How are those ice jigs made?

[DDSBYDAY]

    Just a pictorial on how some of the ice jigs are made.  I don't know if you will get enough detail with the smaller pics but we will try.   These are all made with a soldering iron and a little practice.  These are commercially made molds but you can make your own out of silicone putty.  You can do it without a mold but the failure rate is high.  I just thought I would toss this out there for any do-it your selfers out there.  Next step lacquer thinner to remove the soldering gunk then  paint.

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[DDSBYDAY]

     Next pic has the next four steps starting from left to right.   

      1.  After laquer thinner
      2.  Base coat of vinyl paint
      3.  Prepped for 3d eye
      4.  Eye attached and seal coat applied and ready to fish. --2day final curing time++


       

      5.  2010 panfish attached to jig.   (hopefully coming soon).   

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[doomanmxz99]

How much time does it take to make them???? Just curious. I really like your jigs and would leave to you pros on making them just looks like it can be time consuming.

[DDSBYDAY]

    It does take a lot of time.  I would call it easy time though.  I can watch a movie while making them without feeling like I just wasted two hours.  I do it for the kick out of seeing pics or hearing reports about fish caught on something I made.  I call it my 2nd job but it has never seemed like work.  It's all fun.

[kcarder]

Nice looking jigs.  Do you use the luminescent paint on them?   

[DDSBYDAY]

     Many of them are glow jigs.  On the ants I like to place 2 dots of orange glow on each segment.   They are great for crappies.

[Lure Lightning]

Very nice looking jigs thanks for sharing it is nice to see the craft in step by step pics Thanks

[Brian]

DDSBYDAY :bow:What do you think it would cost to get started making just some basic panfishing lures.  I have been thinking about trying it. Also what would you suggest for tools/equipment neccessary for getting started.  Thanks

Brian

[GRIZ]

How many jigs would 300 lbs of lead make? Would it fill up my ice box? Oh and could you carry it to my shack for me?

All kidding aside this is interesting, would like to know more about making molds out of silicone putty.

The guys at work laughed when I loaded a bunch of lead in the truck. Asked me what I was going to do with it and told them make fishing sinkers.

[DDSBYDAY]

DDSBYDAY :bow:What do you think it would cost to get started making just some basic panfishing lures.  I have been thinking about trying it. Also what would you suggest for tools/equipment neccessary for getting started.  Thanks

Brian

   To start making a few ice jjgs would be pretty inexpensive.  The only things you have to have are some hooks,  some blades, a soldering iron, solder and paint.  Oh yeh, we need some soldering flux and laquer thinner  to clean the newly soldered blade before we paint it.

      The trick is to hold the hook in the right place on the blade as we solder it.  I have found the silicone molds are the way to go.  I will show how simple ones can be made soon.   Total cost to get started about 100 $. 
             Hooks and blades can be purchased on ebay.  The rest can be purchased at Fleet farm.

[DDSBYDAY]

How many jigs would 300 lbs of lead make? Would it fill up my ice box? Oh and could you carry it to my shack for me?

All kidding aside this is interesting, would like to know more about making molds out of silicone putty.

The guys at work laughed when I loaded a bunch of lead in the truck. Asked me what I was going to do with it and told them make fishing sinkers.

 

   Hang on to the lead. You can sell that for a minimum of 1$/lb if you melt it down to ingot form. It is appreciating faster  than gold.  Just make sure the kids next door don't break in to your house and try to eat it.  

[kcarder]

Is there any way that you would mind showing the jigs in a step by step (each phase of construction) photo set?  I would like to understand how they go from just being hooks, solder, etc to being a jig.  Hopefully that isn't too much to ask?

[DDSBYDAY]

   I will put it together this weekend. 

[kcarder]

Thanks a lot.  That would be really great!

[DDSBYDAY]

Is there any way that you would mind showing the jigs in a step by step (each phase of construction) photo set?  I would like to understand how they go from just being hooks, solder, etc to being a jig.  Hopefully that isn't too much to ask?

First we will start with a poured jig.  These are the easiest to make.  There are many commercial molds on the market.  They are used for most of the open water jigs you will see in the store.  They can be purchased and full price will run about 40$.  There is no reason to pay full price though.  I will go into this later.  You will not find commercial ice jig molds anywhere unless very lucky.  You would have to be willing to spend some $ for custom grinding of a blank mold.  I included a couple of pics of casting plain tube jigs to show the procedure. 

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[DDSBYDAY]

   Now on to the soldered ice jigs. 

       Just did this tonight.  For a demo.

             You need an ice blade and a hook.  In this example I wanted to use up some hooks that I have not been able to use for anything yet.  I also had some blades that did not fit any molds I had because of a slight bend at the wide end of the blade.  So we are going to make one.  I want to use these small size 12 hooks with the large eyes.  I like small hooks but I am starting to have trouble threading the hook eye without cheaters on. 

   1.  I used two part silicone putty.  2 equal amounts hand mixed together until it becomes a uniform color.

   2.  Use a flat surface and press the blade into the putty then press the hook where you want it.   (you need to work fast.  The silicone has a short working time.

   3. Do not trim the silicone mold.  I did here to be able to zoom the pics.  The excess dissapates the heat so the lure cools quicker. 

   4. Lay a blade in with the hook on top.  Lay your soldering iron on the hook blade and add the solder.  If your mold is flat the solder will spread out bonding the hook to the blade.

   5.  Remove when solder is hard.  ( a few seconds)

           These pics were zoomed.  This is a new ice blade that as far as I know has not been put with this particular hook.  It is a size 12 hook with a large eye.  Should be good for sunnies,perch and crappies.  It is a light wire hook so a large pike would likely bend the hook.  You can see a dirty surface texture on the blade.  It looks rough.  it is not.  I will put this in Laquer thinner for a few seconds and they will be smooth.  The flux in the solder I use and on my soldering iron tip produces the gunk on the lure.

           The soldering does take a little practice.  I use a soldering iron I bought on sale for 6$ on sale at Harbor Freight tools.  I have gone through a few new tips but they are cheap and replaceable.

           Now that they are done I can't wait to paint them.  Only problem is now they need a name.     Any Ideas?   

             The pics-  The first one shows the blade bend.  I mounted it on a small dot of clay to show the profile.  I included the cyclops blade and dime for perspective of size.

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[DDSBYDAY]

       Bronze hooks do not solder well.   Use gold and Nickle. 



      These kind of look like a duck in profile.  Any name ideas?

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[slystuff]

If you lay them flat on thier backs then they actually would look like "Dolphins".thus is my name idea.
 hey scott can you send me an e catolouge or something with prices listed I like what I've seen of your stuff and would like to help test or buy some, and if you need workers to pour lead and make jgs or something like that my boys and I would enjoy doing this out in the shop and a chance to make a buck or 20 would be nice too.

[DDSBYDAY]

   I will keep you in mind.  Right now I am just trying to cover expenses.  Thanks for offering.

[Brian]

DDSBYDAY
Thanks for the info on the jigs.  Keep up the great posts. 

[kcarder]

Thanks for taking the time to document that.  Great info!  Keep up the good work.

[DDSBYDAY]

    Will these work?   Don't know but I think they should work for Pannies.  I only made a couple as a demo.  This is the end result.  The 2 winners of the Jan 1st MNO  new member lure give away will have one added to their prize.  I like them.  They have a gold hook and tipped with a waxie or some maggets should do the trick.  We will see.  I am going to try the other two out this weekend.   

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