Jig eyes clogging with powder coat

[Mike Perry]

New guy here trying to learn powder coat my own jigs.
Got the powder coat looking good after curing but my jig eyes are clogging with the powder coat when I dip them.
What's the secret to keeping the eyes clean?

[Muskygary]

When you heat the jig, dip it in powder, then clean out the eye while it is still warm. If you  are painting larger jigs, cover the eye with a piece of shrink tube to start with. Another way for the small jigs...get a cup of water and two forceps. Use one pair of forceps to hold the jig while you warm it up. Then switch forceps (using the second pair to cover the hook eye) Now dip it in the powered paint. Now put the finished jig on your rack, take those forceps that covered the hook eye and stick them in the water. Clean them up, now get the first set of forceps and get the second jig warmed up. etc.

[ctom]

Welcome aboard Mike.

I use forceps to grasp the eye of the hook to paint all of my jigs. I do need to clean the forceps jaws after 50 or so jigs but that doesn’t set me back much time at all.

[Lines]

Welcome Mike Perry! By any chance an Iowa resident?
After dipping the jigs in powder coat and allowing to cool, squeezing the eye with needle nose pliers will usually crack the powder coating around the hook eye. It must be done before oven curing. Be careful not to squeeze hard enough to damage the hook.

[bigjim5589]

I coat a lot of jigs at one time, so use some small silicone caps that I get from a powder coat supply store. I bought several hundred of them in the sizes that I use. They make them in various sizes, and they will fit most hooks. For smaller size hook eyes, or those that the caps won't fit over,  I wrap them with teflon tape, that I buy from Harbor Freight. The tape is not expensive, but takes time to do, but the results are great, as it results in completely clean eyes. I'll often do that at night when I would not be doing anything anyway, and can wrap a few hundred jigs in a short time.  I have a tackle business, but that's not time I include in my costing, since it's time I would be wasting anyway.  this is something I learned many years ago, when I was only making jigs as a hobby, and just continue doing it.

With the silicone caps, they're also reusable, and can be quickly slipped over the eye on the heated jig, dipped in the powder and then remove the cap for curing, or I have put the caps on the hook eyes and hung them in my oven to heat them for coating.  The heat doesn't hurt the caps, but they do need to be cleaned eventually.

https://hightempmasking.com/collections/high-temp-silicone-end-caps

I tried the hemostats or pliers over the hook eyes, but I fumbled around too much and still got powder in the eyes. Some folks use shrink tubing, but it's not cheap, and you still can get powder on the eye.

The thing is, we all develop ways to accomplish the same thing, and what it boils down to is what you're comfortable with doing.

[Lines]

The thing is, we all develop ways to accomplish the same thing, and what it boils down to is what you're comfortable with doing.

Can't argue with that. Well said bigjim.

[Apdriver]

I just ran across this thread. Big Jim, what size silicone caps do you use say for 2/0 to 5/0 bass hooks? Would the same caps fit smaller 4 and 6 size crappie hooks?

[bigjim5589]

Ctom has messaged me about this, and I didn't realize someone else was asking, so sorry for the delayed reply.

I bought the 4 smallest sizes that High Temp Masking Company sold at the time, and the two smaller sizes have been the most useful, which would be 3/32" & 1/8". It's one of those things that you have to test to see which works the best for you, since all hooks in a size are not the same.

As long as the cap fits snug on the hook, where it won't come off easily, that's all you need.

If the cap barely fits snug, and you heat them, they tend to fall off, so what I now often do is put the cap on the hook eye as I take the jig from my oven for coating. I've learned to do that quickly enough that the jigs still hot enough for coating. Then I remove the cap and reuse it. Sometimes, dry powder will stick to the cap, but easily comes off. You can also place the caps in the oven and heat the paint and then it peels right off.

I see now that they have smaller sizes, so I would get some of every size from 1/4" down to the smallest size .020" size for the jigs I pour. That's a worthwhile investment IMO.

For the larger size jigs typically used for bass or saltwater, 1/8", 3/16" & 1/4" should cover most hook eyes. If you use Gamakatsu hooks, which tend to have a smaller hook eye, the 1/8" should work. I use jig hooks from size 12 up to 10/0, so those caps have been very useful.

[Apdriver]

Thanks for the quick reply, Big Jim. Believe I’ll pick a few up and give them a try. I have been using teflon tape but it’s tedious for me. In larger jigs, if done correctly, you can just paint the eyes. It’s those 1/0 and down sizes that plug easily that are problematic and this looks like an easy solution and fast.

[bigjim5589]

Yes sir! There are some hooks that I will paint. Bigger tinned saltwater hooks, the tin tends to come off the hook eye when pouring, so I will paint them. Of course there's some jigs like the Do It Brush jig, that it's not practical to try & cover the hooks eye, so they too get painted.

I understand your comment about the teflon tape being tedious, which is why it takes time to use it. I've been tying flies for a long time, so for me it's not too bad to work with, but I'm sure not everyone would feel the same.

I'm glad to see this post, as I had not bought any of the silicone caps in a awhile and since they now carry them in even smaller sizes, I went ahead and ordered some. It could turn out to be, the teflon tape is no longer needed.

[bigjim5589]

This is just to add to the previous posts. The folks I had mentioned previously, High Temp Masking Supply, now have 3 more smaller sizes of the silicone caps. I have bought them and they're different colors. The red caps, look like they're going to fit on most small Aberdeen type jigs hooks I use for such as crappie jigs. So that will be a size 2 or smaller hook.

I haven't used them yet, but it may turn out that I'll use a lot less teflon tape. I'll wrap hooks on spinnerbaits & buzzbaits, as the caps aren't long enough to cover them, but these smaller caps I think will save me a lot of time with powder coating jigs.