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You should contact them directly and request one. They should be able to provide you with a Safety Data Sheet.

Can not answer your question about acid. But always wear a mask and have a vent fan running too!!

I put together a jig business. With a couple pros making marketing videos for the website it drew attention. I focused on selling wholesale and made personal calls to stores. The pandemic helped tremendously because I had ordered plenty of materials and they were manufactured here in the USA, so no supply issues. Recently sold the company to a bigger outfit. It was interesting and profitable but good luck was definitely a factor.

The #1 tip is to not under price your baits. This was the biggest mistake I made in the beginning. Stay firm on your prices especially with friends because they will always want more. Make sure you do not invest money into molds of baits that are infringing on others patents because you will get a cease and desist letter and then you will not be able to sell anything from those molds. Make sure you get the right suppliers at the best prices. American made supplies may tickle your patriotism but it will also hit your wallet (this is a very touchy subject in the current global politics because it affects your shipping times and security of suppliers). You said you are new to the hobby so I would spend a couple of years perfecting the craft before making it a business. Good luck.

Craws for me are the most enjoyable bait I've ever made which stems from my days of tournament fishing. At each event I fished I would walk the bank and turn over rocks in search of getting a craw or two to use in deciding which color trailers I would use for my jigs. As mentioned above there are so many sub species and color variations making them is never boring. I found the greatest challenge is imitating the molting version which involves semi milky opaque and translucent elements. I only hand pour so I have options as to how many colors I can integrate in the laminating process needed to create the illusion ranging from 2 to 4 with 3 being the most common. If I'm really energetic I'll pick up a few lake rocks and bring them to the shop for color matching since they molt to their surroundings. I put them in a glass bowl of water then start to match in plastic, I do dibble in making my own skirt material so this is beneficial for that as well. How I've always viewed making a craw in how I'm going to fish it first and what the fish is going to see while I fish it. 99% of the craws I make have a an opaque white/pink or peach belly/bottom. The colors I mix and match the most often are Amber, GP, Red, MF Blue Craw and Scuppernong. Flake colors most commonly used .015 black, orange, red, blue, copper, .035 gold, red, copper

yup, that would certainly work. The only advantage the the Plum dye and a drop of black would have over the Black Plum would be that you could control the amount of darkening made by black. The Black Plum advantage is it removes the guesswork.

Several good opinions have been given here. Besure to only make one change at a time so you know what “ fixed your problem. I’d probably start with more lip angle..then maybe a bit wider bill. Good old Elmers rubber cement will hold your bills in place for test swims and you can easily remove the bill and try several styles at one time.When you find the bill you want epoxy it in place

Using a simi sharp board like I uae for my vise I take the closed tabs with each hand in my fingers and run the tab back and fourth a hald dozen time to free up the matted material.

I have been using a cheap pair of gate cutters from Barlow’s. I’ve cut several thousand sprus off and only sharpened them a few times.

This is the chart I use as a reference guide when someone asks for a "crayfish" colored bait. Allen

Looks like if you extend the loop out the right side insead of the left and y ou should be golden. Arne.

The way you help people is why I buy most of my products from you. Thank you for what you do.

Never use your good sprue cutter for anything but cutting lead. Just touching them on a hook shank will dull them. I used to wrap the shank on a mold that flashed a bit on the shank. About three times around the shank and one was dull. all that said, I like the Xuron flush cutters. I’ll copy and paste a pair but they have a bunch available. Really high quality tools. https://xuron.com/index.php/main/consumer_products/3/84

Yes, sir!

Welcome to TU........interesting first post LOL. I used to copy baits a very old fashioned way with plaster of paris, but nowadays everyone is so copyright happy that I wouldn't want to copy ANYTHING! Even if you say it's just for personal use. I've read this many times and that personal use usually widens over time. Good luck

The best thing to do is talk to your better business bureau, it is free and they will answer or direct you to the right place. Every state has different laws regarding business licenses.

For your first question, I use two ways to increase buoyancy. First, I increase buoyancy by drill holes in the top/back of my baits, and gluing discs from aluminum cans over them, to trap air inside and I cover the discs with a thin coat of bondo, so I can sand the bondo down to follow the bait's contours. When I'm done sanding/shaping, I add a drop or two of runny super glue to strengthen the bondo disc patch area. Second, I actually use the natural buoyancy of the bait's material, because I use either wood or PVC trim board to make my baits from. I shape my baits with a V cross section, like the cross section of a battleship, so there is more buoyant material higher in the bait. That way I can add less ballast and still get a stable bait that is lighter and more active. Plus that shape keeps the bait from rolling or blowing out on a fast retrieve. As to the second question, I've found that the wider the body and the wider the bill, the wider and more exaggerated the wobble. The reverse is also the case. A flatter sided body and narrower bill will have less wobble. That's why most commercial flat sided cranks also have narrower bills. As far as how modifying your bait will affect it, every bait is different. When I modify a bait, I do it one thing at a time, so I can see what works, and know that I will ruin some bait in the process. I also use unpainted cheap knockoff blanks to do my experimenting on, so I'm not out a lot of money if they get ruined. I hope this helps.

I dabbled in making my own lures for a while, and let me tell you, the learning curve can be a doozy!

Welcome aboard new guy! After years of using laminate plates, I bought a dual injector as a Christmas gift to myself. My advice. Go with the best you can afford. Make sure your injectors have locking nozzles. I have the dual from Fat Guys Fishing. It takes a lot of pressure to inject my molds. If they weren't locking, I'm sure they'd shoot right off making a dangerous mess.

Thank You for the explanation. With that said, what you made is pretty cool.

I'm a little late to the dance here, but I not only remember these floating plastics I still have a couple of packs. There was a time when Power Worms came in a true floating variety. We used these to throw over lily pads and floating weed beds. Dang things were deadly in the summer. Then Berkley changed these to a suspending worm, even though they were still called floating. No bueno. The sunk in the weeds and with every cast you'd bring in about a half acre of salad back with you. Next up, Bass Pro had some sort of floating worms and lizards. Only around for a little bit. So what to do. Keep searching. We ended up buying these Air Worms The looked as though they were the spawn of Leggos. French Fry was my preferred. After a few casts, they would start to sink. Reel "em in and squeeze the water out and then good as new. Eventually the lack of finding floating anything is what led me to start pouring my own. Bought a couple of silicone molds from Barlows. Some floating plastics, some bubbles, and chartreuse coloring. And we were back in business. It has to be over 30 years since I used those Air Worms. Nowadays I still make my own floating worms and lizards. Although a much better quality. Only colors made were white. pink, and chartreuse. Weird but each color worked only on specific bodies of water. Learned by trial and error. This year I plan to add black to my selection with maybe some glow parts for night fishing Getting back to French Fry. I'd imagine they can be duplicated very easily. Just takes imagination. I like the bead chain idea. On the floating worms I made, I wanted one with a cupped head to act like a popper. Only had to put a backwards bullet sinker. Imagination.

what styles. jigs, crankbaits, topwater etc?

LureWorks Black Plum Dye 225 might be a better choice than Plum Dye 179. Plum Dye 179 has some hi-lite blue pearl powder which I don't think that bait has any of that in it.

Those look great ! And all the pictures tell a nice story ... Have fun out there sir

Yep we all go through that but it never ends either so be warned.

Jose welcome aboard. DaveMc1 has you covered pretty well.

I have both Poison Tail molds, the Snootie mold and the Grass jig mold. They are all good jigs to use for swim jigs. Reason being they have a straight eye versus a flat wire which will always catch more grass. I personally like the Snootie jig because it has a 60• eyelet. This lets the jig run more parallel to the weeds if you tie a loop knot. The good thing about all three of these is that they go down to 1/8 oz which is what I use most. You can’t really go wrong with any of them. BTW welcome to Tackle Underground.

Thanks, I'm from Portugal, it is very difficult to get good quality colorants, I will try to order that one

The plum dye is close. But it might need a tiny bit of black. Like a pin head drop. The emerald green flake is spot on. If you want a bit more flash try a sparkle green flake along with the emerald green. Note that plum dye will will bleed into other colors as will most colorants with the word dye in the name.

https://www.ispikeit.com/product/757/plum-dye-179 https://www.ispikeit.com/product/410/emerald-green-4203-hex-cut-0015 There you go.

I have never used this for lure making but figured I would post because someone may find use for it.

https://acmtackle.com/products/pulsecod-jr

Jigmeister, Thank you for your help!..I’m a little nervous about searching “VIBRATING THROBBER”..Lol..Nathan

Your biggest problem (and the problem most are going to have working with that old cookbook) is the recipes are so old the pigments used in them are no longer available or have changed. That Berkley Camo colour was cooked up by Del @ DelMart 21 years ago using the pigments that haven't been available for a long time. Would probably be best to grab a pack and see if you can match a sample you have in hand using pigments that are readily available.

I also cut & then file. A damp paper towel on my bench catches the small filings.

Pledge is basically clear acrylic paint with unneeded additives. There are clear acrylics on Amazon and other sites. You can also get clear acrylic in spray cans. Check out this video for spray cans.

I was told this is a close alternative.It is available through Walmart on line or Amazon ..Nathan

VMC 9255NI https://barlowstackle.com/vmc-9255ni-spinner-bait-hook-for-do-it-crappie-mold/

That’s a great technique. Thanks for sharing. I have lots of skirts stuck like that. PITB.

That’s approximately 21oz per gal. Which seems like an awful lot. Keep in mind that’s is what I use for heavily salted plastic

I just clean the mold with acetone then apply the high temp silicone where I want it. I smooth it out with a sharp straight edge and clean up any excess with a QTip set it aside for 24 hours then use it.

I did a Bojon search. I found a lot of interesting information I am going to try to expand upon. This has been a fun journey. Thanks guys

This. ^. I've been suing the same two pairs of sprue cutters from barlows not only for lead, but for my tin bismuth as well. I'm probably going on 20 years. Everything from 1/8oz up to 20oz. Although at times the bending back and forth with a pliers works pretty well too. When trimming lead with the Barlows cutters, the sprues just fall. When cutting tin, those suckers go flying! Usually one or two quick passes with a file, or a high grit sand paper should do the job. I pass the head over the sandpaper, or just pass an aggressive file over the jig or weight or whatever. One or two passes should not create dust. I think if you go nuts sanding and filing , then, yeah. You'll create dust.

I decided to use some high temp silicone to block the hook channel. It worked great.

Bob, if you're thinking of Bojon, he died a while back.

I picked up a cheap meat grinder from harbor freight. It works really good and I think it was around $30.00.

I found that with stick worms you need to use soft sinking, or super soft and add a lot of salt until you get the sink rate you want.

1st off , it will be tough to save any money by making your own baits. It is a great hobby, but can get expensive to buy all the neat molds and colors and such . Now to sell -- It is a very tough competitive market . Even tougher now that Facebook has brought in hundreds of new bait makers. Make sure you have a market for your stuff before you start. Be prepared to pay the 10% excise tax + your state sales tax if you are at the retail end . You will get a few more guys to chime in and give you more info on the Pros and Cons. You can make it work but it will take time and money . Good luck on what ever you do .

What do you want to bet there are members right now who just saw this video searching for bead chain to try this. LOL. Well, that was my 2nd reaction too. For some reason my 1st reaction was to see if I could afford a Yeti cooler.

Bryan, I have not seen the 5/64 (.078) pins in teflon, reason being is they are not a std size. However like anything else it can be custom made which would be cost prohibitive. So what I do is this. You can either buy .078 stn stl rod and cut it into 1" pieces, and use that or you can buy severl 5/64 drill bits ( that's what I use), and stick the non flured end into the mold up against the hook. This works for me. There are many other things you can use as well, howeve you want the 5/64 diameter, and I know they make drill bits that size, so it's an easy find.