Building the double J..

[Rockfish9]

a few items I forgot to mention, an acid brush, I prefer a 3/8" one for this, prpare the acid brush by adding a dab of super glue all the way around the base, this will keep all the hair intact... you also might want to have some pipe cleaners, I've used wooden q tips as well..

retrive your plus from the foil, they should be heated up pretty well by now, prepare to make a mess... wearing rubber gloves is the obvious move here, I run a length of wire down the plu and make a loose loop in the end, so the plug can slide up and down the wire but not fall off, using the pipe cleaner start pouting epoxy into the plug, get it good and juicy, I keep pouring it in until it runs out the belly hole, I then block it with my thumb and keep putting mor in untilit runs out the other end...once I have acomplshed this, I apply epoxy to the outside, by now the plug may have started to cool on th outside, thats where the heat gun comes in, if I feel the epoxy is not soaking in or is getting thick, I hit it with the heat, it becomes fluid again, I do not wipe off the excess as some guys do, I just keep hitting the plug with heat, all the excess drips off...once the majority of the epoxy has run off and begun the thicken I install a piece of wax paper ( hhere I have a page to a mini calender, it's waxy surface is pefect, playing cards also work well) at this point, I stick wire in the belly hole and reposistion the plun on it's hanging wire, it make removal a cinch... if done correctly, you m now have a plug that is pretty much bullet proof...

Priming... normaly, I use Zinsser oil based cover stain over my BLO ( oil over oil) and apply it with an automotive type spray gun ( I've got a 850 cfm blower in my paint hood that exausts outside)but in cases like this where the plug is sealed with something other than BLO, I'll use the Zinsser shelac based primer , the plug will have a glass like finish, IMHO, not good for paint adhesion, so I scuff the plug body up with #220 paper... remove your wire and give the plug one final inspection, be sure the through hole is clear, it is alot eaiser now to do a repair then it is after you have the plug painted and then discover the through hole is blocked!


for priming and solid colors I use this stand to put the plugs on, it allows me to prime/paint a bunch of plugs with minimal handeling... it's just a board with a bunch of finish nails...

[Rockfish9]

I generaly give each step at least 24 hours cure time, as long as I do not breakl this rule, I havenever had an issue... the last time I did, I was rewared with a bunch of snake skins ( peeled e-tex)..

For paint, I usemostly Delta Ceramacoat, a 50/50 mixtue works well for me, I put a 1" piece of tape onthe bottom of the jars and fill with water to the line, top off with paint and shake like hell...

for air brushes, I have 4, a Badger 175 that is a great gun and will spray gravel as long as you dont bend the tip (which I do often) I use it exclusivly for spraying all my pearlized paints... I have a badger 150 that I call the spitter... I rarely use it.. I have a pair of Iwta, top feed.. I cant say enough about them.. bullet proof IMHO... I spray most paint at 35psi from a 17 gallon compressor ( over kill but it never runs once the tank is full) I have water twps in line and coelesing disposable filters on each line.. again over kill, but I never have issues either...

so after an over night cure, I now apply a coat of white, I like Ivory or antique white... this gives the following coats a base and and still gives me one more chance to see any imperfections I dont like...

after the white has dries, I give the belly two coats of pearlized paint ( Delta gleams) when that has dried, I then layer my colors...

after an overnight cure, I like to clear coat, I've tried many options, some were good, some melted away good paint jobs, back in the day before I epoxied ( thanks to the internet) I used lacquer as a clear... last year I went back to my roots, the lacquer gives a nice protectin to the plug should I drop it prior to epoxing, at first I was afraid of it reacting with the paint but I've never had a problem, it make s the paint very hard, almost chip proof....

[Rockfish9]

Rigging: I go back and forth on when to rig, I done it both ways, prior to epoxy and after epoxy, both has their pros ond cons... for this build, we will rig prior to epoxy coating...

select a length of anealed wire, install it into the body cavity( front half) with the preformed loop nestled in at the joint, so the loop is horizontal.... where it come out the nose, measure 3/8" and mark with a sharpie, this will be the center of your line pull...

Withdraw the wire, install a nose gromet onto the wire.. do it now or you wont be able to use one.... now use a pair of needle nos pliars and bend the wire back double, making the mark your center, I find the if I preform a small loop at the center with a #0 phillips prior to crimping the wire, the wire will form the line pull more eaisiluy due to the memory in the wire... now trim back the excess wire to about 1" or so, the same as the preformed loop, crimp the end of the wire enogh to fit sthrough your swivel, I fond that the double wire will go through the #1 swivel before it will go through the slot in the #1 pikie lip, so I use a small file to widen the slot a tiny bit so I dont have to crimp the wire anymore than I have to....reinsert the wire in the plug body ( did you rember to put the nose gromet on???) be sure to capture the swivel ( give it a good tug) slide the lip over the double wire...

On my bench, I have a small aluminum jig I made for opening the wires, it has a series of holes several different sizes, the smalles hole will be the farthest awaf from the edge, the largest will be the closest, the jig is cut on an angle, so most plug lips will fit under it with out distorting them.... I insert my awl into the split in the wire in the first hole and hit it with a hammer to spread it....

continued in the next frame..

[Rockfish9]

as the awl spreads the wire to each size hole, move it to the next... you are probably wondering why not just have one hole.... well, you need a progrssion of holes , if the hole is too big, you end up driving the wire into it with out spreading it, if the hole is too small, the awl cant sperad the wire... hence the progression of holes...

when you finish, sometimes the wire or lip will have marks or burrs, simply polish it with a piece of # 600 sand paper.. do it now!! or you will forget...

[Rockfish9]

now get your tail piece., select a length of wire, the factory loop is too large, you must form another, start by bending approx 2" of wire arond a small pair of needle nose pliars, pusing the round jaws of the pliears as tight as possible inside the loop bend each "leg" out at about a 45degerre angle, then close the loop, like all thing sin plug making, practice makes perfect... this loop should be considerably smaller than the factory one.... if it's not..DO IT AGAIN!

slide a nose gromet onto the wire, hook the loop onto the front half of the plug and inser the wire into the tail section. be certain to seat thenosr gromet... instal a .375 tail gromet onto the wire and bend it up ona 45 degree angle, using your needle nose pliars, make a neat round lop around the pliars... some guys continue the wrap in their hands, I have small hands and arthrits so I use the vise, I have substituted the original jaws in my vuise with a pair of soft jaws, made from 1" aluminum angle ( it can be bought at Lowes) counter sink the screws and you have a set of jaws that wont mar your wire....clamp the loop in the vise, as you make the first wrap pull the plug the oposite way ( slightly) to bind the wire tight to the body, as you continue around pus the plug in the oposite direction, now continue around theplug with each sucsessive wrap on top of the other, forming a neat loop that doesnt look like it was spun in a boat propeller!

Continued in the next frame...

[Rockfish9]

now using a dab of 5 minute epoxy secure your belly gromets, this could have ( should have) been dont prior to wireing, but I am trying to keep things in related fields for the purpose of simplicity...

the eyes... one of the few problems I ever had with envirotex was on ocassion I had foaming of the eyes, it was a randome thing, after much head scratching a nd a little reading, i figured out the problem, seems the tiny divit made by the forshner bit trapped an air pocket in the plug, my spinner is heated with apair of 40 watt light bulbs, as the trapped air expanded, it caused micrscopic bubbles, much like an areator to from, I could hit them with the torch and they would disappear, but, seeing as both my spinners have timers, I like the Ron Propeal approach... set it and for get it!... so, now using a wooden q tip that I have sharpend the wooden endon, I apply a thin coating of 5 minute epoxy to the eye hole, smoothing it along the whole eye socket, one it becomes tacky, I apply the eye... no more eye rabies!

now we need to revisit the prior post on mixing epoxy... I have found, 6 teaspoons ( 3 each of hardener and resin) is enough to apply a good flood coat to 6 meduim to large plugs...

once each plug is coated, I like to look at each plug as it spins under different light and agles, checking for "holidays" or bare spots, last year, I started "flaming" each plug using a small propane torch, the carbon dioxide ( just like when you exhale on them) breaks the tiny gas bubbles, thsi is not entirely nessary, most of the bubbles will disapear on their own, but by flaming the plug ( 4-5" away or you WILL catch them on fire) it gives the finish a glass like look, also if you should discover a bad spot when the epoxy first starts to thicken, a light application of heat will alow you to repair the spot... this can be done for about the first hour.. it depends on the temp in the room ( or spinner)

[Rockfish9]

allow the plugs to cure for 24 hours before you mess with them, yes they will be dry, but full cure on etex is 72 hours...

to make the fins and tail..

I start with about a 2" section of .030 stainless wire , I wrap it around a 00 phillps and wind it up...

I cut ach "fin:" to about 3/4" and the tail about 1"...

start by ch#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g a fin (or tail) "bone" in the vise, wrap the shank with thread secure with a half hitch and coat with sally hansens hard as nails...