Fern

I hand dip tubes. maybe I can help you out. You can checkout my work at Id Eat that Baits

That’s what these are. Rotary cutter blades. They work pretty good for this.

I purchased a replacement pack of rotary cutter blades on Amazon. Spaced out with washers. The blades are 45mm.

They are rotary blades (45mm). I got a replacement pack of 10 on Amazon.

best of luck on your tournament. What color are you going with?

Thanks. This was definitely a more convenient way to cut the tails (for me).

Saw an old video here from an old user “bojon” regarding his tail cutter. With the little information I was able to acquire I think I did a decent job replicating the basic function of it. While I do own the block tail cutter that lurecraft (I think) sells. I sort of prefer the ease of this one which does not involve a good hammering. Pretty easy to make although I think I’m going to add a few more blades to widen it a bit more.

I have 3 of them that i use to keep remelt plastic hot. I typically hand dip tubes and I am left with a lot of scrap after I cut the tails so i have a ton of plastic i remelt in the microwave, place into the presto and keep re-melting until i fill it up. I then shoot the re-melt into swimbait molds. I will say that it does keep the plastic from burning. I have not had any issues with the plastic burning, please note though that i don't typically separate the plastic by color when i re-melt so it usually turns into a greening brown color. I have attempted to separate all the chartreuse i had at one point and the time i did that, the chartreuse started out really bright and as i got towards the bottom, the green started getting kind of dull. I am sure i could've prevented this by adding heat stabilizer, however when it comes to burning the plastic, i have not had that issue.

They sell it on their website for cheaper.

Im gonna give it a shot. They sell dried shrimp at a local mexican market, im gonna pulverize it into a powder and give it a whirl. I wonder if the fish will like it.

Has anyone ever tried crushing up dehydrated shrimp and mixing it into bait plastic before shooting? or even garlic salt?

They stuff feathers into the tail ends of the molds. Open pour molds make this easy do do with a little modification. Some make their own molds with the cavities for it.

Id like to know how this turns out. Keep us posted.

stupid question cuz i am over thinking this. Are you saying hand sanitizer that is 60% or 80% alcohol? or is that the ratio to water?

Each of those companies have product line-ups in regards to density starting from super soft plastic (think ned worms and stuff you want to have a lot of wiggle) to hard soft plastic (think saltwater soft plastics that can handle the bite). using super soft will give you a lot of action but they will be ripped up easily while a harder density plastic will have less action but will be more dense and not get ripped up as easy. all plastic manufacturers will have a soft, medium and hard grade plastic. The plastic formulation is what varies from company to company. some companies like MF provide really clear plastic, however you pay for that in cost per gallon while other companies like dead-on offer the gallon at a cheaper rate but some might say the quality isnt there, however some like that it is phthalate free. I personally use MF and Bait plastics Saltwater blend as I need a more durable plastic. Bait plastics has been an all around great plastic to work with but some might say that the odor/fumes while cooking it is too strong and the plastic when creating a clear bait tends to fog up some while it cures. I would recommend you try bait plastics medium or saltwater blend to start with and as you have time and money, get a gallon or two here of the other guys stuff and see what qualities you like best of each plastic. You can see my experience with dead on in one of my previous posts about my tubes ripping up constantly.