mark poulson

Someone here recommended polyurethane decking from Lowe's. I went online, and saw they have a polyurethane decking available in 12', 16', and 20' lengths. Sorry, but I don't remember the brand name. Rip off the outer, finished layer on the table saw, and then shape it with your normal procedure. Bear in mind that polyurethane is a petro chemical, and machining it may give off gases. I don't know that for a fact, but it seems logical. Maybe the person who tipped me off to this will chime in with the quirks of the material, such as how you attach the hook hangers, hinges, and eye ties, etc.. I haven't tried it myself. After I thought about it, I realized I was better off sticking to wood because I only make a few larger baits for myself and my friends, and I am comfortable with wood.

I keep a small tupperware-type plastic container filled with water on my work bench, and, between colors, I wash my airbrush out in it. It doesn't matter when the water gets a little dirty. Last thing I do between coats is fill the cup a little with airbrush cleaner, and back flush, loosen the needle and work it back and forth, and then spray out the remainder of the clean. I make sure I've worked the needle thoroughly, and then I move to the next color. When I'm done spraying, I do the same thing, making sure to clean the tip with an artist's brush (throw away), and then I run cleaner through it one more time, and then hang it up until the next time I paint. I pull the needle out before I paint again, and, if it's still dirty, I clean it and run a little acetone through the gun, and I'm ready to go again. Most of the time I don't need the acetone. And the "dirty" washout water works fine. No running to the sink. The airbrush cleaner last step takes care of any residual paint from the "dirty" water.

Pete, One other thing might be a leaky oil seal in your compressor. If you have another compressor, try switching and see if it still happens. Although a water separator should take care of oil, but you never know. Otherwise, it sounds like it's time to purge the system. Dump the thinner, the epoxy, and every other "wet" part of your finishing system, and start fresh.

Try counting down a 3/4oz chatterbait, or a 3/8oz sworming hornet with a jr. fluke trailer.

Exwives never understand, but you'll get visitation rights on the weekends, when you can take them fishing. )

If you're just a beginner, you've raised the entry level bar pretty high. Good looking baits.

Do it! Free time and having a life are way over rated!

Pete, That's really clear. Thanks. I haven't had any problems with "finger fat" so far. My hands are so dry, and I am careful not to grip the fresh paint, but use a hemostat to hold the lures when painting, and opened up paper clips to hold and hang them between coats while I'm painting another lure the same color, or while I change colors. Lately, I've been spraying a solvent based rattle can glitter over my baits before I top coat them, and heat setting it with a hair dryer, and haven't had any finger fat/finger print problems. Of course, that's with big lures. When I repaint cranks (I haven't tried making my own so far), I have a bill to hold, so finger prints aren't an issue. It looks like you use latex gloves on your hands when you paint. Good idea. I'm going to have to try that, although doing it bare handed saves so much on finger nail polish!

Great site. Thanks. I use Krylon primer or Minnwax acrylic sealer first to seal my baits, Createx water based paints for finished painting, and Envirotex Lite as a topcoat. I generally shape, weight, undercoat, and test in one session. Then I paint and topcoat in one session. That means I'm putting my topcoat on Createx that's been heat set, but not cured out. Do you think spraying lacquer flip flop paint over a built up waterbased color scheme that's only heat set would be a problem?

I remember those. My Mom used to have them to cover our food when we ate outside.

I've tried braid for deep cranking, but the lakes I fish are clear with rock, and braid doesn't like rock. I use 10lb BPS flouro for all my cranking. I can feel everything. And I think the flouro deals with rock better than braid. For Crigs, I use 15lb braid with a swivel and 10lb flouro leader. I also use braid with a flouro leader for Ikas, Senkos, and with a mono leader for topwaters. The braid floats, which keeps it out of the rocks when I'm on the bottom. The flouro sinks, and, if I'm dead sticking on a slack line, or picking out a backlash, the flouro can drop into the rocks, and get stuck. Grrrr!!!! I love braid. I also love flouro. I guess I'm just easy. )

Lacquer based paints will go over water based fine, but will melt oil based paints like rattle can enamels. Lacquer thinner is a solvent for enamels, but not for water based paints, and Lacquer thinner is the carrier for lacquer paints.

rhahn427, What, they came Tuesday and you haven't post an photos yet???? ) Sorry, I didn't mean to sound pushy or preachy. To me, your post sounded like you were kind of hesitant about trying, and I was just trying to give you a little encouragement. I must have read it wrong. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing some of your stuff in the not too distant future. Mark

Thanks guys. I couldn't for the life of me remember the phrase "flip flop paint". That's probably why I couldn't find anything in the search. Ya think??? ) I'll try a lot of light coats and see if that works. I'm on my way out to the Garage to paint a jointed swim bait that I'll throw Saturday, so I'll get a real good test then. Vman, thanks for the link.

I bought some of the Wildlife color shift paints, but I don't think I'm using the right base for them. I typically spray them over the darker back, and fade down the sides. But I can't see the shift effect in the water. I remember there was a thread about this, but I can't find the right words to pull it up on the search feature. Help!!

That's what I use. The scale pattern is more course than with the netting, and it's a square pattern. I turn it to a 45 degree angle to get a diamond pattern. It is cheap, doesn't mess up heat set Createx, and does stick. I use clothes pins to pull it tight top and bottom, and throw it away after one use.

Bruce, That link doesn't work.

I use the Minnwax as a sealer, but never thought of heat setting it to use as an intermediate clear. I'll have to try that.

It's just like dock talk. You have to do your own thing.

rhahn, Jump into the water! What's the worst thing that can happen? You won't paint a Mona Lisa. Flash!!!! None of us painted Mona Lise either! Really, the worst thing that can happen is that you'll load up your airbrush with paint and have to clean it. No one will die. But you'll always wonder what might have been if you don't try. Go for it. Everyone started with their first bait. Give it a shot. You may be the next Fat Fingers. Don't be ascared! )

Duh!!!! I don't have a clue, but those recessed eyes should help make the call. Pretty unique.

Pete, That's brilliant! Not only outside the box, it's outside the bottle and can! How does it hold up to water if you have to wipe off some paint?

My only suggestion is to concentrate on the action first, and then the paint job. Someone said the action catches the fish, and the paint job catches the fisherman. I know that's an oversimplification, but I weight action over perfect paint job. If the action is wrong, the paint job won't matter. Your lures look fine. If they catch fish, they're perfect.

Kribman, I only make big baits that get hammered by rocks and brush, and are totally reaction lures. I stress about the paint job as I'm doing it (I'm not in the same league with some of the guys here), and on getting the epoxy just right, but then I patch them up with Sharpies and 5 minute epoxy when they get dinged up, and it works just fine. I get hung up sometimes debating what paint scheme to use, or just don't want to go out into the Garage and do anything. But then I'll crank out six swimbaits in a week, and the world is good again. It comes and goes. The up side of having it as a hobby, not a job. Not like the passion of having to fish every weekend!

Rookie, I think you inhaled!