There was a post some time ago here on applying clear acrylic or some other clear coat to protect the paint job on wood baits. I am having a hard time finding the post. I believe Rob and someone else mentioned a coating they apply to all their wood baits to protect the paint. Can anyone point me to the post?

Thanks!

Dave

You're right, Rob and Brian discussed it awhile back. This is what they were referring to.

http://www.delviesplastics.com/polymer_coating.htm


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/2585.jpg

Check out www.tackleunderground.com

A lot of guys there have been making wood baits for years. About 98% of them use either Devcon Two Ton Epoxy which can be obtained at Wal-Mart or Enviro-tex Lite.

You can find the Aristocrat at most hobby stores.

David,

That's the stuff in the pic there. I suspect the epoxy finishes are very similar in nature and work equally well.

If I have time tonight I'll post some pics of some Slammers I did with Aristocrat quite some time ago. They still look great after thousands of casts and being banged off many trees and rocks more times than I want to think about. I just got a killer new 9" Black Slammer from MS a few weeks ago and the artistocrat coincidentally is going on tonight. Pat Corcoran was the one who turned me on to this stuff originally and I still have those first bottles since a little goes a very long way.

Jake and Rob - Thanks!

You are using the "Ultra Seal" product or the "Polymer Coating"?

How are you applying - brush or what? How many coats do you apply?

So far has it remained clear on all your baits even after a few years?


Dave

>You are using the "Ultra Seal" product or the "Polymer
>Coating"?

On that page that Jake linked in, the one you would want has a picture at the top of two bottles taped together and says Polytex. Those are the bottles that come in the box shown in Jake's post. Should be the one that says:

16 Oz. Kit 8 Oz. Each of Resin/Hardener 6.50

Here is the mfg home page:

http://www.bdclassic.com/support.html

Their address is at the bottom of the page. They're in Santa Fe Springs which may not be too far from you. I'm pretty sure you can just go in and get it from them directly. I think Henry got some that way.

>
>How are you applying - brush or what? How many coats do you
>apply?

A 1/4" wide brush works well but you could get by with anything small. It evens itself out on the bait incredibly well as it sets up and it doesn't matter if there are hundreds of bubbles in it, they will all come to the surface and disappear. To dry, I hang the baits upside down, parallel to the ground. Drips will form on the back of the lure. If you wipe them off with a wooden dipstick every 10 or 15 minutes for the first hour when it dries, it should come out perfect. If you forget like I usually do because I'm lousy at stuff like this, you can just cut the drips off with an exacto knife when it's done. If you hang a jointed bait vertically it will form drips on the edges of the joint which are a nuisance. It will NOT stick to soft plastic and in fact seems to repel it. If it drips on your Slammer tail, just peel it off the next day and cut it at the edge of the wood.

I've never had problems with it smearing paint or melting paint, but it will slightly smear sharpie markings (like dots or gills) toward whatever direction gravity is pulling it. It seems like if you let the sharpie dry overnight before the Aristocrat goes on, it smears it much less.

Two coats is fine. I do a coat, then let it dry for a while (few days or more) and then do the second coat. I haven't noticed the extra weight affect the action on any of my baits. I have a few baits with 3 coats but it doesn't seem necessary to do 3 unless you need to touch up a spot.

>So far has it remained clear on all your baits even after a
>few years?

Yes, it stays clear, no yellowing or anything.

Last tip: It is very important to mix it evenly between the two parts. I got lazy one time and it didn't set up quite right and needed another coat to fix the first coat. For mass production this stuff is way too tedious to deal with but for personal baits, it's very worth it IMO.

Rob:

You are THE ANSWER man! Thanks a bunch for all your help and detail in answering my questions.

Dave
;-)

Well there's lots to consider you're doing up a good bait that has caught fish, an expensive bait you want to protect, or both. My first Generic Trout, 12" I put some stuff on it that was supposed to dry clear and instead it tunred it yellow. A hard to get wood bait that I had caught a 13lber on and now it's yellowish all over x( I still use it though :)

As an aside, if you are trying to find things using the search feature, you pretty much have to use advanced search to find anything. I'll usually try to search on two words and use the 'and' Search Logic so it actually narrows it down. Searching for 'clear' and 'coat' will get you in the right direction. Searching for clear or coat will get you nowhere in this search engine. The search isn't that great on the forum and that's usually the only way to get anything meaningful out of it.

Back to the subject, here's a pic of my two best Slammers. Both baits were new in the summer of 2000 and were repainted in fall 2002 and january 2003 respectively, then Aristocratted shortly after that. They've both seen thousands of casts since then and are only chipped where I undoubtedly banged them off the shore. I touched them up tonight and they should be good for another couple years at least.

You know for all the conversation, I do have to laugh because Nico has his money Slammer that he must have caught 300 or 400 fish on by now, and it's just a beat to hell piece of wood these days. That thing must have been bounced off the shore 100 times and it still kills the fish. One day it should seriously be retired and mounted in a glass case. It's an awesome lure.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/2587.jpg