[quote]The heat bit was something I had kinda kept to myself and only shared with a few of the guys in my club but it looks like the cat's way out of the bag and the bags so tore up it might as well be tossed.
So here it is. Put the turned, milled wood into the oven at 225 degrees for 15 minutes to 1/2 hour depending on the thickness of the plug. You want the wood hot, but not so hot that you can't touch it.
Mix up a batch of epoxy, I've always used Envirotex only because it's convenient for me to find but Systems 3 is thinner and would likely work even better.
Using a cheap throw away plastic eyedropper, squirt epoxy down the through hole until it comes out the far end.
Epoxy the belly holes and eye holes using a Qtip.
Squeeze some epoxy into the lip slot and use a piece of sheet metal to push it all the way in.
Give the entire plug a heavy coat, a 1" foam brush works well
If it absorbs to the point that it looks dull not shiny put some more on. Let it soak in until it starts to get tacky (5+ minutes or so) By this time the wood's not going to absorb any more.
Wipe the plug down well with a paper towel removing all the excess epoxy.
With a tight fitting metal rod clear all excess epoxy in the through hole. I've found that a metal shish kabob skewer works well for this.
Make sure there's no excess in the belly holes and especially in the lip slot and eye holes.
Let it cure overnight.
A final sanding with 400 grit and you've got a hard as rock totally waterproof, pretty much bullet proof and bluefish proof plug body.
I was never planning on sharing this - You all owe me a plug now
