Leaderboard

Mark, I didn't mean to give the impression that you may have missed something. I have never built anything like this and it really impresses me. I have about 6 more months until retirement and am really looking forward to having the time to improve my skills in regards to building baits. I remember some of the first swim baits that you posted. I was impressed back then. But this bait just stands out from the painting of, to the smooth lines and shaping of the bait. I am sure that if and when I attempt to make such a bait as this, that I will be looking back at your instructions as a "How To Guide." I did copy and save this in a how to file for future reference. John

wow, I believe you didn't miss a step. I just read this after working for eleven hours and fell asleep while reading it. I will give it another read when I am not so tired. Thanks for taking the time to share this. John

Curt, It is made from Azek PVC trimboard that I bought from a local lumber yard. I drew the same on a rectangular blank that was 1 1/4"X7"X3/4", and located where I wanted the joint. I marked the hinge location on both sides with a try square, so they aligned, and then Icut the joint almost half way through from each side with a dovetail saw, leaving approx. 1/8" in the middle uncut to hold the two sections together while I shaped the lure. I cut the lure profile out with a bandsaw, sanded the perimeter smooth on an oscillating belt sander and 80 grit belt, and marked a center line around the perimeter of the blank to help me keep my shaping symmetrical. I also marked the locations of the hook hangers and line tie, and used an awl to make dents at those locations, in case the pencil marks got sanded off during shaping. Moving back to the belt sander, I tapered the head and tail sections, and the rounded and softened the shape, using one of the original S Wavers as a guide. Once I had the blank shaped to close to the finished shape, I finished shaping it with a vibrator sander and 80 grit paper. I marked the eye hole locations, gills, and mouth cut out. I drilled the eye holes on a drill press, carved the gills with a dremel sanding drum, and cut the mouth out with the dove tail saw. I also refined the shape a little more, so the belly curve met the ramp at the underside of the mouth more cleanly. I drilled out the line tie locations on the drill press with a small pilot bit, and then finished cutting the joints with an exacto knife, cutting a little deeper from each side until the two cuts met. At that point I final sanded the parts using a vibrator sander and 180 grit paper, and also by hand. I laid out the screw eye hinge locations and drilled pilot holes for them, and I installed the .072X1" screw eyes temporarily. I also installed the same size screw eye for the line tie, and for the two hook hangers. I transferred the hinge screw location to the face of the rear section, for the slots. I cut the hinge slots out on the bandsaw, trying to keep the slot small, but testing to make sure I had clearance for the screw eye half of the hinges. I marked the location of the hinge pin, a piece of bicycle spoke, on both the top and bottom of the rear section, and drilled that hole out on the drill press, using a centering pin on the base in line with the bit for the pin to keep the holes aligned while I drilled 1/2 way from each side. Once the two holes met, I ran the bit all the way through, just in case the alignment wasn't perfect. I assembled the sections, adjusted the screw eyes to give me hinge clearance, and further sanded the front of the rear section, deepening the V for more joint clearance. Once I had the joint moving freely with the right amount of side to side movement, I added the trebles and split rings, and float test ed each section independently, adding 1/8 oz egg sinker and split shots to the hook tines until I got each section to sink horizontally, and at the same rate as each other. I then removed the line tie screw eyes, and weighed both the screw eyes, and the ballast I had added on my digital scale the show weights to 1/10th of a gram. I took two 3 gram hook hangers, and weighed them each. I subtracted that weight from the ballast weight I needed for each section, and cut lenghts of 1/4" lead wire to reach the final ballast weight needed. At that point, I drilled out the line tie locations on the drill press with a 1/4" Forstner bit, and I also drilled several more 1/4" holes for possible ballast locations. I pressed the 3 gram hook hangers into their holes dry. I split the 9+ gram lead wire for the front section, and pushed the into the ballast holes. I did the same with the 3+ gram rear section lead wire. I added the trebles back onto the sections, and again test floated them. Once I was sure they sank at the same rate and horizontal, I removed the hook hangers and ballast wire, dried out the sections, and reinstalled the hook hangers with brush on crazy glue, to give me time to rotate them to their final orientation. I pressed the ballast wire back into the holes, a little past flush, and used crazy glue to lock them in. I filled the depressions left in the ballast holes with bondo, and sanded it smooth once it had set. One final hand sanding with 180 grit, just to remove any sharp edges, and it was ready to paint. Typing this took almost as long as making the lure! Hahaha

Thanks guys. It was neat to see it actually swam in an S shape, after I'd failed with other attempts. I found the key this time, for me, was to make sure both sections sank horizontal, and at the same rate. Plus having loose hinge joints with very little up and down play, so the two sections stay aligned. I got both those tips from Dave on the glider thread in the forum. I like the margarine tub plastic because it is kind of soft, and it fits the saw kerf from my dovetail saw perfectly. I didn't want anything that would weigh enough to throw off the sink rate, or balance, and this stuff didn't.