On the Do It molds all one has to do is lay the hooks in the mold then a hand made keeper wire made from fine stainless wire in along side the hook. Close the mold and squeeze the handles tight with one hand and give the mold a solid tap with a soft faced hammer in the other.
On 1/32 collarless heads from the pro mold I do nothing with a wire. Meaning I don't add one. Everything I do with that size of head gets super glue and that is quite plenty for panfish. The frustration levels of fiddling around with wires and hooks in that small of a head, unless of course you are spin casting, just isn't worth it. The glue is cheap and effective. If you think you need more than what glue does and want a wire, use .020 to .025 stainless, a size that will not tear up plastic too bad nor have a diameter that will distort the plastic at the keeper end. Honestly, for the few jigs a guy needs for panfish, I'd just order keepered jigs and paint them as I wished and not mess with a mold and wires if you think they are worth the trouble.
On larger jigs used for walleyes and bass, the keepers definitely have a place. Do It makes molds specifically tailored to wire keepers and the wires are offered there on the site too.
I do a lot with stinger wires and a bit with mold modification to use them and there are some things to be aware of when you are dinking with this fine wire for ANY reason. First, it is sharper than a hypodermic needle. The finer the wire, the sharper and more dangerous. I slipped one evening when cutting wires for stingers using 58 pound test stainless. The cut end of the wire went THRU my hand at mid-palm. I had a 1/4 pound coil on the floor and ten inches of the tag end sticking out of the back of my hand. And now the real trick. I was cutting stinger wires again while watching tv one evening. I had a pile of about 300 wires on a cookie sheet when the sheet got knocked and wires flew. Many landed on the crpet, which is a grey mottled color. I spent an hour on my hands and knees scouring that carpet and picking up wires. Finally satisfied that I found them all, I put my stuff up for the night and started off to the bedroom . You guessed it. Stocking foot fool that I was I shuffled along and found the last wire with my foot and that resulted in some minor surgery to get the 4" length of wire out of the foot. Stainless wires are dangerous to work with and they can be just as bad when cast in heads, so keep that in mind. Its a catch 22.....you can't use too large of wire without wrecking plastics and the small wire has its hidden hazards to working with it.
In all my years of panfishing, the best of all plastic keepers that I have found fits in your pocket and is used a drop at a time. Super glue.
