What product to clear coat lures?

[Tangaroo]

Hey guys I’m new to the forum. Hope I’m doing this right....

i just recently started painting my own my own lures and was wondering what the beat product you guys use to clear coat your lures. I have tried the 2 ton epoxy, “diamond” clear coat, and also this spray enamel. All 3 seem to have there pros and con.

The spray enamel seems to be the beat bet so far but it seems to take a month to harden fully.
The 2 ton I can never seem to get it to go on smooth and look good. I even tried to thin it out.
The diamond stuff seem not to work well with the “wicked” white paint.

Any my suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated

thank you,
-Joel

[Angler103]

I’ve used 2 ton. I got the best results when I let them dry for about 3 hours on a turner. I don’t care for it.

KBS dip is okay but it can be temperamental when it comes to storing and the finish is average.

In my opinion UV Resin has been the way to go. Bait is hard with a good finish in 45 min.

[Sunkist]

3 part automotive lacquer

[Whitaker201]

I use the KBS diamond coat. I let my lures dry for 2 days before clear coating just to be safe.

[Tangaroo]

I’m going to have to try that next. Thanks for the info!

[Tangaroo]

Thanks for the advice. I purchase the kbs aerosol. The dip would probably have been a better idea.
Ill have to look into the UV resin.

[Smalljaw67]

What type of UV Resin? All the UV resins I ever saw are expensive to the point it would cost about $6 to do a 1.5 square bill. Is there some that you can buy by the quart or something? Forgive me on this as I'm interested in it as well because I looked into that a couple years ago and it just wasn't even close to cost effective.

[sayner]

Bob Smith 30 minute epoxy is my go to. It brushes on way smoother than Devcon, is less brittle and doesn't yellow near as bad. I've also never felt the need for a turner. I was set to give Aluma UV a go but they apparently are having supply issues, been out of stock for a while.

Smalljaw67, Aluma UV is what most guys seem to like, it was available in quarts and gallons but as I said above, they are having supply issues.

[sayner]

3 part automotive lacquer

Good finish, appearance wise, but having to use a respirator and explosion proof booth puts me off on trying.

[Angler103]

What type of UV Resin? All the UV resins I ever saw are expensive to the point it would cost about $6 to do a 1.5 square bill. Is there some that you can buy by the quart or something? Forgive me on this as I'm interested in it as well because I looked into that a couple years ago and it just wasn't even close to cost effective.

I use the Miraclekoo UV Resin purchased from Amazon. It is chinese production because Aluma is having production issues. 8 oz is $23. I purchased 16 oz so i would have enough to fill an empty salsa jar so i could dip. This should be enough to dip 100's of baits. I have done about 70 with it and still going. I mostly do bass baits, if you were doing larger baits obviously it wouldnt last as long. You could paint it on and make it last even longer, it is somewhat self leveling. I purchased two nail salon uv light dryers for $16. I made stand so they sit upright belly to belly creating a chamber. I can dry 4-6 baits at a time and they are rock solid ready to fish in 40 minutes. Anything longer than a 130mm you would have to get creative with your chamber.

Ive used all of the finishing described above and the uv is the way to go in my opinion. It also depends how many baits you are doing. It might not be worth the price but i would for sure go this way over KBS. If your just doing a dozen baits a year then brush epoxy would be fine but i was never completely happy with the finish