Paint Cracking on New Devil Horses.....??

[Crow Horse]

Has anyone experienced the paint cracking/flaking off of new Devil Horses? Photos are    2 of mine that have one fishing day on them have the paint cracking on the underside. I sent them an email and waiting on their response.

[looking45]

Hard to tell without having the bait in hand but it looks like there was no topcoat applied. 

[ironbjorn]

So, I have been living under the world's largest rock. I didn't know you could buy these new.

[Woody B]

I'll have to look at mine.  I don't have any "new" ones,  but ones that were bought ~30 years ago.   Some are unused.  I wonder if they have cracked paint, or if the ones I've used have cracked paint.   

[bloom]

 Must be made of made of wood?

Usually this is caused from not enough sealer in the wood before painting.

[Crow Horse]

Yes, they are made of wood. It'll be interesting as to how they respond (if they do). I'll try to call them directly and see where that takes me.

 

This isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things and I'm not looking for something for nothing. However, they are highly regarded and classic lures that have been around for decades. I'm hoping that this peaks their interest and they correct the paint failures.

 

I only recently learned about the Devil's Horse and decided to stock up on them. I'm really pleased with how they produced (despite the paint issue) and will continue to use them. Swapping out the original trebles for single inline hooks worked really well. I am impressed as to  how well fish stay pinned.

[Bird]

Had to run out to the garage and look at mine, only blemishes is teeth marks.

 

Have to admit, a crack in the paint shouldn't compromise the performance of these baits, it's really the sound.

 

See what they say but keep fishing them.

[Crow Horse]

42 minutes ago, Bird said:

Had to run out to the garage and look at mine, only blemishes is teeth marks.

 

Have to admit, a crack in the paint shouldn't compromise the performance of these baits, it's really the sound.

 

See what they say but keep fishing them.

I plan to keep using them but I'll probably apply a sealer to the areas that the paint is compromised. If the wood absorbs water, then the action of it might be altered. Water soaked wood will probably shorten the plugs service life especially because of it's use of screws/ screw eyes instead of through wire construction.

[Crow Horse]

Wow! They (Lurenet) just replied to me with the following:

 

"Thank you for contacting us about the problem you have experienced with our product. Feedback from our customers is an integral part of our business and we encourage it.  Please return the defective lure to the address below so that our QC department may review it to determine if this is a problem that has already been addressed or if it may need to be addressed. We will be happy to send a replacement; if this is a discontinued model, we will send replacement of one similar, and send out an additional lure to you to cover the postage. If the product is broken due to breaking from hitting rocks or normal wear we will not replace. 

*If more than 2 baits are sent in for replacement, we will review them and replace any that appear to be manufacturing defects but will not replace any that are the result of normal use or abuse. "

 

I'll be returning them......

[Captain Phil]

Twenty or so years ago, Chrome Devil's Horse lures had a shiny coating that looked a lot like chrome plating.  It was much more reflective than the paint process they use today, but it came off in chunks. They paint them now probably due to customer complaints or the cost of manufacture.   Devil's Horse lure finishes have always had cracks. This doesn't seem to affect the action.  These lures are small in diameter, which may make the coating harder to apply.  As you can see below, the hooks can remove the paint as well. None of this bothers me one bit.  The best colors are not easy to find these days, so I buy all I can find.  When I used to fish with Top Water Charlie, the bottom of his boat was littered with dead Devil's Horse lures.  He changed baits often.

 

[Crow Horse]

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

Twenty or so years ago, Chrome Devil's Horse lures had a shiny coating that looked a lot like chrome plating.  It was much more reflective than the paint process they use today, but it came off in chunks. They paint them now probably due to customer complaints or the cost of manufacture.   Devil's Horse lure finishes have always had cracks. This doesn't seem to affect the action.  These lures are small in diameter, which may make the coating harder to apply.  As you can see below, the hooks can remove the paint as well. None of this bothers me one bit.  The best colors are not easy to find these days, so I buy all I can find.  When I used to fish with Top Water Charlie, the bottom of his boat was littered with dead Devil's Horse lures.  He changed baits often.

 

I think the difference between the photos you posted and mine is the length of service. Mine were only used for one day of fishing while I'll bet that yours are considerably older (in terms of use) than mine. Looking ahead, if what I've experienced in one days time is any indication of how well the paint will hold up, it's not a stretch to believe that a significant portion of the rest of the paint will fail.

 

Again, this isn't a very big deal but I'm quite tired of having to deal with mediocre or sub standard products that  fail prematurely. Also understanding that errors do occur in the production process, I'm willing to give them the benefit of doubt in correcting the issue. So far, they've stepped to the plate and I'm please with their response.

 

[Captain Phil]

40 minutes ago, Crow Horse said:

Again, this isn't a very big deal but I'm quite tired of having to deal with mediocre or sub standard products that  fail prematurely.

 

There is nothing substandard or mediocre about a Devil's Horse.   I worried when they went to paint as opposed to plating that they wouldn't be as good.  Thankfully, that was not the case.  The fish catching ability of a Devil's Horse is not in the finish.  I believe we could fish one with no finish whatsoever and it would work just as well. This is the reason chrome works.  It reflects what's around it, a bass only sees the disturbance and that disturbance draws bass to it.  The finish is there to catch anglers, not bass.

[roadwarrior]

6 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

 The finish is there to catch anglers, not bass.

 

 

 

                                                    

[Crow Horse]

My sense of it is that color does play a role but is secondary to the disturbance. Whatever one believes the function of the paint is, there's no denying that it also seals the wood to prevent an intrusion of water into the wood fibers. Over the long haul, water and untreated wood will present problems.

 

I wasn't implying that the Devil Horse is a sub standard product. I really like fishing it and it does produce. But when a premium product falls short of it's benchmark, it's time to correct it. I've found that many times when a manufacturing company is taken over by a much larger company there's a tendency for a regression (or reversion) to mean that occurs. When that happens a product's quality tends to slip away.

[MAN]

Either not enough topcoat or the screws were over torqued and caused the initial paint crack....that ran.    

[Crow Horse]

That's a good point and it might have played a role as well as a sealer issue. Interesting.....

[WRB]

Over the decades I have fished lots of wooden lures that develop cracks and simply coated the crack with Hard As Nails polish, works great and easy to do with a little brush it comes with.

Tom

[Crow Horse]

Update - Today I received 3 Devil Horse in dark green to replace the 2 that had cracking paint.  I was pleasantly surprised that I got them so quickly, so kudos to Pradco.

 

I was hoping that the replacements were going to be varied in paint. Now I have 5 black back/dark green AF290's.

 

Edit- I'll have 6 AF290's.....

[fin]

1 hour ago, Crow Horse said:

I was hoping that the replacements were going to be varied in paint.

 

You mean they didn't replace the ones you sent in with their original color?

[Crow Horse]

14 minutes ago, fin said:

 

You mean they didn't replace the ones you sent in with their original color?

Only 1/2 correct. I sent in one black/green & one black/chrome and received 3 black/green.

 

[fin]

I can see how someone who is not a fisherman might think that is fair ?

[WRB]

If don’t 1st succeed try again.

Tom