Spoons_and_Blades (1).jpg

These are some of the spoons and blades that I've made using copper and brass tubing. They are made by flattening a piece of tubing in a vice leaving the desired size cavity to pour lead into. I then cut the angles with tin snips and smooth them out with a hand file.  

Those all look great , Really like the showcase of lures , alot of time right there . Well done !

On 4/21/2022 at 6:07 AM, swimb8s said:

Those all look great , Really like the showcase of lures , alot of time right there . Well done !

Thanks for the kind words! Much appreciated. 

How large can you make spoons using this technique?  I'm interested in some of the really large magnum spoons like the Nichols Ben Parker 8" spoons, or the Tony Maja magnum spoons in the 5 ounce range.  These are for salt-water use.

Like: https://nicholslures.com/products/ben-parker-magnum-spoon?variant=31410851381321

22 hours ago, Don Cape Cod said:

How large can you make spoons using this technique?  I'm interested in some of the really large magnum spoons like the Nichols Ben Parker 8" spoons, or the Tony Maja magnum spoons in the 5 ounce range.  These are for salt-water use.

Like: https://nicholslures.com/products/ben-parker-magnum-spoon?variant=31410851381321

The largest ones I've made were 4" long but those big ones can be done with bigger tubing. They are just copper and brass plumbing tubes cut to length and semi flattened in a vice. I then crush one end completely shut and pour lead in them before crimping the other end. (if that makes sense)

Understood, would probably need to upsize some of the tools, but certainly seems logical.  Do you use pure lead, or an alloy like linotype?  For some larger jigs, I'm switching to alloy so they don't bend as easily.

21 hours ago, Don Cape Cod said:

Understood, would probably need to upsize some of the tools, but certainly seems logical.  Do you use pure lead, or an alloy like linotype?  For some larger jigs, I'm switching to alloy so they don't bend as easily.

I use pure lead, but most of my spoons are 3" and under. I can understand the thought and concern for something less forgiving in a larger version, but it isn't a factor with these smaller spoons.

Pure lead has a Brinell hardness of 4 to 5

Linotype alloy has a Brinell hardness of 20 to 22

Lyman alloy has a Brinell hardness of 14 to 15

I'm going to try Lyman for some larger flutter jigs and hope it is stronger, but not brittle.  Fishing for species that bend pure lead lures :-)  If it works, I may try making more spoon-like flutter jigs with it.  THX!