Painting Blades?

OK, so I’m definitely sold on using the powder paints for jigs. Does the same process work for blades or is there a problem the the paint adhering to the different types of metals?

Thanks,

Jim

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works great done a few 100 with no probs

It adheres without issues… no problems there. Does it work well in regards to blade action? Not if you ask the guys that fish them a bunch. I know Dean used to sell a blade that was painted with powder paints and he stopped carry them altogether due to some inconsistencies in the finish that affected the action of the baits when fished slowly.

This problem didn’t affect the action of the larger / heavier blades when fished vertically but when the lighter blades were cast and fished slowly that’s when you could really tell the difference. The problem occurs when the powder paint globs up on one side and not on the other. Trouble spots were on the tail and around the “hips” where the lead met the blade blank.

I can still picture Dustin grinding away on blade baits with a dremel tool trying to even out the coating so they’d run to his specs…

Most blades will take it, not all. Some blades have a protective finish on them that will act like a thin sheet of plastic of you put heat to it.. wrinkle up, peel off, etc. It doesnt work with powders.

Tere was a tansparent paint out there that works pretty good if thinned properly, and the blades were cleaned with denatured alcohol. It would be best to scuff the blades forthe longest lasting finish(would eventually come off)

Blades are a pain, I quickly changed over to buying high quality finished blades vs painting them.

Do you mean spinner blades, or blade baits?

Dan

I assumed he meant blade baits. Spinners blades might be a different story as I’ve never tried powered painting those. For what you can buy them for I’m not even sure it would be worth the fuss.

I’ve never painted spinner blades either, but people do so therefore the question.

Dan

After I re-read it now Dan it is a darn GOOD question. I’m not sure of the poster’s intentions after a second read through.

All,

Thanks for the replies! Actaully, I was referring to both (blade baits and spinners). Sorry…I should have been more clear about that. That’s what I get for trying to kill two birds with one stone

Jim

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I can still picture Dustin grinding away on blade baits with a dremel tool trying to even out the coating so they’d run to his specs…

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Ah….back in the day . Gave that up last year now that B-fish has those professional finished blades . The dremel tool was a good fix to a temporary problem that most anglers would not catch on to. Those blade baits are a lot like a crank bait, if they don’t have the right vibration, they will help you go fishless for hours on end

I agree with James, powder paint on blade baits can get lumpy (the paint can sag when it’s curing.) Below is a link to a site that has a number of luremaking tips including info about painting blade baits and spinner blades. They also sell air brushes for powder paint which would probably work well, but that sounds messy and likely to waste quite a bit of paint.

http://www.luremaking.com/catalogue/download_tips.htm

Some brass and copper spinner blades are coated with clear lacquer and wouldn’t take well to the heating required for powder painting. Copper and brass also tend to darken if heated, so if you want to make stripes, etc. on a portion of those type of blades, you’d probably be better off using lacquer or vinyl.

Good luck.

Dan

I use to custom paint spinner blades as part of my side business. It got to the point where it just wasn’t really worth the extra effort, time, or money. I could find almost all of the patterns I wanted for sale. Tommy Harris is by far the best “Walleye” blade painter I’ve ever seen. He is now painting blades for Viper Blades.

I still paint some of my own blades when I can’t find a certain pattern, but that’s not very often. Another awesome option is the die cut holographic stickers from Janns Netcraft. Stick them onto a #3 blade and you have a holographic scale pattern blade. I just wish they came in more sizes.

Hi, Im new to the forum and I have been tieing a few crawler harnesses for my parents baitshop. I noticed that the cost of painted blades is high compared to buying plain bulk blades. So I went ahead and purchased 4,000 blades. I don’t want to get into powder paint. I’d really like to know the best way to get a tough finish on a spinner blade. The biggest blades I’ll be doing is a size 6 and those will be very few. I’ll mostly be doing size 0, 2, 3&1/2, & 4 colorado’s. I don’t want to get super fancy and super artistic. The most I want to do is add a fish scale pattern. Nothing textured or sparkly. Just a plain 2 color design. The paint I’ve been using is the testor pain which says its for metal. These blades are polished so the paint doesn’t seem to take well. Is there a better paint for the job or do I have to hand sand each blade and add a primer coat? The less I have to do the better but if I have to do an extra step to make a better paint job then I’ll do it. Thanx, Swizzle

Welcome to In-Depth Outdoors Swizzle!!!

Thanx for the warm welcome. Swizzle

Well lets see if I can add some pics. Here’s all of the color combo’s I created today. My air brush is busted so these were all done with a regular spray paint can. Swizzle

Here’s the rest. Swizzle

Those look good

Do you think I would be better off packaging blades seperately and selling just the blades? I’m gonna get to work on tying 7 dozen crawler harnesses today. But I was thinking I could sell both, the harnesses and the blades. My other idea was to package a couple different blades and put them in with a crawler harness that has an interchangable clevis. Swizzle

those are some nice looking blades

Thanx. I just painted 16 dozen today and have 3 dozen of the snells tied. I’ll tie a few dozen more tonight and then finish them of sometime tomorrow and start adding the beads and blades and get them packaged up. I spent most of the day working on a good system for painting the blades. Now that I have a system down I think I could easily paint 600 or more in a day. I really need to get a wider table for the paint station though. Swizzle

Hey all. I did some quick and dirty painting and tied a few dozen cards. With the money I get from these I’ll be buying the acid etch primer. Edit by Briank This is the first time I carded them on my own art work. I drew the trout pic and printed out all the cardstock myself. Tell me what you guys think. Swizzle

Looks good. Have you ever tried painting any blade baits, or spoons?

So far just spinner blades for night crawler harnesses. Here\\\’s a few others I painted. Swizzle

pic 2

Last pic. Do you think I should try painting some spoons? Swizzle

I\\\\\\\’ve painted some before, I dont fish spoons though, but with fall coming I\\\\\\\’ll be pouring / painting some more blade baits. Maybe I could send you a few to try painting. Send me a PM if interested.

I sent you a PM. What\’s up with the forward slashes? It happened in my post to and I even went back and edited it and it was still the same. Swizzle

Here’s my latest blade paint job. This is my first attempt at a 4 color design. The yellow doesn’t shine through super bright so I’m wondering if I should use the yellow at all. Swizzle

Wow that is a pretty good price. So do all of these blades and rigs that you are selling have the FET paid on them?