SWO

OK, thanks

In the early '90s I bought a few top water lures personally signed by Sam Griffin. They came in a wooded collector box with a clear plexiglass cover and a certificate that showed the number of lures signed. I never even opened these boxes. I think I paid about $14 each at the time. Does anyone know what they may be worth now?

Bojon is directly responsible for my friends and I catching numerous 5 lb+ smallmouth bass on Lake Erie last year. Anyone interested in starting tube making needs to get his kit.

No reason to wait. Bojon is THE man for making tubes and teaching people to make tubes. Many 5 lb+ smallies were caught last summer on my Bojon inspired tubes, as well as some massive Niagara River Muskies.

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As someone who has made both tubes and poured baits now, I reccommend you start with some tubes. I'm sure others had no trouble with pouring baits first, but tubes were easier for me. Contact Bojon for a tube kit to get you started. He doesn't push his kits very hard, but they are definitely worth the reasonable price. He will have you making high quality tubes in no time. I caught multiple 5 lb+ Lake Erie smallmouth bass on my Bojon inspired homemade tubes last season.

Saugarman, You just posted. Did you mean you haven't been able to post pictures?

On my 3rd attempt I finally got some usable baits. They are not perfect, but I can fish with them. Thanks for all of the help with getting me through this .

I'm getting closer. I managed to create an almost completed Senko type bait. I opened up the pour hole and pre-heated the mold. The bait looked good at first, but the inside of the head was slightly hollow. I'll keep at it. What are you guys using to pour into the mold cavities? I have a small aluminum pan with a pour spout that I kept sitting on the burning until I was ready to pour. Is there something better?

Thanks for the replies. You guys are keeping me going. HJS, My DWP was about like a watery pancake batter, which seemed to help. I tapped the sides of the container and used a putty knife to skim the surface of the DWP free of the remaining bubbles just before I set in my masters. Then I coated the masters with a thin layer of the mix using a small brush before I poured in the rest of the mix for the top half. I waited 3 days for my molds to dry before I tried to use them. I must have put something on top of one half while it was on a chair before I moved it to my work bench. It was just a careless error. I will definitely open up the pour holes and will try heating the mold up first. I have a little toaster oven in my shop that would be perfect for that. Your adjustable mold box is a great idea. It would save me from having to make a bunch of different sized boxed, thanks!

Jim, That was probably it. I had the mold at a slight angle. I'll try it again. Thanks.

After my first attempt at making a mold didn't turn out so well, I managed to make a mold with no air bubbles in the cavities the second time around. So far so good. I got everything all set up to heat the plastic and pour, then somehow I managed to crack the bottom half of my mold in two . Not having the patience to wait to pour until I made a replacement half, I superglued and taped it back together just so I could see how my baits would turn out. The result was not what I expected. I'm obviously doing something wrong. Bojon had me making very nice tubes within an hour, but these two piece molds are tougher than I thought. Attached are pics of the mold (with the crack) and a close up of what came out. Please help me diagnose my errors.

Upon taking a closer look, you are correct Vodkaman.

This helps, thanks!

I've used the Spike it dip & glo from BPS for a few years. It does a great job turning light colored soft plastics chartreuse. I don't even buy chartreuse grubs anymore. I buy clear/pepper and dip a few in Spike it when I want to fish a chartreuse grub.

Dumb question time - what do you guys use to hold your two piece DWP or POP molds together before you pour the plastic?

Thanks for the feedback guys, this really helps. HJS, those are some nice looking molds and baits. Thanks for posting the pics. I can see what you mean about the pour holes and vent holes. I'll open mine up. I took another stab at it and this time the mold turned out much better. I think my mix was maybe still a little too thick, but I produced a useable Senko type mold without any bubbles in the lure cavity. I'll post pics of my first lures when I make them. Another question - how long do you have to let DWP molds dry before I coat the cavities with a mix of Elmers and water?

This was my first attempt at a 2 pc mold for a Senko. I used Durham's Water Putty for the mix. I read a lot of posts and followed the instructions the best I could, but I'm not very happy with how this mold turned out. I ended up with a lot of air bubbles in the mold. I tapped the sides of the mold box and even held the mold box against the side of my vibratory brass tumbler to try to get rid of the air bubbles. I don't know if the mix was too thick, too thin, etc. As you can see in one of the close up pictures, there is even a crack along the length of one of the cavities. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Just get everything from Bojon. He will have you making high quality tubes in a couple of hours.

I tried adding Gulp juice to a batch of tubes - what a mistake. It did nothing but create a big mess.

They crumbled after I removed them from the ingot mold after a remelt. They were still hot, so I used a pair of pliers to move them and pieces broke off. I did drop a piece of wax in while the lead was melting to flux it. I remelts them again last night and let them get a bit hotter than what I probably did the night before. This time, they held together and didn't crumble. I didn't realize lead had those properties.

Someone gave me a can of misc. scrap lead. I melted it down in small batches to pour in my lead ingot mold. I don't have a large lead pot, so I used my electric melter that holds about 2 lbs. Most of the ingots are normal, but 3 of them crumbled like a block of chalk. Any idea of what material this was? It looked like lead and melted in about the same amount of time, but was a little whiter in color than the other lead ingots that I made.

Yes it is. I've made similar ones doing a double dip.

What exactly are you looking for?

+1 on this. Bojon's e-book and kit will teach you to make any color & size tube you want in no time. It is well worth the small price he charges for this.