I've started making jigs recently and have read on a ton of places that ones with rubber have the potential to become damaged or ruined due to the possibility that any rubber used in them may melt under certain conditions. I'm aware of storing the jigs or the rubber with unscented talc. However, unscented talc has been difficult to find. So, does anyone have any suggestions on possible brands of unscented talc and places that it is easy to find? Also, are there other alternatives that can be used when storing rubber and/or jigs made with rubber?

You can use cornstarch if you don't have unscented talc and it doesn't have to be a lot, maybe a teaspoon in a small bag with 4 jigs or so. The reason for this is it absorbs moisture and keeps the rubber strands from sticking together. I would have it happen to spinnerbaits and buzzbaits as well and when silicone came out I never looked back, but I will use a few rubber strands for certain things every now and again but those get stored in a separate bag.

Thanks for the help smalljaw67. I'll have to check into doing that.

I just throw mine in the box with my other jigs and haven't had a problem with it.  What will really mess them up is applying an oil based fish attractant to them while fishing - ruins them.

Thanks for the heads up BobP

I've done two things since I first had melted collars:

1.  I wire tie almost everything

2.  I got rid of ALL Elaztech plastics...at rare times I miss the durability and the buoyancy, but not enough to carry them anymore