Hello, I recently coated 4 coffin bill tennessee killer style cranks with glitter in first coat and straight E-tec on second over top of the factory clear, sanded of course. All had cracks in finish to begin with but the E-tec seemed to fuse really well and these cracks disappeared. Problem is one of these has long cracks going the length of the bait after only a few outings and one 2 1/2 lb fish caught on it. Can't recall any errant casts causing any damage and haven't had to use plug knocker on it either. Could this be a combatibility issue with factory clear or did I possibly get a little to much hardener in the mix or maybe the flex of the long lexan bill since the epoxy overlaps on it a little? So far the other 3 are fine but they haven't been fished as much. Anybody else had this problem? Thanks, David

With the lures having "cracks" After the application of the first coat, it sounds as if the E-tex never made a proper bond to begin with.

Eric

Hey Eric, Thanks for responding. Just looked at bottles and realized I was calling it E-tec when it is E-tex thanks for not really pointing that out. I did put 2 coats of E-tex on them. I added glitter to the first coat but not second. I'm asking about combatibility issues because I also have took some lures with cracks and teeth marks lightly sanded them and put 1 coat of E-tex on before painting and then 2 more coats. That first coat before paint really smoothes things up and the end result looks like a brand new lure. I hope there are no problems with this method because it works so good

Are the cracks the all the way through all coats of epoxy? Are there any hook holes in the lure? A hook puncture all the way through the  finish to the wood can cause swelling and cause the topcoat/epoxy to crack. Not enough flexibility in the topcoat to handle swelling from the wood beneath. (Especially with water temps being colder now in winter.)

I doubt the length of the bill would cause a finish to crack the entire length of the lure. I have bills that are close to 3 inches long and 2 inches wide that have never cracked the finish.

Eric

Eric, Yes they look pretty deep but no lifting or seperating is happening. Re-coating should fix it don't ya think? Should I be wiping these down with denatured alcohol or something else maybe? Thanks, David

I wipe all my lures down between coats of epoxy. Without seeing the lure, I would be afraid to say that another coat would fix the issue. Try it and see. Worst case is you will have a key chain with three coats of clear.

Eric