As most of us who have ever held lures from year to year know ... some can be quite corrosive and the screw caps will just start to rust away. A few years ago I started doing what I'm about to show in a series of pictures. I'm showing this using a dirty old bottle, but this can be done to new bottles to prevent such.

All you will need is a roll of 3/4" teflon pipe tape. (super cheap and found at your hardware store)



This just creates a barrier between the cap and the contents. Plus assuring a good seal.

Hope you find this helpful



Here's what a corosive lure cand do to a cap ... inside and out




Clean the cap and glass threads the best you can



With your teflon tape ... make a couple wraps around the threads



The excess above the rim is then folded over ... completely covering the opening of the bottle



Replace cap and it's ready for being stored



For wide mouth one ounce bottles here is how I do it

Take a small piece/length of the teflon tape and place it over the top/opening



Carefully stretch the tape over the opening



Now make a wrap around the thtreads and fold over the excess



Replace the cap and your set!

Great idea Skinner. I'm heading out to the shop to try it!

Good idea. Beats the old method of sucking the contents out and spitting them in a clean bottle. I may have to try it.

~ADC~

Thanks Ed, I've even broken bottles with pliars before trying to get them open.

Great idea. Thanks. I have several spools of teflon tape laying around the shop. Never can find it when I need it, and how often does the average guy need it?

Good tip. Thanks!

great tip !!! yet another thing ive learned from this great site !!! thanx

I am still an old vaseline man myself. But a good tip.

Sheesh Bob at your age!!! Snicker...LOL...

good post ps, i guess there would be no need to melt wax around the lid anymore doing it that way.

good tip

I don't mind dooing that ADC, except for that aftertaste that it leaves.

Hmmmm k9 does that explain the wifeys' frigid " sleep on the couch" attitude??? LOL

I clean the tops off well with a wire wheel brush and then mix up 5 minute epoxy and completely coat the external part of the cap.

I don't know for sure RdFx. ADC does your wife sleep on the couch?

Nope, she likes the smell as much as any other trapper.

good tip thanx for sharing

That is an excellent idea and great tip. Like Bob Jameson, I use Vaseline, probably because Teflon tape was not invented when I started to "save" and salvage lure bottle caps.

Metal caps have a predilection for corrosion, but I like them over plastic caps, which can crack and break once in awhile. The trick is to not let the metal cap reach advanced rust/corrosiveness. Easy enough to say, especially when you are not paying attention when a partially used lure bottle gets parked in a refrigerator or on a shelf in the fur shed, or in the cellar until next season.

Oxidation is the culprit that destroys the integrity of the metal cap if preventative measures are not exercised. Over the years, I have concluded (only my theory) that the oxidation and corrosion on a metal cap from an "opened" lure bottle comes from air getting under the cap, combining with the vapors/solvents emanating from the lure ingredients and rising up to wreck the cap.

After washing and thoroughly drying the cap, I swab the inside with a gob of Vaseline, put the cap on the bottle and wipe off the excess Vaseline ooze. Then, I melt some wax in a tuna fish can, dunk the cap in it to "seal" it again. From there, the lure bottles are stored upside down until next season. My "upside down" theory is based on the fact that the ingredient's vapors and oxidants have no opportunity to attack the cap.

For lure bottles with plastic caps, I simply wash, clean, dry and seal the caps in wax.

Might be a bit of a lengthly response - no apologies because I wanted to express my experience with this topic in as much understandable detail as possible. An editorial review and comment for your consideration.

Regards,

Jonathan

If I must share and tell all I am using a more hitech method of containment sealing and rust preventive material.I did how ever use vaseline and wax for many years and on an occasion out of a sense of nastalgia.

I now use the glad self sealing plastic wrap for many containers. Especially our gallon bait containers, pints of some urines and trailing scents. It works very nicely and seals very well and is quite economical.

If you get in the practice of wiping off your bottle ends after each use you will minimize your leakage and keep yourself cleaner and your equipment. I carry a zip lock baggie of the small cotton makeup remover balls or small square pads and wipe off the bottle after each use and throw the cotton ball into the dirthole or place under my flat set object etc.This also acts as additional eye appeal and a lure holder.

neat idea i will have to do that now