:rotf2::rotf2::rotf2:

I've been using helmsmans spar varnish for a while and I like the results but now that I am working on maple swimmers I was worried about weight gain from the 1 hour soak I usually do.

I just took the big maple donny's I was working on and took a rag and wiped the exterior down with the varnish. In a day or two once they are dried I'll dunk em to get the insides sealed. I'm hoping that doing the outside first will cut down on how much gets soaked up when I dunk them.

Wow.. I have heard they are very expensive, and tricky...don't always give you the desired action, demands constant change of colors on the bucktail and hardware, wants bronze at times, nickel or SS at others, and you can't use them for 5 days or so out of every month, tempermental too, I have been told if they find out you use another lure, they will never let you use them again.....

I was trying to hold off until plugfest but I've been working on a scratch and sniff fishing lure .. :uhuh: patend pending ..

I remember years ago Hab mentioning tung oil:uhuh:


you may find that different woods require different sealers, some may work well with a mixture of tung oil and varnish, some may be fine with tung oil thinned, some woods do fine with propianite. You have to keep in mind it's a system and primer has to be able to adhere to whatever you use.

Didn't CCB use Laquer ? I think sealer and top coat ..

This is DEAD ON,,,,, The only thing I can add to this is that the softer the wood the more important it is to harden the blank before primer, paint and epoxy or your plug will break like and egg the first rock it bounces off.:uhuh::uhuh:

I know they used lacquer for the top coat... not sure about the sealer...

And what slip said is dead on.... different sealers act differently for different woods...

for inquiring minds... waterlox, tung oil, tung oil finish, waterlox tung oil, floor finishing, floor refinishing, tongue oil varnish, polyurethane, floor finish, wood floor finishing, wood floor refinishing, wood floor varnish, wood sealer, wood floor, hardwood floor, VOC...

Has anyone ever tried Watco finishing oil for sealer?
Just as BLO, be careful with any rags with this stuff too.


Oil Finishes

some more interesting reading about Watco

I have tried lacquer before as a top coat, it doesn't seem to like the paint though. turns into snakeskin essentially. I guess CCB used special paint too?

The paints and lacquers Creek Chub used are illegal today because of VOC and lead content (I think). As a kid we had lacquer paints called "airplane dope" that would make you dizzy, but some guy in Brockton bought them all up and you can't get them anymore.

Nitrocellulose Lacquer was a standard (and very tough) furniture clearcoat until recently. I suspect the old lure guys like Pichney and Musso used something similar, but burned out the ozone layer and cost Salty all his hair.

Joe,

Anything to report on the tung? I just purchased some after reading your post about switching to tung and want to try it out on my next batch of plugs.

yup... although I did not fish plugs as much this season ( fussy fish = eel use) I soaked them enough to be convinced that this is the way to go..
One "go to" plug in particular got hook scarred and blue fish attacked pretty good, most of the epoxy and paint was removed from the exterior of the hook areas....I had planned on cutting it appart to check for water stain/intrusion when I was done fishing at the end of the season... but last Saturday a freight train took me through the mooring field.. she shoud be entering the canal post haste.. towing about 20 yards of 15lb Ande and my PLUG!...

Aside from that, I've got a few goo-goo's that stood up to about 20 hours each of wire line trolling and a hundred fish or so between them... the plugs are beat up but do not appear to be soaking any water...I'll be giving them the " band saw Eddie" treatment when I hang up my rods for the season..

The only thing that has not had a good test are the darters, which are birch and maple, but the boat's coming out of the water Sunday... so the rest of the season I'll be rock hopping and jetty jumping and will beat them on the rocks( and hopefull some fish beat them as well)...I'll know by the end of the month for certain..

as an aside/benifit... the plugs sealed in tung oil ( I leave the cases in the boat and they are subjected to heat and cold more than the ones hanging or packed in bags in the shop) showed no sign of bleed through.... sommething I can say happend to quite a few plugs I sealed in BLO.. as the Clorox comercial said " the whites stay whiter"

This is the set up I used for seailng with the Tung once i commited to it...Each set of tubes are connected, thus allowing for lesser amounts of "product" to be used...and compensating for different dispertion of the liquid... each wire has a slight bend in it to hold the plug in place, this also allows for adjustment to the length of the plug...

I've gone to a double dip, 24 hours appart... it seems to give the best coverage and hardens the softer woods..

for short term storage, i slide the plexi cover over the tubes, I have test caps that I put in each tube for long term storge....

just last night I was cleaning the shop ( and rods and reels) I checked the mixture to see if it had "crusted".. the solution was as good as the day I put it in... I did top off each tube ( to aid in locking out air) before calling it a season... I plan on stealing the wifes turkey baster to remove excess before sealing any plugs to avoid spill over....

Great tips as always Joe....

Thanks for the update. Gonna be doing some experimenting with the tung next week.

One more thing, do you wipe the plugs after dipping, or just let them hang and drip dry?

I dip them twice... no wiping....after the second dip, a glaze will form from the varnish resins.. I give that a light sanding before i prime...

after yesterday I think Mike is going to be working down his cellar a lot this winter.

I'm about ready to begin....I hauled the boat Saturday afternoon... Washed, winterized and covered it on Sunday.. then picked all the green tomatoes and rototilled the garden...I've allready cleaned the gutters and put the storm windows up.... it's go time...

Just bought my wife and kids respirators...turned some of those donny pines at 4:30 this morning too...thanks for the design tips.:btu:

question on the soak jig Joe
 

is that a one piece four way fitting
or are the unions covered by the metal strap?

very original by the way...

I glued the pieces as needed... I figure 3 rows of 4 was plenty..

here are a close up of the plug "holders" as well as the test caps..

thank you joe
 

your an inspiration......... that is for sure :wave:

Joe,

What's your dry time with the tung? I dipped/wiped/hung a bunch about ten days ago and a few seem to still be wet. Looks like the tung came right up through the primer/paint.The yellowing occurred after I finished the sys 3 and took them off the dryer this morning. Does it sound like I need a longer dry time?

I have 40 or so plugs ready for primer, but don't want to mess them up. Think I should give them a couple more weeks before prime/paint/epoxy?

overnight... prime the next day.. something doesnt sound Kosher...

did you use pure Tung oil or a blend...

Pure, got it from Rockwell woodworking, says 100 percent pure tung oil on the jug. Plugs were dipped for about 5-10 minutes, then hung to dry for about one week, then lightly sanded. I'm using zinnser cover stain oil based primer. The plugs that came out good are like iron, but a couple others seem to be excessivley wet in addition to some bleeding through.

The only other thing I can come up with is this: Most of the bleed through is on the belly side of the plugs where I sanded the wood filler down. Maybe sanded too much and re-exposed the oil?

Used a bunch of different wood also and had the problem with all 5 wood types:

White pine

AYC

WRC

Birch

Spanish Cedar

And there in lies the problem.... I've been using a blend.. not the most economical way to start, but it needed no thinning..... I'd try cutting it 60:40 with turps....

Got it. In the meantime I'll stay away from white bellies and go with more yellow and silver until the current inventory is used up.
I had the same issue this summer with blo, but gave the plugs an extra week or so to dry before finishing and they came out ok.