Posts: 321
Location: Glen Ellyn Il | I use Propionate to seal the balsa baits I just finished 14 of them. Make your blank make all the cuts including the slot for the wire all along the belie of the bait, than soak for 3 hours in the thin propionate solution take out and sand the raised wood grain, after soaking I install the wire and epoxy with 5 minute epoxy, after the epoxy is set usually I wait overnight, than I dip the baits another 6 times. Note propionate is made with acetone and it will attack the epoxy if exposed for any length of time, but you can dip and dry easily. Propionate will dry up in about 15 minutes, than dip again. If you go to www.tacklemaking.com there is all the info on propionate. You can also use Devcon 2Ton 30 minute epoxy to seal the balsa, make sure is very thin to penetrate the wood, usually for 10ml of resin and 10ml of hardener. I add 6 drops of denatured alcohol, just make sure is thin, the denatured alcohol does nut effect the epoxy mix it thins it and evaporates fairly fast works great
Hope this helps
Gino |