Underspin Insert Direction

[duffy]

Just picked up a 3514 herring head underspin mold. For those of you that have the herring mold and fished them do you think that it makes any difference which direction the opening is on the swivel wire, forward or back? I've seen them done both ways but in my pea brain I would think that if the opening for the swivel was forward then the swivel has a smooth round bend in the back to work in. But then does the opening in the front cause more fouling? Or does it just make no difference and I'm thinking too much again?

 

[QPassage]

Just picked up a 3514 herring head underspin mold. For those of you that have the herring mold and fished them do you think that it makes any difference which direction the opening is on the swivel wire, forward or back? I've seen them done both ways but in my pea brain I would think that if the opening for the swivel was forward then the swivel has a smooth round bend in the back to work in. But then does the opening in the front cause more fouling? Or does it just make no difference and I'm thinking too much again?

After pouring about a 1000 of them I have found they pour much better with the opening to the front.  I have also found the they seem to stay tighter if the leads is just a little warmer than what I normally pour at.  Normally I pour on 7 to 8 on my Lee pot these I been doing at 8-9.  Out of about a 1000 i have had issues with about 30 or so of the wires working loose and all of those were poured with the opening towards the back.

 

[Kdog]

I just started using the mold myself and tried both ways, I think opening to the front is better from a function standpoint and IMO casts better. I coated my mold with drop out from the start and havent had the first issue. An old habit I picked yp when using inserts is to preclean them by soaking in alcohol or acetone before casting. Soal them a while, shake or stir to be sure residual wax, lube, oil etc gets removed. Place on a paper towel to dry. Note, inserts need to be used within a day or so of cleaning or the will start to rust. I've never had a rusting issue on uncleaned ones so to me it is obvious there is some coating on them.

 

[duffy]

Thanks for the cleaning idea Kdog, really didn't think of that. Rust really isn't a problem around here as its pretty dry even in the winter. One thing that I did find out is that this mold is the most aggravating POS that I've had to deal with.  If Qpassage has cast 1000 jigs with one he must have had it for years because it has taken me several hrs to get a couple of full molds full out of it. Guess I'm just use to plain molds or bullet moulds where you can crank out a 1000 in a couple of hrs. Anyway I guess it's a learning curve.

 

[QPassage]

Thanks for the cleaning idea Kdog, really didn't think of that. Rust really isn't a problem around here as its pretty dry even in the winter. One thing that I did find out is that this mold is the most aggravating POS that I've had to deal with.  If Qpassage has cast 1000 jigs with one he must have had it for years because it has taken me several hrs to get a couple of full molds full out of it. Guess I'm just use to plain molds or bullet moulds where you can crank out a 1000 in a couple of hrs. Anyway I guess it's a learning curve.

I have found like i mentioned that temp is everything in getting a good pour.  I also didn't mention that I ladle pour my Herrings and Bat Jigs.  I have the same issues with the Bat mold I have.  I have more request for that 1/32 oz Bat Jig and I flat out refuse to pour it.  About 3 out of every 10 pours good on the Bat 1/32.  The Herring though it pours nicely.  Occasionally I'll get a loose wire or not a full collar.  But I cut the collars off most of mine anyways and the ones the wires are loose on I flip it out and move on to the next pour.  
I haven't had a chance to fish the Herring for crappie yet, but the Bat Jig is a crappie fishing machine, esp the 1/16 oz.  I probably fish the Bat differently than most, we flip them with a BG minnow and crappie candy.

 

[Kdog]

My bat jig, after coating with drop out worked very well and the 1/32 is the jig I use the most and rarely have a casting issue. (Usually my casting issues are related to dirty/contaminated metal and simple so;ution is to completely drain my furnace, thoroughly clean ie wire brush the the pot and plunger then refill with clean premelted metal and lots of flux. After a couple fluxings, casting problems go away for me.)

When I first starting using the bay jig mold, I dusted the cavities with talcum powder and blew off the excess. Could usually cast 50 - 70 jigs before I needed a new dusting