Vinall's Lure Making (Article): DIY Rotating Drying Rack For Painting Crankbaits & Home Made Fishing Lures With A Brush Or Airbrush. Home Made In Less Than 3 Hours For Around $100!

This 25 page article (including multiple diagrams and photographs) will take you step-by-step through making a complete system for holding fishing lures during painting and drying.

The painting process is the final step in wooden lure making and is often the most challenging part. That final step in the process means all the difference between a professional looking lure and one that looks like a reject from a kindergarten art class!

Personally, I find painting fishing lures both the most satisfying and creative lure making task, as well as the most exasperating, frustrating and infuriating aspect.

So what if you could take away one of the most annoying impediments? What if you could solve a whole bunch of lure making problems simply, cheaply and quickly before they even occurred? And what if all this made it 1000 times easier to make lures that look 100% professional?

That's what this article is all about!

If you've ever held a wooden bait in one hand with a pair of pliers and used your other hand to control an airbrush or spray can, you'll know what I'm talking about. First you spray the back of the lure, then you want to change colors, use a stencil or clear a blocked airbrush nozzle.

Suddenly you're trying to transfer your freshly painted lure somewhere to free your hands and .....ooops. You touch the wet paint, or loosen your grip on the pliers and your hard work hits the floor.

Locking pliers are a little better, but they don't give you the flexibility to work quickly and effectively. Plus, having 20 or more pairs of locking pliers on hand is expensive, and you still have to carefully remove your lure from the pliers, which is when disaster usually strikes, to put it in a rotating drying rack.

But what if you could clamp into a specially designed vice that will hold it securely and not take it out of that vice for the whole painting process - even if you want to use a rotational drying rack? What if that vice made it incredibly quick and easy to position the lure for the next painting operation? And what if they were so cheap and easy to make that you could have a bucket full of them ready to go the next time you pick up your airbrush?

The great news is - I used my many years experience at making wooden lures to design a system that does just that! And then I built it in just a few hours using parts I got at the local hardware store for just over $100!

Not only that, but my rotational drying rack takes the lures through a helical movement that ensures that dipped finished or heavy, slow drying epoxies distribute evenly across the entire lure surface without runs, sags or drips.

Since developing this jig it literally takes just a few seconds per lure to apply those dipped coatings, like sealers, primers, base coats and even some clear finishes, which saves me an enormous amount of painting time. Meanwhile, it has never been easier to hold a lure hands-free so that I can have a stencil in one hand and an airbrush in the other!

In this article I'll show you step by step how you can copy my holding jigs, lure vices and rotational drying rack, with photographs of all the key steps. I even give you materials lists and online sources for some of the key parts (although you should be able to get them locally).

Whether you're an experienced lure maker or are just getting started, a secure way to hold lures during painting and drying is essential equipment. I hope this solves a problem for you and allows you to truly enjoy your lure painting.