First time

[Col Forbin]

I went through it all today - Poured, painted, made skirts, and assembled. I have some kinks to iron our, but all in all it is not as hard as I anticipated.

I poured about 50 jigs - all but a few (5 or 6) turned out good. I realized if I spent too much time in between pours - the mold would cool and I would get an incomplete pour - got the hang of it fairly quick.

It took me a bit to figure out the powder paint - but they still turned out good. I had it on a little thick on a few, but the rest looked great when they got done curing. I do need to figure out something with the weedguards - a few of them were a little wavy, even though I wrapped them in foil, but otherwise the paint looked awesome. I didn't paint too many (a dozen), I wanted to get the hang of it - and I still have a few details to figure out.

Making and putting on skirts is by far my favorite. I put together my favorite color combos, and a few (PB&J) that I have never fished. They all ended up looking great - as good or better than my usuall from the store.

I can't wait to get out this weekend and throw a few - even though I will probably be throwing crankbaits and jerkbaits most of the time.

[apb]

Congrats on a successful first run! Wait until you start slamming them on your own stuff, thats when the addiction really sinks in

Andrew

[zx150]

Hey Col, how bad did the weedguards wave? I have not tried the aluminum foil but you could try to melt the tip of the guard on the side of the pot once they have been poured, (to fuse the ends together). Hold the guard tight in your fingers and set it on the side of the pot for just a second or two and that should help. I am going to try some with foil tomorrow.

[Col Forbin]

I had a little wave to the first batch -but the second batch was much better. The toaster oven I bought has an element in the top and bottom. I am turning it upside down so that I can hang from the rack. The topside of the rack (once turned upside down) is only an inch or so from the element - really close to the weed gaurd. I put a small cookie sheet (that came with the oven) in between the rack and element, kind of shielding the jigs. It really helped - I may see if it will work without that element. I still am wrapping in foil, but backed the heat off some. When set on 250, a thermometer was actually reading 300. Now if I set it to 200 it is heating to about 250, and that really helped too. I also poured some the jigs with the weed gaurd backward -so that the fused end was exposed - that helped to keep the gaurd tight. I also wraped some with some masking tape, then the foil and that worked just as good, but the glue from the tape takes a little effort to get off of the weedgaurd. It is still a work in progress, but I am experimenting and learning a ton.

I saw your other post about the tubes. I have heard that teflon tubing over teh weedguard really helps, however, I don't have a clue where to get that. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?