cadman

A-Jay, really beautiful dogs. Pardon my ignorance but are those Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes? Also if you don't mind, but can you tell me the difference between a Husky and a Alaskan malamute, any pros and cons of either. I always wanted one, but my wife is not ready yet.

Lots of ways to skin a cat, so there you go.

I haven't either. I put foil over them like you do. I'm glad I don't do a lot of these, as doing it this way is very tedious. Hmmmm, I have to try the brush and enamel one of these days.

You can still pour these without the weedguard in. Here is what to do. #1 Find a drill bit or piece of wire, that is the correct diameter of the weedguard hole. #2 Take the drill bit or wire, and place it in the mold cavity, where the weedguard is supposed to lie. #3 If the drill bit falls out when you turn the mold over, wrap a piece of tape around it to make it snug. #4 Close mold and pour away. #5 You can either pull out the drill bit to pour the rest, or if you use wire, have a bunch of wires cut and leave the wire in and powder paint your heads. #6 Make sure you pull the drill bits out before you bake. #7 That's it. I do this all the time for this mold. This will eliminate you pouring the weedguards in place, and powder painting will be easier. Epoxy your weedguard in after baking jigs. I'm at work now, but when I get home tonight, I will let you know what diameter wire /drill bit will fit in the mold.

After smalljaw67's post, I forgot that the 410/413 were a 60 degree hook and the hook numbers he mentioned are correct. The only problem is that a 2/0 is the only hook size that will fit in the first two cavities in that style of hook. So if you want a longer shank hook, use the 28/30 hooks I mentioned above. Just another option for you.

Yes there are three alternatives. Mustad #32886 or Mustad #91768 or a 30 degree Gami, will fit that mold.

Like lmoore mentioned, I have found that the only correct way to powder paint jigs heads and bake them properly is without the weedguard. Also why can't you pour the head without the weedgurd in place? Is it a Do-it Mold? If so what is the model number, then I can give you a proper answer.

There are guys that hold the jig with forceps by the eyelet, this keeps the powder from filling. I personally don't do this. If I get a eye that fills, I immediately get a drill bit and shove it through the eyelet. This will clean it out immediately. Make sure you size the drill bit to fit the eyelet before you start painting.

Hey smalljaw67 great review. I too am sold on Eagle Claw as they have upped their game the last couple of years. For those that don't pour, Mustad was the bread and butter hook for many years, and since Eagle Claw (EC) retooled several years ago, they have come on strong and hard. Look at your Trokar hooks. With that said, Mustad has had some quality issues and everyone knows about Matzuo quality issues. I'm glad you tested these out. Another EC will be a bread and butter hook. Also EC's are made in the USA.

Wow very nice, I would fish those. Nothing wrong with those at all.

3/16 in the 2D as well as the 3D

I don't have any problems with metal pins. However after 11 years of pouring with metal pins, they are a P.I.T.A. to take out when the jig cools. If you have never poured with teflon pins, you are doing yourself a dis-service. It is so much easier to pull the pins out, instead of fight with them. As far as painting with them. They are 100 times better than painting and then drilling out the paint. Been using teflon pins for the last 5 years and would never go back to the old way.

First of all I do my jigs differently. Do not use metal pins use the teflon ones, much, much easier. Also as soon as you put the paint on the jig, immediately pull the pin out while the jig is hot. Then bake your jig. I have a tutorial somewere on the teflon pins. Just another option.

Name came from all the different cad and cam softwares I had to learn over the years.

It is the 30 minute epoxy. However you will not get 30 minutes working time.

Yep I forgot about him, another good guy. I believe he owns "The Pier" on Linn Rd by Lake Geneva. I do know he guides as well.

Hey Papajoe, Talk to this guy. He is a guide on Lake Geneva and knows his stuff. His name is Carl Kaufmann. Here is his link. Tell him Ted (Cadman) sent you http://www.lake-link.com/fishing/guide.cfm/95/Carl-Kaufmann-Guide-Service/ PS: Aren't you the guy that fishes Delavan alot?

You can also try Anglers Unlimited in Round Lake. They are always looking for members and have a partner draw system. They will always partner you up with someone that has a boat. They fish approximately 10 partner draw tourneys, and they fish maily S.E Wisconsin lakes. If you need more info check out their website or I can give you a contact number.

Here is a quick way to get even consistant colored jigs. The bigger the jig the longer the heat count, the smaller the jig , the less the heat count. So let's say you have a 1/4 oz jig. I use a heat gun, so heat time is trial and error. While rotating the jig over the heat gun, I count 1,2,3,4 until 20, I then swish the jig through the powder paint. If the jig is glossy and covered completely, I then do this to all the 1/4 oz jigs. If the jig still doesn't grab paint increase your count to 25 and so on until you get glossy evenly painted jigs. Once done, make sure you bake your jigs, to harden the paint and keep it from chipping. PS: I see you are around Chi-Town, if you need more help or have any questions, feel free to give me a call, and I will help you out.

I got 60 bags of Netbait plastics and 40 packages of Jewel "J" tail grubs in the 5" size. I am ready for Spring and patiently waiting.

Just stir slowly to avoid splashing and spills until the flame goes out..

I just read up on soy candles, and it looks like it will work fine. Advantages and disadvantages of regular and soy candles. Soy candles burn cleaner, slower and are soy based and produce less soot, cost more to make. Wax candles burn hotter, have more soot and are parrafin based, which emits more carcinogens into the air. Either way you are good to go. My wife burns a lot of Yankee Candles, and I have so much candle wax left over, I can start making bmy own candles.

I have never used soy candles only oil/wax candles and bees wax so I don't know if that will work. Only way to find out is try it. What should happen is after the candle burns off you should get slag and all other impurities that will burn and float to the top. The color of this stuff is dark brown to black. The correct way to flux lead in a pot is like this. #1 If you have a Lee IV pot, make sure you have a full pot of lead and make sure you have about 3/4 to 1" of ledd below the top of the opening. #2 You want to light the smoke, and not make smoke. A.How this is accomplished, is put in a small chunk of wax (about the size of a dime or smaller) into a heated pot. The wax will start smoking. B. Immediately throw a lit match into the pot. What will happen is, you will get a flame about 4 to 6" tall that will fill flare up and then fill the pot. a. When you light the match do not look over the pot, as you will burn your face. b. Also when you light the match, make sure there is nothing above the pot, that will catch fire. C. As the flame is burning, make sure you have leather gloves on, and slowly stir the lead in the pot with a long steel spoon. D. The flame will slowly burn out as the wax is used up, to the point you will only have brown crusted garbage floating on the top of your lead. E. Spoon all this stuff off and put into an empty dry can (to be disposed of at a later date when full) #3 You should now have clean silvery lead ready for pouring. PS: PLease do this with caution so you don't start a fire or burn yourself. Kids do not try this at home: Finally for your own sake, make sure you are not distracted. Keep kids, pets and wife away from your work area and tell them not to bother you. Lead is hot and it can burn you severely if you are not paying attention. Stay safe for the New Year

4/0 no problem, and just maybe a 5/0. I found a new mold from my stash of molds, and with a little finesse, a 5/0 will fit. You should be good to go.

The 1/2 oz cavity on the mold calls out for a 3/0 hook. On almost all of Do-It molds you can go up one size and down one size. Two sizes up is pushing it on a new mold. However you might be lucky and it will go in. Worst case scenario, you will have to file out some aluminum where the hook shank sits. No Bigee.