need advise from jig makers

Just order a melting pot and some different molds and hooks to go with them. What I need to know is where should I order skirts, powder paint, what other equipment will I need. Right now I'm getting started with a shaky head mold and 2 football jig molds. Also where is a good place to get lead.

I use boss jigs for skirts and paint

Fishingskirts.com

http://www.spinnerbaitskirts.com
http://www.roseyspowdercoating.com

Rosey's has paint by the lb cheaper than you could buy a couple oz at most places. I found a local powder coating business and trade them fishing lures for a few oz of powdered paint when I want some new colors. You can sometimes find good lead at scrapyards and it'll only cost about $0.75/lb.
Buy some 0.20 wire at a hobby store to wire tie your skirts.

For the best finish on you powdercoat, you are gonna want to build a fluid bed out of PVC. You can make one for about $12 or buy one off the internet for a whole lot more. There are plenty of videos on YouTube on how to build them. You will also need a small toaster oven to cure the powder coat. Don't put lead in the oven you eat food out of.

I have a buddy offering a 5 gallon bucket of lead wheel weights for some finished baits. Is this worth using or would I be better off using something else?


Thanks for the info guys

If they are lead and not another type of metal it would be. You will need to flux them several times to get rid of the other metals. Thai needs to be done in an old pan, not in your melting pot. Only put pure lead in your melting pot or you will have clogging issues. If you have never done it before just holler at me when you're ready to start and I can walk you through it.

That would be great, if I can use the 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights that will save alot of money on baits up front. What would I need to melt the wheel weights a pot and a torch? Also could I get some info on the Flux supplies I will need.

Get any old pot you can find and a propane burner is what I use. You'll need some parrifin wax, a metal spoon from the dollar store, and something to pour the lead into to make ingots. A lot of people use old cupcake or cornbread pans.

I have the living rubber skirts for the jigs. Just let me know what you need.
If you want to make your own; I will walk you through it.

Anyone know the going rate for a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights? Planned on hitting up some tire shops this week to see what I could find. Don't really know what a fair price would be.

You can't put an accurate price on wheel weights because most of them aren't lead anymore. I went through an entire bucket of wheel weights and only got about 10-12 lbs of lead out of it. You will be much better off checking scrapyards for lead. You can sometimes find ingots at the scrapyard, but you can almost always find some type of lead there. It will be much cleaner lead and save you a ton of time.

x2

Brad,
it is hard to get lead wheel weights anymore. Like Nick said takes lots of propane, time and fluxing. I use pure bees wax, but any wax works.

If you do get wheel weights, keep temps around 600 degrees. How much lead do you need?

Also check out Hagens for skirts.

Check CL for lead that has been fluxed. I found it for $2.00 a lb As said wheel weights have to much other metals.

I figure 10lbs would be plenty for a while the shaky head are 3/8 and 1/4oz. The football jigs are 3/8 and 1/2 oz. In reality I probably don't need that much but if I'm making a mess I would like to poor as many as I can at one time. I'll do some more looking around this week and see what I come up with 2 dollars a pound sounds reasonable.

10 lbs will last you a long time as long as you are just making baits for yourself.

Just wanted to say thanks to NekidTackle for the advise and the lead today I'm one step closer to poring by next weekend now.

Ron is a pretty great guy. He has helped me out in he past too.

And likewise, this is the first time since I have been on TFF, that information is freely shared.
I have learned more about air brush painting. Now I have the FEVER.

Nick,
I finally figured out Fluid Bed's.....for 1 inch of powder, I easily get 4 - 4.5 inches of rise.

Next I need free up time to start air brush painting, thanks to John and his great gift!!! Now that I found the material at Walmart - .97 a yard.

Where is a good place besides Hagens to get crank bait blanks?

Dingerbaits.com, Getbitbaits.com, predatorbass.com, dakotalakestackle.com, unpaintedlures.com are all good I order from all of them and have been happy with everything I have purchased from each. Feel free to ask anytime you need advise or have a question. You have my cell, and I'm available just about 24/7

FYI: all vendors blanks aren't exact duplicates of the same lure from other vendors in terms of size or shape. Example; vendor A sells an LC 1.5, vendor B sells the same LC 1.5 model.....but vendor A's blank is just a little wider than vendor B's blank. Makes a difference if you use stencils a lot. Keep notes on who sells what and settle on a few vendors for consistent quality blanks. All the vendors Brad listed sell good blanks. Pick the blanks you like to paint from each vendor. May take several vendors to get a variety of models that you like and can paint well.

I get all my jig building supplies at barlows tackle and my skirts from fishingskirts.com. I have figured out that if you use 3 layers of skirts per jig it cost around 75 cents per jig, which is about 70% of the how much one lure cost for me to make, But that's with me buying the lead. I havnt found a better price than fishingskirts.com. Donald Harpers skirts I believe are scented so may check them out.

Well I'm going to give poring a shot in the am, hopefully I can knock out some decent shaky heads to replinish my stock. Have 2 tournaments next saturday and need to get stocked up.

You are gonna realize how nice it is painting crankbaits after standing over the hot furnace in July. Give me a shout if you have any issues and I can probably help. I'm pretty sure that I've made every lure making mistake possible on the road to where I am now.

I work outside in the heat, doing something I enjoy and being hot will be no problem. I have watched several videos online and picked up a few tricks that should help out. I'll let you know how it goes though.

Okay, possibly a dumb question do you guys poor with the weed guards in the mold or use the studs and glue them in place?

The hot mold and lead will melt the weed guards. Pour with the inserts and then glue in place with epoxy or super glue gel after you paint or powder coat them. The liquid superglue will leave a hazy residue over the entire bait so DO NOT USE IT. I use teflon inserts during the powder coating process, but if you get any paint in the opening and the weed guard won't fit, just drill it out w/ the appropriate size drill bit to match the size of your weed guard.

I was thinking that would be the best idea, thanks for the info on the glue to use. Hopefully I'll be building some in a few days, had a sick kiddo at home today and couldn't work in the garage.

I have found that if you are going to be tieing your skirts on its easier to put the weed guard in very last after u tie the skirt on, take a clothes pin pull back the skirt and glue in weed guard. Ive just started doing this and its working out pretty good for me

zip ties is my secret. skirt fluffs up better too. I'll try and find a pic

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