Shown below is something that might interest someone? These imitation baites were stored on a shelf ina fairly dark environment for a few years. The styrofoam seems to be degraded and made a perfect bed for the two lures.
The lures seem to not be degraded. I,m sure someone can explain what is going on here. Thanks for your reply.🧐
This is called "worm burn", and is very common to tackle boxes with plastic lined drawers and rubber lures. Umco tackle boxes are famous for worm burn. It's obviously some kind of chemical reaction, but that's as far as my high school education gets me.
-Ted
Plano started making the first molded plastic tackle box in 1952. Before that, tackle boxes were painted metal and always rusted, especially around salt water. Your plugs and everything else in the box would get rust stains all over them. Crème plastic worms were introduced at about the same time. It took a few years before people realized that their new plastic tackle box was not compatible with their new plastic worms. The plasticizers that keeps the worm soft and flexible leach out and start dissolving the tackle box tray. It wasn't until 1974 that Plano came out with a "worm-proof" tackle box and they have been advertising their stuff as worm-proof ever since. Better living through chemistry.
-steve
i recently read somewhere that Zman products are known to be incompatible with other plastics, causing a melty goo when stored together...
Quote from: jon_elc on December 10, 2019, 07:39:21 PM
i recently read somewhere that Zman products are known to be incompatible with other plastics, causing a melty goo when stored together...
Many different plastic products react badly when stored together. Not just the worms, but crankbaits and plugs will melt together also. One of my favorite debacles that my Uncle Lloyd produced...and he's produced a lot...was some worms he painted white dots down the sides. He was standing out in the driveway waiting on me to show, with his chest all swelled with pride. I jump out of the truck and he says "Hey, come and see this." He opens a compartment on the boat and pulls out this bag of worms to show me, but the paint had reacted with the plastic and it was all a puddle of slime! He says "That plaster right there wasn't all it was cracked up to be!" I nearly bust my gut laughin'! :D
Quote from: mo65 on December 10, 2019, 07:53:05 PM
Quote from: jon_elc on December 10, 2019, 07:39:21 PM
i recently read somewhere that Zman products are known to be incompatible with other plastics, causing a melty goo when stored together...
Many different plastic products react badly when stored together. Not just the worms, but crankbaits and plugs will melt together also. One of my favorite debacles that my Uncle Lloyd produced...and he's produced a lot...was some worms he painted white dots down the sides. He was standing out in the driveway waiting on me to show, with his chest all swelled with pride. I jump out of the truck and he says "Hey, come and see this." He opens a compartment on the boat and pulls out this bag of worms to show me, but the paint had reacted with the plastic and it was all a puddle of slime! He says "That plaster right there wasn't all it was cracked up to be!" I nearly bust my gut laughin'! :D
Good story. ;D Dominick
Plasticiser migration - it's been a problem for years and not just fishing tackle.
During the 60s and 70s the electronics market was mega (Yeah I know when wasn't it).
But a particular problem surfaced.
Mix a hard/firm plastic with a 'soft' plastic and 'BIG PROBLEM' - The soft plasticisers migrate to the harder plastic.
Exemplified by soft pvc cable touching , for e.g, a hard cased capacitor (an electronic component).
The result over time - component failure. This was a big issue.
Plastics, like people, don't always play nicely.
Overly simplified but I hope you got the point.
The thing that is interesting to me, though, and has yet to be addressed, is that while the bead board has denigrated into a nearly perfect form the rubber lures appear to have no decay at all. ??? ::)
So-called "rubber" skirts on lures like buzz baits will occasionally "melt" at the drop of a hat; I've seen them melt in the store packaging after you get them home, not to mention the mess in tackle boxes.
Frank
Quote from: happyhooker on December 11, 2019, 02:29:33 AM
So-called "rubber" skirts on lures like buzz baits will occasionally "melt" at the drop of a hat; I've seen them melt in the store packaging after you get them home, not to mention the mess in tackle boxes.
Hey Frank...when those spinnerbait and buzzbait skirts start to get sticky...just dust them with talcum powder. I'm not sure what it does, but it stops the chemical reaction. Even after you fish it again the skirts stay slick. I also treat my topwater frogs this way. Of course this only works when they are still tacky...not melted into blob.8)
Cornstarch is also a good stabilizer for rubber jig bodies. All my jig bodies are in ziplock bags with cornstarch. They have been for twenty plus years and are still, other than a little film that instantly goes away in the water, just like new.
Quote from: Midway Tommy on December 10, 2019, 09:26:07 PM
The thing that is interesting to me, though, and has yet to be addressed, is that while the bead board has denigrated into a nearly perfect form the rubber lures appear to have no decay at all. ??? ::)
not decay -- chemical reaction
nothing leaching out of Styrofoam to effect lures, but:
Quote from: oc1 on December 10, 2019, 06:43:33 PM
...plasticizers that keeps the worm [lure] soft and flexible leach out and start dissolving the tackle box tray...
-steve
side-note: had a can of DEET bug spray go off in a closed box -- turned some hard plastics mushy
Quote from: Midway Tommy on December 10, 2019, 09:26:07 PM
The thing that is interesting to me, though, and has yet to be addressed, is that while the bead board has denigrated into a nearly perfect form the rubber lures appear to have no decay at all. ??? ::)
I think they shrink and get a little stiffer. But, it takes a lot of plasticizer to keep a worm squishy and pliable so you might now miss a little when it crawls away.
The imprint in the foam is so nice that you have to wonder if there is an opportunity for mold making here somewhere. You just need to speed it up and dissolve a denser foam or plastic.
-steve
Quote from: philaroman on December 11, 2019, 04:36:25 AM
side-note: had a can of DEET bug spray go off in a closed box -- turned some hard plastics mushy
Bug spray (just the thin coating you have on your hands) is one of he causes of sticky, decaying handle knobs on Shimano reels.
-steve
Steve - I have read where DEET is a pretty powerful industrial solvent. I think I may have mentioned elsewhere how folks use it to clear up old "fogged" plastic headlights (that hard plastic). I won't recommend it (minutes later you can actually push your thumbnail into the surface of the plastic of the lens) but it does work pretty quick. And your post earlier brought back memories - as a lad I melted the trays (and several bobbers) in my Old Pal Woodstream box with a handful of Crème worms.
Do you remember the old hand warmers that you filled with cigarette lighter fluid? Well, years ago I was using a pair in my pockets and I was also using the "Instamatic" camera. Instead of putting the camera back in my pack I stuck it in my pocket with the hand warmer and forgot it there. When I went to use the camera after that I could not get a clear photo. The fumes from the hand warmer had given the plastic lens on the camera cataracts. The lens was so clouded that it looked like opaque glass. It makes one wonder what all is happening when using chemicals. Some of it must be scary stuff. Dominick
The hand warmer/lighter fluid is naphtha. You can substitute cheap varnish makers and painters naphtha from the hardware storefor the Ronson product. Weird, because it's usually pretty safe with most plastic but I don't know about the clear polycarbonate. There may have been something funky going on with the fumes too.
-steve
i used to use Ronson lighter fluid for removing stubborn sticker adhesive... i think it was due to the Naphtha. i recently bought another bottle of Ronson - and naphtha is missing from the ingredient list - i haven't tried the new Ronson yet, so i don't know if it works at all. if not, Zippo time! (wonder what happened to all of those old zippos)
Quote from: oc1 on December 16, 2019, 05:48:27 AM
The hand warmer/lighter fluid is naphtha. You can substitute cheap varnish makers and painters naphtha from the hardware storefor the Ronson product. Weird, because it's usually pretty safe with most plastic but I don't know about the clear polycarbonate. There may have been something funky going on with the fumes too.
-steve
Steve it was definitely the fumes as the camera did not come in contact with any fluid. Strange. Dominick
Quote from: jon_elc on December 16, 2019, 05:42:39 PM
(wonder what happened to all of those old zippos)
Several of them are at my house. If there are any fans of Heddon reels you might be interested in these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-OF-HEDDON-FISHING-ZIPPO-1966-1978-WORKING-RARE-RARE/173853299416 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-OF-HEDDON-FISHING-ZIPPO-1966-1978-WORKING-RARE-RARE/173853299416)
-steve
Quote from: jon_elc on December 16, 2019, 05:42:39 PM
i recently bought another bottle of Ronson - and naphtha is missing from the ingredient list -
I think "naphtha" is a poorly defined mixture of petroleum distillates that includes some aeromatic/volatile stuff as well as some more oily stuff. It can be described with more specific terms.
-steve
I seem to remember that as a wee lad naphtha was the active ingredient in the mothballs that my Mom put in the closet that made my clothes smell funny at school. Are mothballs even a thing anymore? - john
mothballs & urinal cakes are naphthalene
cloves work almost as well as mothballs & smell MUCH better
Quote from: philaroman on December 17, 2019, 02:02:56 PM
mothballs & urinal cakes are naphthalene
cloves work almost as well as mothballs & smell MUCH better
I like pies better than cakes. ;D "Have your cake & eat it too" ::) Rudy