Thread: Getting Started

I have molds from Do-it and Jacobs. The mold I have from Jacobs (2" paddle tail) pours flawlessly every time. I never have any dents or incomplete pours with it. I have 2 molds from Do-It (3" K-grub and 3" craw) The 3" craw mold is awesome but the 3" K-grub is annoying. The grub mold will often not fill one of the grub cavities completely and the baits frequently dent. After talking to a number of people, it seems its a design flaw in the mold. The gates to the bait aren't large enough, causing that area to freeze first and causing the baits to dent. Simple fix with a Dremel but still annoying.

I have a few molds from Basstackle.com (2" stinger grub, 3" jerk bait, and 4" stick bait) and they are really nice molds and very affordable, stinger grub mold was $49 but they have one for $39 too. I usually have the mold I order in 3 days after ordering. They sell a lot of different crappie/panfish molds.

Just keep in mind, making soft plastics is not necessarily a cheap hobby. You got the molds but you also need an injector, plastisol, colorant, glitter. I got my 4oz. injector from Ebay for $40 and I think its pretty good. It doesn't have the locking tip but if you pay attention its not an issue. Plastic, colorant, and glitter can all be bought from various websites such as M-F Manufacturing, MF, Hand poured soft plastic supplies for fishing worms , AMERICA'S LARGEST SELECTION OF LURE BUILDING SUPPLIES! , and Lure Making Supplies among others.

Also, don't use your microwave that you cook food with. I got a cheap microwave from a used appliance store for $10

Thanks for replying BuckeyeFishing...Yes Sir, I understand the Cost of hobbies. I also dabble in tying jigs. It's costly too. Though supplies seem to last a bit longer than one might expect. The microwave I have is a second one from when my wife and I got together as we each already had one, as well as toaster ovens.
Thank you for the heads up on Basstackle.com having crappie molds or at least some that can be used for such. As far as everything else I plan on getting what I can as I can, like get a mold or two, then injector, then maybe 1/2 a gallon to 1 gallon of plastisol with a couple colors and maybe two glitters to start and add to as I can. Same as I do with tying materials. I must admit it can get very expensive very fast. Thank you for the info. Eric.

Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Thanks for replying BuckeyeFishing...Yes Sir, I understand the Cost of hobbies. I also dabble in tying jigs. It's costly too. Though supplies seem to last a bit longer than one might expect. The microwave I have is a second one from when my wife and I got together as we each already had one, as well as toaster ovens.
Thank you for the heads up on Basstackle.com having crappie molds or at least some that can be used for such. As far as everything else I plan on getting what I can as I can, like get a mold or two, then injector, then maybe 1/2 a gallon to 1 gallon of plastisol with a couple colors and maybe two glitters to start and add to as I can. Same as I do with tying materials. I must admit it can get very expensive very fast. Thank you for the info. Eric.

One mistake I made was I bought too little plastisol on my first purchase. I only bought a quart and it was $20 when I could have bought a gallon for $30. Pouring plastic baits is addictive, like making any lure, and I blew through a quart in no time. A gallon is the way to go and I just mix it up once a week to keep it from settling out too bad.

The colorant you buy will last a pretty long time. 2oz. of MF colorant will color a whole gallon of plastisol. If you make small 4oz and 8oz batches, you will only need a couple drops of colorant per batch. Also, Colorant likes to settle, i add 2 small stainless steel nuts to my bottle to help mix them up easier.

Same with 2 oz. glitter jars, most of the time you will use an 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp per batch, if you are making smaller batches.

Yes Sir the biggest expense is Getting what you need to get started, i.e. mold/s gal. of plastisol, and other odds and ends...By the way, where did you find a gallon of plastisol for $30.00, and how long ago?

Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Yes Sir the biggest expense is Getting what you need to get started, i.e. mold/s gal. of plastisol, and other odds and ends...By the way, where did you find a gallon of plastisol for $30.00, and how long ago?

I bought a gallon from Bait Plastics, think their price is $25 + shipping. Its a pretty good plastic but has a pretty strong smell to it when melting. Because of the smell of Bait Plastics brand, I just recently bought a gallon from Dead on Plastix for $30 + shipping to give them a try. Dead on Plastix is actually cheaper when factoring in shipping, think it was $42 total and had it in 3 days. There are a lot of good reviews about Dead on Plastix but I haven't got to use it yet personally, just finished my other gallon Thursday night. I got their medium formula, they call it swim bait/jerk bait formula.

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Thanks, I will give them a shout...

Originally Posted by BuckeyeFishing

I bought a gallon from Bait Plastics, think their price is $25 + shipping. Its a pretty good plastic but has a pretty strong smell to it when melting. Because of the smell of Bait Plastics brand, I just recently bought a gallon from Dead on Plastix for $30 + shipping to give them a try. Dead on Plastix is actually cheaper when factoring in shipping, think it was $42 total and had it in 3 days. There are a lot of good reviews about Dead on Plastix but I haven't got to use it yet personally, just finished my other gallon Thursday night. I got their medium formula, they call it swim bait/jerk bait formula.

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Who is the manufacturer of the plastic .

Dead On Plastic's sells their own brand of plastisol from what I'm seeing on their site this morning