THREE EASY COLORING SYSTEMS
🐟 Do- It-Yourself coatings for spinners, worm hooks, bass jigs, weedless, lead lures, colors and coatings that work well via several methods, I use all of them — since I make all kinds of lures from flies to hard baits with different processes required.
❖ Gel Nail Polish which is UV activated — More expensive but ten times stronger — and faster — They cost more than regular polish but less paint is used, fills and covers better and drys quickly with UV.
❖ Regular Nail polish then Clear coating, ask wife for ones she feels some of her colors are out of style. They cost her about 7 to 15 dollars so don’t discard them — For most colors, and frugality go to the dollar store, grab a selection of cheapies, shake well and after they dry twice a long as you think,I use my rack after 48 hours and clear coat them with KRYLON acrylic clear spray in a can about thirty to fifty at a time.
❖ Powder coating is a whole new world — needing nothing but requires a small oven toaster and a hot gun — A place you won’t care about messing up or coloring — and can hide the mess from your wife, and if your kids are too young keep them away.
— JACOBS SPECIALIZED TOOLS —
HARD GEL UV COATING DRYER FOR GEL POLISH — (D-I-Y Build)
VARIOUS HEADS ATTACH BY MAGNETS
PROCESS ONE — THE GEL NAIL POLISH PROCESS — There’s a reason why GEL nail polish has become popular with the ladies, and no reason why it cannot be popular with the men for FISHING LURES. I make a lot of lures always experimenting. I also wanted a volume setup, no AA or AAA batteries to fart out at the best time, no small flashlights, and a rotating dryer.
It's virtually indestructible, greatest invention since the ladies invented sex, impossibly glossy, fills and shines well, and offered allover the web in retail shops and since its so strong, unless you love Baracuda's it will last longer and dry quicker and so will your fingers. But there are advantages, rules and tips to follow — and lots of colors —
I convinced one of my gal friends if she helped paint lures she could use the colors and dryer assembly — for her personal use. Great idea to get your wife involved in your projects from a positive standpoint. Besides, some of the ladies are better painters than you are, admit it! She’ll love you for it
GEL BASIC INSTRUCTIONS:
- Clean the lure or jig, I remove any roughies or cut casting marks not needed with a stiff nail file or sandpaper on a stick, then I smooth and brush finish the lead part of the jig with a Dremel and wire brush.
- Then I wipe the jig with electronic isopropyl alcohol, not rubbing alcohol or acetone.
- Two choices for a base coat —
- I can use a heat shrink hot gun on the clean lead and dip it into Powder coat White as a base coat. And thats a great base for the UV and really brights the colors or sparkles.
- The alternative is to use a UV actuated Base and Top Coat. Clean and simple to prep for the Gel nail polish —
- I paint the dried powder coat or base with the color of the head. White makes the top coat color stand out like magic . So does a white base coat of the gel. When all done I use a UV top coat —
- Place in machine for three minutes usually four or eight at a time.
PROCESS TWO — POWDER COATING ERRATA FOR BASE
- Powder coating is great but for some, not so great for me. I would like to have the powder coating in all colors and would go into it whole hog, if I were younger and was not living in a condo in a high rise on the top floor, and we have a nice breeze here, not good for powder coating anything. My garage is not AC and 100 + temperatures plus a heat gun and I’ll be in the ER. And With my bad allergies, mass powder coating, would trigger me bad, and a bevy of potential clumsy spills would result in a death penalty by frying pan by the little lady.
- So doing it in the house is out of the question, as is also for health reasons. I only use white, as a base coat, I pick it up at Harbor Freight — Best Price — A cool night in the garage and knock off a hundred is good for months, all base coated in white just add color and eyes.
- Powder coating is stronger than solvent-based paint coatings, takes very little training or practice, and the cost is very competitive to paints. For the do-it-yourselfer, a tougher coating with improved corrosion protection is easily achieved. I only use powder coating in white, with nothing more than a pair of vice grips, a heat gun, couple tooth picks, shrink tubing to cover the eye, and one of my racks.
- Then I use the nail polish technique to create some obscene lures. What you see in the picture are twenty Bass worm hooks, coated and painted in an hour and a half. I made fifty lures that day in three hours. I also use this setup to create heads with Bucktail, Maribou and some Dazzle streamers that fish go nuts over.
- Use Powder Paints because: no smelly fumes, no messy clean up ?, No drying time, non-flammable, one coat coverage, 74 colors to choose from works on all use powder paints on all your: jigs, spinnerbaits, buzz baits, blades, spoons and more …if you go that route. Otherwise white coat is sufficient to start with .
- Cleaning — Wire brushing, abrasive flaw removal and chemical cleaning is required to ensure the jig part is free of any dirt, rust, oil etc. Dremel tool with the larger brush head to clean toughies. It evens the finish, I blow it off with my compressor or air can.
- Pre treatment — after you clean and prep your piece to ensure there’s no oil, wax, or any other residue on the areas to be powder coated. 93%+ ISOPROPYL alcohol, not rubbing alcohol which contains oil.
- A GOOD TIP IS to preheat the piece to about 100° with your heat gun, pause, cool. Take a piece of 1/8 inch shrink tubing and place it over the eye so when you heat it, it prevents powder from clogging the eye of the hook
- Using the pliers — Hold object over the heat gun till it’s hot enough ( twenty seconds) and dip quickly into the powder and remove. Hold the eye side up so any residual does not clog the eye of the hook if you forgot the heat shrink. This is a great trick, use the shrink tube.
- Cure — To cure the coat you will need a toaster oven never again used for food. I do not mix food or fishing lures. Wal-MArt had toaster ovens for twenty dollars.
- My larger rack allows me to process 100 plus at a time in a spare old conventional oven, if I were going into production. Its metal you can't cook at 350 with cardboard or wood in an oven.
Jann’s Netcraft Powder Coating
— Best Suppliers and Supplies — Tips and Usage —
Powder Painting Fishing Lures — Powder paint was developed primarily to paint jig heads but it can be used to paint many other types of metal fishing lures. Powder paint is a dry powder made up of fine particles of thermoplastic. After curing with heat, it becomes a shiny durable finish tougher than most solvent based paints.
Basic Powder Paint Instructions — Shake well before using. Shaking breaks up the lumps that may have formed during storage. Always store in a cool dry area. Oven thermostats vary. Some experimentation may be needed to find the setting that works best for you. Humidity can get in your way—
All metal parts must be preheated prior to applying powder paint. Use pliers or forceps to hold parts while heating and when dipping into powder paint. If painting individual fishing lure components, use a lighter or torch for heat. If many parts are to be painted, place parts in a pie pan and heat in an oven to 400 degrees. Dip fishing lure components into powder paint and immediately knock off excess by tapping pliers on the lip of the jar. Parts are the correct temperature when the paint melts within 2 or 3 seconds. Clean hook eye before curing. Or use AL’s shrink tubing trick.
Curing Powder Paint — Lures finished with our powder paint can be fished without curing. For the toughest finish available, our powder paint must be cured. Curing is easily done by hanging parts in an oven heated to 350 degrees for 15 minutes. If you forgot to clean the hook eye before curing, it can be cleaned by using a hot hook point.
Lure Eyes — Lure eyes can be added by applying our stick on eyes or painting on eyes using vinyl lure and jig finish.
Special Effects — Layer different colors of powder paint in a jar. Dip your lure into the powder paint, passing through the different colors. It will leave a swirled finish on your lure.
PROCESS THREE — BUDGET LURE COLORING — LESS $$$$
L.A.-NAIL POLISH From Dollar Tree Stores —
- These are conventional acrylic fingernail lacquers, they work, inexpensive, but not as strong as those above. One step, but many coats. All the colors they have, are only one dollar twenty-five for almost a one half oz bottle. For ten bucks you are in business with eight colors. These are econo paints and sometimes if you don’t shake well, you might need two color coats. You generally get what you pay for, but don’t touch your wife’s nail polish.
- They have a great selection — All the primary colors you need plus the hardener and base coats which are critical —
- Get wife interested in painting the jig heads so she doesn’t feel left out or think you are cracking up. They paint better than we do. Practice make perfect and this is a harmonious time together.
- Clean and polish the lead head with the wire brush on a Dremel — or SandpaperAnd Wipe with Isopropyl alcohol 93%+, not rubbing alcohol — Use a clear base coat and let dry, this is not UV, this is sun drying or a heat bulb in a desk lamp. —
- Only the GEL type requires UV lamp —
- Let dry and give a second coat if needed — or two tone — Let dry and a third coat is possible — if needed —
- Finish with a coat of clear — There are about thirty or more colors to choose from — At our store close by it was a wall of color. And you will find chenilles, fabric suitable for dubbing projects, feather boas and thread, glues and glitter, nothing over a dollar twenty five, price went up .25 still cheap, shake really well. — CHEAP AND WORTH DROPPING BY —
A Couple Of Coats Of Clear Base Or Top Coat, Gel UV Clear Works
As Well, If It Was A Good Fish, Bad Knot, So You lost Thirty Cents !