Bucktail shafts

[Cooter]

Pretty much a double post from the Lure and Rod Building forum but....looking for what I believe would be considered 'tempered' bucktail shafts. Thinking color might have something to do with it although I've heard otherwise. Referring to the more greyish colored shafts vs the shinier silver ones. Mepps products have that color and seems to hold up better than the standard shafts you can get at stamina, janns, and other tackle sources. Or is it simply a different material? Either way does anyone know of a source? Thanks.

[50inchpig]

all the .62 wire i've seen was tempered and all the .51 wire i've seen was not.

keep in mind a bent/kinked shaft, after it's straightend, can sometimes create some pretty wicked vibration and sound you don't get with baits off the shelf. i always use .51 for this reason.

to actually answer your question though i don't know the wholesale source, but thorne bros sells big coils of the .62 stuff.

[50inchpig]

call me merkman for two posts in a row, but i been thinking about this one a little bit, another thing IMO - tempered wire won't do much to prevent the sharp bends and kinks that a fish will make, it's more to keep the wire straight under light pressure, so it doesn't warp when it's on the coil. most of my bucktails are shaped more like a bow than anything (probably from all my backlashes, lol)