I have a question for you tying guys. I got some pill jig heads w/ #2 bronze sickle hook. I powder coated the heads and then cooked them at 350 for 30 minutes. That is the time and temp on the container. I've broken the tip section on 4 of them now. Have any of you guys experienced this? I'm thinking the heating tempered the hook causing it to be brittle, 3 of the breaks were on hang ups and the last one was on a big fish. On hang ups the hook will usually bend. I use 15 lb Power Pro line. Thanks for any input.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempering_(metallurgy)

I couldn't find anything on a quick search specific to hooks, but carbon steel properties are altered at 350 F.

Thanks karstopo, Maybe I need to lower my temp a bit. Those toaster oven temp controls are prolly not very accurate. LOL.

After several years of baking not sure if temp would affect hooks. I do 325 for 15~20 minutes. Temp is measure with Digital Fluke thermometer with probe at head height. There is a lot of people baking at 350. Would think others would have seen this before if that is the cause.

I would think temp would actually help tempering on hook. I even left oven on once for over 2 hours and say no effect to paint or hooks.

Only once have I had customers complain of hooks breaking and they all came from a supplier I had not used before. They were spin cast heads and not poured. No issue with other hooks painted and baked along with them.

Bad hooks?

Thanks for the reply gazn357. I'm gonna tie some plain, no powder coat, and see what happens.

+1, on baking not being your issue.

Before you tie your jigs, try bending some (or ALL) of the hooks and see if they bend or break. If they were mine, I would rather find the bad ones BEFORE I tied up the jig OR had a good fish on it.

You are right. It made me sick losing that fish yesterday!

I promise you that 5 minutes is long enough to bake any jig. As an example try a couple at 350 for 5 minutes and see how hard they are. You will lose it before it chips. You are wasting time baking jigs that long.

Thanks machinist, I'll do that next time.

I cure mine at between 390 and 400 degrees and have for over 12 years and never found the heatwave g for paint cure doing anything to my hooks! However I do know there have been a few time over this same amount of time that the Sickle hooks came ready to break! I had some that were so bad that they broke just from my tying it, during wraps! These also happen to be the bronze hooks and maybe you got hold of some older heads from one of the several times they imported really bad hook!

I spoke to CSI a number of times the last 12 years and they put out different time and temps a few times, but always came back to all of there colors except for the Pearl, could be done at 392-400 degrees for 15 min. Now the Pearl is 325 for 20 min! Also have some Chrome from several different businesses and most call for that to be 20 min fat 400!

Skip

I like the black chrome, or eagle claw lil nasty hooks... A good check for curing time is to let it cool and drop the jig on the floor. You will find out quick if you cured it hot enough and long enough. 350 wont effect the hook. IMO

Skip I don't doubt what you are saying about what the paint people are telling you but they are not putting their paint on leadhead jigs usually. If I was powder painting a part for my car then yeah 30 minutes at 350 is fine. When you do jigs if you spend 30 minutes baking a jig and then tie it on and lose it on the first drop, well did it really have to be that hard? Do some for 5 minutes at 350 and when they cool drop them on the floor. If they chip do them for 10 minutes at 350 and try them. But if they don't chip then you were done at 5 minutes.

Thanks for the responses guys. I broke another yesterday on a hangup. It was one that had not been painted, so that eliminated that. Thanks again.

I got a hold of the guy I got the jigs from this morning. He said he had 2 different boxes of bronze sickle hooks. He requested a pic of the jig. I sent him a pic of the broken one and a pic of an unbroken one. He pulled one from each box and the one I got did indeed break easier than the other. He is sending me a new batch. Will be in the mail tomorrow. Complete and excellent customer service. I'm very pleased!

All I can tell you is I have never had any troubles with this the way I do it and the only time I have had hooks breaking, everyone else had the same issue at the same time. They came that way from the Mfg. in China. First time it happened it was a big shock, then next time it happened was they moved which plant they were making them at and again they just didn't follow what they learned from the first problems. So in my 12 to 13 years tying and using powder Paint I have never had an issue. Also the people at Illusion paints (not a big know bunch) also are in the fishing business and their silver undercoat (basically Chrome with some of the Black stuff in it) needed 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Again all I know is I have never had an issue with my jigs painted the way I do them.

Glad they are replacing them for you. Just know it's not the first time and painting a curing is not what caused it.

Skip

I absolutely agree it is not heat related now. I pulled about 5 more out and grabbed just the tip with a pair of needle nose. The tip broke off, right behind the barb, with very little effort. Tried the same thing with other sickle hooks I have and they all just bent. Could be any number of manufacturing issues. I�m throwing the rest in the trash and moving on. Thanks for all the responses.