out2llunge

Yup, the boys ahve it - those cartridge based masks with the dual filters. I'll be getting one soon. I'll try to find out from our health and saftey officer which mask is best.

Skeeter's bang on here, but I'd go a step further and wear a better mask. I just finished making a bunch of baits from cedar (which I use almost exclusively). I got a sinus infection even though I was wearing a mask. I know I'm susceptible to dust, but cedar dust is very bad so if you'll be using it a lot get a good quality mask (like I must now do).

Husky, so far just the one template - I just wanted to try it out. The Ho'd thing was the reference as you suspected - gotta give credit where it's due. Not sure about SS lips just yet - one thing at a time. Okay the cutter was an old 1/4 x 1/4 cutter from an old machine at work. The guide pin is a carraige bolt. The bolt passes thru two nuts located in the cutter assembly. The double nutting allows for fine adjustment and re-calibration should the cutter be moved. The guide pin is located centrally in the height of the template and also directly underneath the cutter. This makes things so easy. The test blank was shaped from square stcok in less than 5 minutes. All that was left to do was some final sanding. Now I need to get Jerry's duplik8r built and going.

Justa couple of more pics...

Well, I finally got my duplicator finished and I must say a big thanks to fishing bum wannabe from who I originally developed (ho'd) the ideas. It works great and the pics should tell the story. The cutter and guide pin do need to be in vertical alignment.

Ebert and Roeper say "Two Wrists Up - Way Up!" Sorry guys couldn't resist with the academy awards on tonight. Seriously though, these tools are awesome. I just tried mine this morning and they are fantastic. One word of caution though, be careful about screwing the eyes in too far. That's how easy these tools make the job, but I couldn't believe the efficiency and speed - whoa! Tom, I'll be sending your bait sooner than I indicated before. Thanks again.

Agreed. That style of bait would defintely require some ballast. Mine do too. What kind of speed are you getting from them?

Tom, are your baits round (cigar shaped)? I've never had to add ballast to my baits like that. Parrywinkle style baits for sure, but not cigar shaped baits.

Round baits generally do not need ballast because they always sit in the water (with hooks attached) the right way. Flat sided baits on the other hand will want to lay on their side and as such require ballast.

Well the old expression certainly holds true here, "a picutre is.." Very easy to follow.

Hey Cheese, I do that on my salmon plugs, but I haven't really tried it on muskie stuff. I don't see why it wouldn't work, just be sure to use high quality split rings. The other thing you can try is silver solder on the joints of stainless rings.

Thanks Shawn, I'll check those out this weekend!

Jerkbait, don't use acrylic! Use lexan instead. It might cost a bit more, but if the temps are ever around the freezing mark or colder, the acrylic will snap on you, especially if things get even a little stuck in the divders. This I know from experience. Up here where it's like minus 30 tonight we've been using 1/16" lexan for those types of dividers.

Thanks again, I'm going to check it out.

Woodsac, Have you got a link for that site?

Hey Fin check out this thread, http://www.muskystriker.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=442&highlight=tackle+box there's all kinds of details regarding a big number of options for tackle boxes similar to what you might be looking for.

This isn't really a fishing lure question directly. I have a Grade 12 film class that I would like to give out awards to at the end of each course. I was thinking of an Oscar type statue for a few categories: best film, best actor and so on. I'm up in Canada and one of our award shows is the Genies, so I also thought that a statue of the Genie from Aladdin might work too! So here's the question, well almost... I've been reading about the soft plastic molds for grubs and such and thought that might be a cheap way to make some award statues. The problem is I've never done it before. I've strictly been a hard bait guy so far. Does anybody have any suggestions or is anyone willing to help? Thanks in advance!

If I know I'm going to use less than a full crate, I remove some tubes and that makes room for some plano boxes with hooks, leaders, etc.

Congrats or deepest sympathies take your pick...seriously a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to you.

I use a milk crate and vinyl downspouts cut to 12" lengths. Each crate holds 20 (?) pieces of spout and every bait gets there own home. The best part is the hooks don't foul like they do with some of the commercial big bait boxes. I've since made a bunch of bigger baits that stick out somewhat, but still not a big deal.

If the humidity is too high that will also cause problems.

Just to add another tip, you cna also use "jobbers" bits, the extra long ones that installers use, but because of their flex, you'll need to go slow or the bit will wander.

Sorry, I forgot about those rear rollers too! I would adjust everything so that a piece of paper barely fits between including the rollers and side guides. Have you tried adjusting the tracking? You might need to readjust rollers and guides after.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make when adjusting blade tension is that they ignore the lower guides. That said, when I adjust the tension I insert a slip of paper (fold it once or twice) or a matchbook cover between the blade and the guide. You can also use feeler gauges if you have them. Adjust both the upper AND lower guides (below the table) to the same settings. Also, the real blade tension must be adjusted using the tensioning knob that's usually located on the top of the saw. For that setting, I usually make it fairly tight, but with some minimal lateral movement. Lastly, don't forget to adjust the tracking of the blade. If all of those settings have been made the saw should perform much better.

Don't know the name of it, but there's a product that looks like blue silly putty. You tera off a hunk of it and than use it to stick papers or other items onto a wall. It's a low tack substance that will mold itself around 3D shapes. It seems to me like it might be what you're looking for. If the guy ever wanted to fish with the baits, he just has to peel the putty off which is VERY easy to do. Found it - thisis the stuff I'm talking about... http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=6%2C7%2C8,9&webid=37748&affixedcode=WW