

worm oil rubbed on all the rods is my method. I add a bit of scent to the worm oil sometimes as well.

I too placed an order just prior to the invasion for a custom mold. Victor has been great to keep in communication with me. Pondered trying to do refund through PayPal due to the amount I spent but I figured the heck with it. I’ll either get it or I won’t. They have to much to worry about right now.

Lurecraft, which is part of LurePartsOnline(LPO) has a lot of open pours molds that are relatively inexpensive and possibly what you are looking for. Here’s a link. Give them a look and see if they may have it. https://www.lurepartsonline.com/LureCraft-Soft-Plastics/LureCraft-Molds/Open-Pour-Molds