Anzomcik

Clean every part of the brush again, unscrew the crown and wipe clean the tip area (remove the needle first or you could damage the needle or cut yourself) Unscrew every part that can be taken down and clean it. Sounds like you have dried up paint. That oring, I have ran with out for years, I am not saying you don't need it but I found it wasn't necessary for me. I have painted thousands of baits with that brush and still use it today, its is worn in very nicely and still enjoy using it even compared to my expensive brushes. Give it a good cleaning and you will be smiling, remember if it isn't spraying paint it isn't clean, that goes for every air brush out there

What I have is a Croix Legend tournament Big Dawg musky rod, I love the rod except for the shorter than im use to butt grip. So other than the strait forward, run it through a band saw, jam a stick in it with cork rings. I am looking for some advise and recommendations on how some of you would do this. Some materials that may be better than others, grade of cork... anything would be nice If this stick was not a $400 I wouldn't be so shy about doing it, and Its a musky rod, my main musky rod so I put it through ALOT of abuse so I want to make sure its done correctly. Thanks

Sometimes, how's that for an answer. Recently I vended at the Chicago musky show, I expected more in the upfront bait sales than what I did (I still covered cost and did well, just expected more) However on the back end I picked up a couple bait shops to carry my baits. I meet a lot of people, some very good connections. So while I had a ton of time invested and travel and all that jazz it made it worth it. Sometime I do the small shows like $10 a table shows, I might sell 5 baits and make no connections. Its still fun, I talked to some people, hear a lot of fish stories, just enjoy the experience. I guess if you enjoy what you do with your baits, its a good thing (provided your all legal with state tax codes and excise tax...) what is the worst that can happen? You lose a little money?

Going back 5 years or so I took a rapid prototyping class in college. We had 2 types of 3d printers and a 3d scanner on a faro arm. The 3d scanner we took a quarter, scanned it in to Pro E, it had every little detail picked up. The date on the quarter was showing clear, normal dents and nicks were present from the quarter. The in Pro E we manipulated the surfaces and printed in out. It took no time at all to do all this. You could rip any thing off that anyone has made, change whats needed to make it legal and do it in a hurry. Its crazy what can be done with computers, I remember in elementary school thinking computers were only good for playing "Oregon trail"

If what I think is happening is not fish eyeing, what I think it is are very small air pockets in the actual blank it self. I have had to deal with those myself for years, I was doing the same process as you are and they are there. I have since changed my material and clear and paint (everything) and I do not have that problem. There are ways to minimize them, but I could never get away from having those. But look at your blank very closely, unpainted blank, I bet you can see tiny little voids. Those are the cause of your problems