buck tail jigs

carl.p

New member
Some advice from the more expert members would be most appreciated. how do I get paint to stick to lead buck tail jigs it keeps peeling off. What am I doing wrong.
 

blomjansie

New member
I know this is an ancient thread, but perhaps it's useful for future seekers.

I make bucktail jig heads (feverfishing.com). I don't use lead though. I make use of bismuth. Far better for the environment.

I've used lead before though; principles are the same.

For best results with this sort of coating, I use a powder paint (Pro-Tec; imported). I built a liquid bed from plastic parts and a fish tank pump, mounted to a board (see attached photo).

After you've cast your lure, heat over open flame and dip it into the liquid bed. Works fantastic. Far better than dunking the lure straight into a powder paint container. The lure gets an even coat.

Once you've dipped it, heat up again, dip into liquid bed again. Do this two, three or four times.

To add additional colours, I make use of a small paint brush, which I dip into one of the powder paint accent colours.

Then I heat the spot I want coated with the accent colour over an open flame and tap the paint off of the brush onto the lure.

Heat the spot again, tap some more paint onto it. Do this three or four times.

Then bake your lure in an oven for 45 minutes. I've got the temperature down pat for bismuth, but can't remember lead anymore. I think it's something like 225 deg Celsius. Or maybe slightly lower. 200 maybe. Really can't remember now.

I make use of an oven thermometer, since I use one of those cheap little stoves. It's crucial to get your temperature correct, especially with bismuth.

Once your lure is baked, remove from the oven and add a tail.
 

Attachments

  • Liquid powder bed dipping station.jpg
    Liquid powder bed dipping station.jpg
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blomjansie

New member
Here's the workings of a liquid powder paint bed:

You have a container filled with powder paint. The powder paint sits on top of a coffee filter.

To this container, at the bottom, is attached a pipe through which air flows. The air is supplied by a fish tank pump.

Between the pump and the container sits a tap, which you use to regulate airflow with.

The air is pushed into the container and through the coffee filter. this causes the powder paint to move.

Stick your finger into this mix and it feels like a liquid.

That's the gist of a powder bed. Hope it makes sense!
 

tackle whore

Senior Member
its a chamber/pot with a fine cloth [ coffee paper filter ] separating it into two parts. Air flows into bottom of chamber and up through the filter paper , powder lies on top of the paper and is suspended as the air blows through it too strong an air flow and it gets blown out of the chamber/pot to soft and the powder doesn't suspend and swirl around. Dip your heated jighead into this to get a even coating
 

Dingleberry

Senior Member
I've found that sometimes the lead jigheads get distorted if heated over an open flame. Been using a hot air gun for a while now -
Works better for me and my pathetic DIY abilities.
 

blomjansie

New member
I can imagine a heat gun should work better. But I can't afford one at this stage, so I just did it until the jig heads didn't fall apart over an open flame anymore.
 
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