DYI coated cannon balls

[MikeyL]

Anyone that has thought about coating their cannon balls, here is my DYI.

For the past few weeks with my spare time. I have been looking/reading at mixed consensus regarding lead exposure. It made sense to me that it may not be absorbed through your hands at that short moment when putting the cannon ball on but it's more so when you use your hands to eat something after like chips or a sandwich. Might not be the case if you do wash your hands with soap and water right after but I certainly don't do that while fishing.

I had some left over paint that I wanted to use. so the process was Primer the lead > dip it in with paint (I had left over acrylic latex paint). I didn't bother painting it on as it would take too long > then the final coat is a mix of Elvax and Hydrogenated hydrocarbon Resin with glow pigment added in ($10 for an ounce of glow on amazon) .

The end product was very similar to the Westcoast fishing tackle balls in Canadian tire. Also it's now environmentally friendly and not exposing it to the ocean! Fun project and now I can be dragging balls in style!
Shout out to James at Kingswax for letting me test out the resin mixture.

 

[Corey_lax]

Looks good. I used plastidip on any uncoated balls and it's held up well

 

[MikeyL]

Looks good. I used plastidip on any uncoated balls and it's held up well

I thought about plastidip as well but i didn't know how to amalgamate the glow into it when it's in a can! a 4L can of plastidip is pricey!

 

[Corey_lax]

I thought about plastidip as well but i didn't know how to amalgamate the glow into it when it's in a can! a 4L can of plastidip is pricey!

Plastidip has a glow in the dark spray can. Do a coat of white on the balls, then a coat of blue or green glow plastidip. Two spray cans max

 

[the gambler]

Anyone that has thought about coating their cannon balls, here is my DYI.

For the past few weeks with my spare time. I have been looking/reading at mixed consensus regarding lead exposure. It made sense to me that it may not be absorbed through your hands at that short moment when putting the cannon ball on but it's more so when you use your hands to eat something after like chips or a sandwich. Might not be the case if you do wash your hands with soap and water right after but I certainly don't do that while fishing.

I had some left over paint that I wanted to use. so the process was Primer the lead > dip it in with paint (I had left over acrylic latex paint). I didn't bother painting it on as it would take too long > then the final coat is a mix of Elvax and Hydrogenated hydrocarbon Resin with glow pigment added in ($10 for an ounce of glow on amazon) .

The end product was very similar to the Westcoast fishing tackle balls in Canadian tire. Also it's now environmentally friendly and not exposing it to the ocean! Fun project and now I can be dragging balls in style!
Shout out to James at Kingswax for letting me test out the resin mixture.

View attachment 90442View attachment 90441View attachment 90440

Hey there Mike.
This is my account name on here.
James from Kingswax.

Cheers!

 

[ChilliSpoons]

Interesting. That color combo looks cool too.

 

[calmsea]

I think you're being paranoid about potential health or environmental impacts from the lead balls but if you like painted balls then good. You'd likely absorb more lead in your daily food than you'd ever pick up from touching a lead ball 3 times during fishing.

 

[saanauk]

Do you have more details on the final resin coat? Not really familiar with the Elvax and Hydrogenated hydrocarbon mix.

 

[MikeyL]

Do you have more details on the final resin coat? Not really familiar with the Elvax and Hydrogenated hydrocarbon mix.

The final coat creates almost a rubberized/harden coat. it's very similar to WC tackles coated weights sold at Canadian tire. I believe it worked out to be about 2$ in material for the final coat. I'm sure you can use any left over paint you have around. it will give it the base color.

I coated a few 2lb cannon balls with the left over resin without any paint and the finished product was a yellowish glow coating.

 

[MikeyL]

I think you're being paranoid about potential health or environmental impacts from the lead balls but if you like painted balls then good. You'd likely absorb more lead in your daily food than you'd ever pick up from touching a lead ball 3 times during fishing.

I'm sure you're right and I'm paranoid about this lead theory however, it's just a preventative action that i could do for myself and i had fun with this project. I was curious about coating cannon balls from what i read, coated balls doesn't have a correlation to catching more fish.

 

[searun]

Where did you buy the Elvax and Hydrocarbon resin? Is it pricy?

 

[MikeyL]

It wasn’t expensive. Message James at Kingswax. I got my mixture from him and I melt it at home. It was about 5$ per pound of that mixture

 

[fish brain]

Hey there Mike.
This is my account name on here.
James from Kingswax.

Cheers!

I don't see Elvax and Hydrogenated hydrocarbon Resin on your website. Can you tell us what the container size is and cost?

 

[trophy2302]

Looks good. I used plastidip on any uncoated balls and it's held up well

How many coats do you do? and do you use a primer? thx

 

[Corey_lax]

How many coats do you do? and do you use a primer? thx

Probably two or three Coats. I did them years ago so not sure. No primer though.

 

[the gambler]

I don't see Elvax and Hydrogenated hydrocarbon Resin on your website. Can you tell us what the container size is and cost?

Hey there fish brain,
We primarily produce bottle dipping wax (think Makers Mark) but we developed a modified product for dipping cannonballs with glow/colours. Honestly probably not as cost effective as just buying a dipped ball from wherever but looking into custom colours as we make the stuff ourselves.
Feel free to PM me for info......
Cheers!

 

[seahorse]

I loose so many cannon balls that I think it would be a waste of money for me to coat them…but I do like the idea.