George Herman

Yes it is maple. I was shocked at the results. From what I've read and popular opinion both were wrong. You watch the bubbles on a dip with the hardner and you expect at least a little depth but it didn't happen. The vacuum results dropped my shoulders big time. I sucked out air for four solid hours and it's still superficial. I get my wood free from a high end cabinet shops cutoffs. I would like to utilize it. Besides being free, it's fully finished on all sides. Because my target fish are stripers, I know toothy blues will hit the lure (if it works) too. Combine that with hook rash and I estimate at the bare minimum I need at least a 16th inch of protection. My solution is yet to be found. Next up is an hour soak in hardner. I will rough sand one and finish sand the other and compare. As far as the vacuum method, going to try different water/poly ratios.

Just as a follow up in case anyone is curious. I tinted my hardner red and poly green. The hardner hardly absorbed at all with a ten minute dunk and after 12 hours investment in time the vacuum method achieved the same results. Had to see for myself.

JD, Once again thanks for sharing your knowledge. I watched the video and realized I can add an ink/dye and experiment with time and absorbance and possibly get a clue and weigh each and see if I can find a happy medium. Thanks for any and all insights.

Thanks Mark, I have been using your method prior to this experiment. It does work and l may end up just dealing with the fumes but I work in a cancer center and that seems foolish ( smoking a cig as I'm typing this) I just want my grandson to be able to hand one of these lures to his grandson.

Thank you for your reply. I'm not sure I made it clear what l'm attempting. l'm trying to waterproof the internal structure of the wood by pulling out air and hopefully replacing it with poly. Trying to avoid the alternative mineral or linseed oils. This method I can safely do in my basement over the winter. I haven't had a problem with it drying. After the poly seal, I sand, paint, and clear coat with true coat. I do have concerns with seepage and swelling and would like to see if anyone that uses this method has a tried and proven way of doing it. Thanks again, any and all help greatly appreciated.

Anyone have experience with this method? I'm winging this and know I really should ask for wisdom, just don't know where. So far made some test runs with about 10/90 percent water/poly. Pulled full vacuum for about 15 minutes until most bubbles popped. First batches l pulled out about an hour bath, I do think they should stay in a bit longer. Questions: Does anyone leave them overnight? Is it recommended? How does it effect buoyancy? I'm working with maple. Any help would be much appreciated.