Finishing turned wood plugs:

This is a new hobby for me, but have enjoyed turning lure shapes over the last few weeks. I am at the point of needing to choose finish products.

I am going to air brush, in order to achive the ideal gloss finish regardless of what the fish think.

I am very much interested in finding out what others have done and what materials you have used.

I have ron krusse's web pages taped over the lathe and am amazed at the beauty of his lures and the perfect finish he achives.

he says he soakes the plug for what is days and I at a loss to understand what sealer he uses that would allow for what I think is a lacqure finish.

Any and all feed back would be great.

Thanks    

First, welcome to the forum.

The baits Ron Kusse makes are through wired and with the hole through the bait will get wet on the inside. On most bass baits this is not needed since the bait is sealed so that water will not soak into the wood. Each custom maker has their own method for doing this and most seem to work, its a matter of what materials you have available and what you like to use. On my baits the bare wood, once shaped and sanded smooth, is sealed either with a plastic dip or a waterbased varnish then allowed to cure for 24hrs, then it is primed and painted. After another 24hr. cure or dry time for the paint the bait has an epoxy top-coat applied, then a 72hr cure time and another top-coat of epoxy. The finish should look like its under glass and is very durable.

whittler    kbhere   inbetween coats of epoxy do you do any thing to the lure as 2000 paper or do nothing   kb

Whittler...did you paint that with Auto Air Candy?

Ken, before applying the second coat I just wipe it with down alcohol on a clean cloth. If there is a little surface roughness I will go over it with a 150grit sanding pad, then alcohol and recoat.

Jason, have not used the Auto Air paint yet, still using Createx airbrush paints.