I'm finishing up the shaping/sanding of a walk-the-dog lure and was wondering when i should seal the bait.

Should it be before drilling holes, after drilling holes, or after inserting eyelets/lead?

Also, I found some wood sealer in the garage but it is also a stain. Minwax I believe. Can I use this or would this affect the paint that would go on after it?

Thanks

I would use a clear sealer. Most of all stain such as Minwax will not hold paint.

Man to ask is BigM (Marty). He's one of the best wooden bait maker's out there.

After you have all hardware placed then seal it,lightly sand,seal again.Then either epoxy or clearcoat I'd do about 4-5 coats with lite sanding or wetsanding between each coat.

The way I do my balsa lures is to build all the hardware into the lure and seal with epoxy. I only use 2 coats of epoxy for sealing the lure.

1st coat is thinned with 6 drops of denatured alcohol. This allows the epoxy to be slightly thinner and I feel it soaks a little deeper into the wood as it takes it a little longer to set up. 2nd coat is not thinned. If you do the two coats within 24 hours, you do not need to sand between coats. The two coats will bond together. If you wait beyond 24 hours just sand with 400 or 600 paper to give the second coat a slightly scuffed surface to adhere to.

Some people use super glue for the first coat to seal the wood. Then coat a second with epoxy to give a smooth surface to paint on. If you paint straight over CA glue, you can see some of the wood grain.

Eric

I install all hardware and the lip, then 2 coats of super glue, followed by 1 coat of epoxy to give me a smooth surface to paint on.