Custom Baits - Forum
Jigs, Spinnerbaits and Sinkers => Painting and Finishing Lures => Topic started by: DobynsTriton on 01/19/13 17:50 UTC
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I will be starting lead soon.My question is about packaging. I've noticed some lead in bags gets a chalky look to it & the bag does too. I was wondering what would cause this & how to avoid it
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I believe that "chalky" look is simple oxidation. The only way to stop it is to cut off the air. I would recommend not pouring to far ahead of yourself and coating anything you plan to store for a while with a primer or clear coat to seal it from the air so you can paint it later. Impurities in some lead can make the oxidation process much more obvious as well.
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what would be good to coat with? some stuff i plan on powder coating . im mainly worried about weighted swimbait hooks
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Linseed oil will make it not get chalky looking. But will wash off. I think some companies offer clear powder.
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Jerry is spot on the lead is oxidizing and trying to revert back to its organic state as most metals will do without being coated. I would just finish them the way you intend to after pouring, after all you will only be adding a step, using clear powder will work but again your adding an additional step and I'm sure you'll have problems when heating the jig for powder coating if you use any type of paint or coating that cannot take the heat.
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It's best to put some kind of finish on them within a few days or weeks of pouring. That's about the only way I know to stop the oxidation.
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Freshly poured lead always paints better and the paint ad hears better . I try to paint as I pour - Pour until I have what I think I can paint either today or within the next day or so. Pour; take a break; then start powder coating. It also gives me more of a feeling that I am accomplishing something to have a finished product at the end of the day.
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thanks for info guys!
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what would be good to coat with? some stuff i plan on powder coating . im mainly worried about weighted swimbait hooks
If you don't plan on powder coating your weighted hooks I would suggest dabbing a bit of Seal-Coat on them to keep them from oxidizing. It's a water based clear coat that is very easy to work with and is nearly as tough as an epoxy. Here's a link:
http://do-itmolds.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=3_156_170
It looks like snot in a bottle but it dries clear as a bell and doesn't yellow.
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If you don't plan on powder coating your weighted hooks I would suggest dabbing a bit of Seal-Coat on them to keep them from oxidizing. It's a water based clear coat that is very easy to work with and is nearly as tough as an epoxy. Here's a link:
http://do-itmolds.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=3_156_170
It looks like snot in a bottle but it dries clear as a bell and doesn't yellow.
I will def look into that. I am gonna start with weighted swimbait hooks & work my way up to more stuff that will be powder coated
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Hey Jerry. Thank that stuff would work on painted crankbaits?
Sorry dobys for hijacking.
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Hey Jerry. Thank that stuff would work on painted crankbaits?
Sorry dobys for hijacking.
Its all good ,ask away. the more info we get about what they have & the products uses the better
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Hey Jerry. Thank that stuff would work on painted crankbaits?
It'll work on anything you want to put it on... It's water based so it won't react to much of anything else. CS Coatings states that it's air brush ready out of the jar. It's a durable overcoat that is easier to use than any epoxy and it eliminates waste. If you're like me you mix twice as much epoxy as you need and end up throwing a bunch away.
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Speaking of that powdery substance...as mentioned, that's oxidization, Lead Oxide. That oxide powder is what can poison You. Breathing vapors from a melt is bad as well, but that Lead Oxide Powder is what You need to watch out for. Clean, solid lead is harmless, though.
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I've been casting since I was 15 years old and the only time I have seen the lead oxidize bad enough to require cleaning is when jigs got stored for long times in closed tackle boxes. Putting wet jigs in box trays is probably the culprit there. I have several coffee cans full of sprues in the garage, some several years old and they are still clean. Those cans do not get covered though. I have seen lead come from damp basements covered in the oxide after having been in that environment for years and years.
I do think that geograpphic areas of the country probably pose unique circumstances. In the coastal south where humidity runs high all the time, you're perhaps more likely to see the coating than here in the north where dry air is around about 50 to 60 percent of the time.
As for applying a protective coat to freshly cast lead, I don't. If I want to utilize that silvery shine of a fresh cast jig as an undercoat, I coat the jigs right away. When the sprues have been snapped and the jigs go to storeage, they end up in quart sized freezer zip-locks. The heads may dull some but they have never gotten the white dust on them from storing in this fashion. And when I fish hair jigs now, I hang them on the lip of my 5 gallon plastics bucket and allow them the dry for a few days before I re-box them and I still don't see any oxidation problems.
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This may be getting a bit off topic, but for what it's worth, I do powder coat my lead I use in my line-through swim baits due to this. If you look at many of the swim baits out there, over time the lead insert and the plastic have a reaction that turns the plastic white (and the lead seems to turn white inside the plastic as well- look at any of the big name line through swims available today and they have the same problem.) This is especially not cool if the bait is translucent or clear. Powder coating cancels the problem.
Good thread!
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The white powder that forms in lead is do to the Babbitt concentration. If the lead gets moist the Babbitt in the lead will turn white because its structure is made up of small hard crystals that is dispersed in a softer metal like lead, which makes it a metal matrix composite. Keeping them completely sealed with paint or an oil based chemical will not allow the oxidation of the Babbitt to occur.