Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post

togue · 07-07-2012, 12:16 PM

Krylon clear coat over water soluble acrylic, I'll have to try that, thanks Ron!

I always bake anything I paint with acrylic, most of these paints are designed to be heat set. I've seen and participated in a fair amount of debate over this, and I know BigFish Larry claims it isn't necessary but I have had issues with it.

Some pro builders will tell you they can remove anybody's paint or clear coat with the right tricks or a long enough soak, and I'm sure debate on this topic will continue. There are plenty of examples of plugs having been drowned for weeks or months on end only to emerge with near perfect paint jobs. But everybody does it a little different and what works for some might not work for others, and so on.

This started for me one night on Joppa flats with stripers repeatedly slamming one of my swimmers (love it when that happens!). After landing several I noticed my plug looked weird, and when I put a light on found the etax peeling off and taking the paint with it clean down to bare primer. Still have the plug and the missing paint matches the mouth of the striper that took the plug sideways.

I may have rushed the paint job on this one, and may have layered multiple colors without waiting for them to fully dry, another no-no as discussed in the posts above. Also, by putting on multiple layers without fully drying in between I may have trapped some water inside the paint. What I later found is any amount of water under your clear coat will soften the acrylic and cause the clear coat to fail.

After talking with the folks at Createx I started to experiment. I painted up some reject plug bodies and left them to dry without any clear-coat. What I found is no amount of drying time permanently sets the paint, and after a soak in water it wipes off. No matter how long it has been left to dry, even after weeks, months, or years the paint never permanently sets. I still have some samples in the man cave from over 4 years ago, just checked them and all I need to do is rub a wet finger on the paint and I can work it right off down to the primer coat. So if any water gets under your clear-coat, etex or otherwise, the paint soak up the water and it will soften up and eventually if it gets enough water it will disolve.

What I eventually found out is baking the plugs at 180F-200F for about 15-20 minutes permanently sets the acrylic. I use a large toaster oven from Wally's World. After this heat set treatment the acrylic paint will not come off again in water - period.

I may be paranoid, but in addition to using the hair dryer trick between colors when painting I also use this heat set treatment before the final clear coat (etex or whatever you like to use is OK). No amount of sustained long term abuse has since caused a paint or clear coat failure on any of my plugs, even when they have long since worn down to the bare wood from the inevitable hook scrapes and gouges.

I will have to give the Krylon trick a try, since I have faith in Ron's plug building skills and the quality of his product speaks for itself.

Keep on building!

07-07-2012, 12:16 PM	#8
togue Pluggin' Addict iTrader: (0) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Knee deep in the hoopla Posts: 54	Krylon clear coat over water soluble acrylic, I'll have to try that, thanks Ron! I always bake anything I paint with acrylic, most of these paints are designed to be heat set. I've seen and participated in a fair amount of debate over this, and I know BigFish Larry claims it isn't necessary but I have had issues with it. Some pro builders will tell you they can remove anybody's paint or clear coat with the right tricks or a long enough soak, and I'm sure debate on this topic will continue. There are plenty of examples of plugs having been drowned for weeks or months on end only to emerge with near perfect paint jobs. But everybody does it a little different and what works for some might not work for others, and so on. This started for me one night on Joppa flats with stripers repeatedly slamming one of my swimmers (love it when that happens!). After landing several I noticed my plug looked weird, and when I put a light on found the etax peeling off and taking the paint with it clean down to bare primer. Still have the plug and the missing paint matches the mouth of the striper that took the plug sideways. I may have rushed the paint job on this one, and may have layered multiple colors without waiting for them to fully dry, another no-no as discussed in the posts above. Also, by putting on multiple layers without fully drying in between I may have trapped some water inside the paint. What I later found is any amount of water under your clear coat will soften the acrylic and cause the clear coat to fail. After talking with the folks at Createx I started to experiment. I painted up some reject plug bodies and left them to dry without any clear-coat. What I found is no amount of drying time permanently sets the paint, and after a soak in water it wipes off. No matter how long it has been left to dry, even after weeks, months, or years the paint never permanently sets. I still have some samples in the man cave from over 4 years ago, just checked them and all I need to do is rub a wet finger on the paint and I can work it right off down to the primer coat. So if any water gets under your clear-coat, etex or otherwise, the paint soak up the water and it will soften up and eventually if it gets enough water it will disolve. What I eventually found out is baking the plugs at 180F-200F for about 15-20 minutes permanently sets the acrylic. I use a large toaster oven from Wally's World. After this heat set treatment the acrylic paint will not come off again in water - period. I may be paranoid, but in addition to using the hair dryer trick between colors when painting I also use this heat set treatment before the final clear coat (etex or whatever you like to use is OK). No amount of sustained long term abuse has since caused a paint or clear coat failure on any of my plugs, even when they have long since worn down to the bare wood from the inevitable hook scrapes and gouges. I will have to give the Krylon trick a try, since I have faith in Ron's plug building skills and the quality of his product speaks for itself. Keep on building!