Elmer Hinckley spoons optimizing

[Sk8man]

Just wanted to share a tip: I wanted to optimize the shine of my Elmer Hinckley spoons after a couple seasons of use. Incidentally, they are all I have been using lately on the Finger lakes as well as Lake O and have caught about 3:1 versus on usual favorite spoons. The gold and silver plating on these spoons is incredible. 

They were so shiny after polishing I couldn't get a really good pic of them....they are like jewelery.  What I did was use a Dillon Precision ammo cartridge vibratory tumbler with walnut shells and a few drops of Dillon Precision polish. For those of you who reload this may be a good way to recondition some plated spoons so I wanted to pass it along.

Edited December 6, 2025 by Sk8man

[MADDIE]

thanks for the heads up ,i don't know why i didn't think of this before

[fisherdude]

Josh Allen could use a Dillon Precision polish and walnut shells shine up .. 🙂

[MADDIE]

I did a bunch of old mepps spinners and spoons in my tumbler and they came out looking like new

[Sk8man]

[muskiedreams]

I wonder if there is a limit, depending on plating, of how many times that can be done without wearing through the plating.

 

Are they spoons the do not have any paint or clear coat on them?

[Sk8man]

Steve: the plating is pretty solid compared with other spoons I have used (e.g. Suttons). I believe that the only ones that are clear coated are the copper spoons. The ones that I did were mainly water spotted from not drying them off before putting them away not really tarnished. I only left them in for about 1/2 hr. as you probably would for shell casings. The gold and silver plating on them seems very  durable after two or three seasons of use.

[Sutton44]

Suttons, at least their semi recent production runs, ie. the last 5 plus years, may lose their silver plating, and you end up with a brass spoon. I tried to do a dozen or so more recent #22s and a dozen older #35s last night, maybe 45 minutes in the tumbler. Not awful condition, just "experienced" lures with the normal tarnish. I cleaned them with Brassso first, maybe that was a mistake. The #35 lot came out fine, better. The #22s were bare brass post procedure. Great legacy finger lakes company, but the plating is less than it once was IMHO.

[fisherdude]

That's an interesting question how long they would last putting them through the tumbler . Lot of coin sitting there in that  box of spoons. I'm going to guess and say 150 spoons in the Box 10 bucks a spoon plus shipping, Tumblr Walnut shells and special juice 1500 1800 dollars that's an expensive fishing lure...... 

[Sk8man]

Brian I don't intend to make a regular habit of tumbling them but as I said the plating on these particular spoons is great. I was more or less experimenting as they were not tarnished at all just water spots which I probably could have just moistened and rubed off with a soft cloth, but I just wanted to let folks know that the method itself works.  The spoons are very hearty so I don't really worry much about them as they survived chinooks and large steelhead this year without a mark on them.

Edited December 18, 2025 by Sk8man

[Sk8man]

Mark - I've used jewelers silver polish on the Suttons with some luck but where the plating is actually worn off it seems hopeless....like yours the brass appears. I guess for the tumbler we have to choose spoons carefully to do it. Some of the Suttons also are laquered and some discoloration can occur under it but in all fairness they still work.

[MADDIE]

I have a stream ,panfish type tackle box a lot of mepps spinners and small spoons of various shapes and sizes some of the spinners are 50yrs. old. tumbled them all including buck tail spinners, they came out looking like new even cleans the buck tail . Of course had to tumble some longer but had no problems tumbling them over night. Try tarnished plugs works great.

[Sk8man]

  I guess although my original intent was to mention a way to shine spoons up and plating aspects of the Hinckleys it should be noted that these spoons have a nearly 150 year old design history, they are individually hand made, hammered and formed by hand (not robotic assembly line stuff) and what I believe to be the critical factor is their hand formed cupping at the back of them giving them action. Check out the website as it has elaborate detail on how they are made. I think the fact that actual silver and gold are used in the plating may make them more visible from further distances. Regardless, they work very well and are the most effective spoons I have ever used. By the way, I don't have any financial interest in the company (but kinda wish I did). The owner indicated that he gets orders from all over the country (Colorado, California, Tennessee, Vermont etc.) so I guess that sort of speaks for itself too

Edited December 19, 2025 by Sk8man

[SusanJames]

Do you guys have favorites/recommendations for which of these spoons to use on the Finger Lakes and Lake O? The 87's look interesting to me. 

[Sk8man]

They all seem to work well both places but the 35,87,22,666,777, performed very well on the Fingers for me but even the bigger 88 and 06 also caught fish.

The 666, 777, 22, 06 caught multiple species for me on Lake O. Always pays to experiment

[Sutton44]

Does anyone else have an issue with their website PayPal or is it user error ? No other payment options appear. Thanks in advance !

 

[MADDIE]

Just continue on to payment and it will give you cc options

[SusanJames]

Thanks Les. Sounds like another hit to my wallet. 

[Sk8man]

😃 Worth the $ though unlike a lot of the stuff we buy.