Just got my first mold

Ok, so I just got my first mold and am getting ready to order some hooks and a melting pot. Any advice on stuff I need to look out for?

I am going to want sickle hooks, mostly prefer #6's or #4's but don't want to buy a bunch and them end up not fitting - how do I find out what hooks will/won't work with my mold? Also, where are the best places to buy from? Or will I just need to search ebay?

I have a Do It model JD-8-3264. Once I get everything figured out I will probably just go ahead and order a few thousand hooks so hopefully I won't have to buy more for a long time.



Thanks in advance,
Cody

sickles fit in do-it molds. my do-it molds tell me on mold what to use. I can fudge up size and down size a little.

The shad dart uses #8 in the 1/64, and #8 or #6 in the 1/32. You can usually go up in size if you modify the mold by drilling out the place where the hook eye sits and open up the area the hook goes through the bottom of the mold. But this will make it so only that size hook will work without a bunch of lead going down the hook shank. If you are just starting, I would really suggest sticking with what hook size the mold recommends. You MAY be able to put a #4 in the 1/32 and a #6 in the 1/64, but definitely not in the #4 in 1/64 without modifying the mold. I don't own that mold anymore otherwise I would test it for you. Janns netcraft is real good about listing what size hooks fit in each cavity. Do-It JD-8-3264 Shad Dart Jig Mold

You can use eagle claw 500BP (sickle hooks) in any mold that calls for 570 or 575 hooks. However I don't think they make it in size 8, at least I havent seen any.

You can buy hooks from almost any place that sells lure making supplies. Barlows, janns netcraft, lure parts online, capt hooks discount warehouse, or just off of ebay. Ebay is easier if you are just buying 100 at a time for personal use. I buy all of mine by 1000 or 10,000 though, if you watch ebay for a while and set up alerts for key words you will be able to catch auctions for hooks real cheap at times. I've bought 1000ct boxes for $10-15 before, of regular 570s.

Everything Kevin said but I’ll add one thing, I shifted to eagle claw lil nasty sickles as soon as they came out, was so much better Han the matzuo. Now I have shifted to the new sickle mustard came out with. Have found them to be even sharper and a tiny bit bigger barb and that’s important here since we tip with minnows most of the time and they would slide right off the matzuo.Think you can get them from JannsNetcraft and Barlow’s. Since I don’t pour that small I’m not that sure on availability on those.