CatchingConcepts

Would love to throw them at your pike Frank! I have caught a few US pike up to 25 lbs on lures I made. On the topcoat I am using the 5 ton Devcon, but plan of switching to the envirotex. As for today I tried to go a little less impressionistic as the Punkinseed was and stick to a more basic Spring bream patern. I did some with pearl, but liked these the best. Still am using all paints, on these I used water based, acrylic and laquer paints.

Well, as being inspired by you guys, I am trying to perfect better finishes. I still cant seem to get the right paints that will work well thru the airbrush and cover for desired results. I bought some expensive water based taxidermy paints but they just have to be thinned so much that they are very transparent. I am thinking of just using some clear coat and mixing all my own pigments and solids into it to get desired colors. using stencils and the use of pearls and transparent paints will give the best results, but just gave up and went back to stuff out of rattle cans sprayed through the airbrush to get results below. they are fresh and uncoated with epoxy topcoat yet. any comments?

oh you guys are good! what a perfect idea for that dryer that the element went out on! I knew it was sitting in the yard for a reason! I can control time and speed... and has built in paddles and lots of space to glue in sandpaper. I am going to load it with a couple hundred and see how it works! stay tuned...

bout the best advice I think I could tell you is to start by reading back through all the posts here, They are some of the most informative and well written stuff I have seen, many would answer all the questions you have, from shaping bodies to top coat, its all here with links. Best to just start wading through it and coppying all stuff that applies to a folder for quick reference later. OR you can use the search to search by keyword, ie BODIES or weighting, etc... welcome to you new addiction!

heres a site that has the scale texture roller as well as really cool stencels (for larger stuff) and an endless supply of things to build on ideas... real nice paints and airbrush supply, plus mold making and adhesives.. and it is owned by Cabelas, very quick service. maybe you all know about site, but if not is a must check out! http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/search.php?q=scale+maker

Thanks again guys, you gave me the last bit of inspiration to perfect this thing I think! I am using a large plastic drum which opens on one end, it sits on a stand made basically with kids training wheels to support it, and is rotated by a motor, much like a drying wheel like Red described. or take a look at the one used for Taxadermy at www.vandykes.com (a good source for many interesting items) I believe that the rough glass finish beads will remain, but I will also install floppy fins around the inside radius that accept having sheets of sandpaper guled to them and slide into tracks, that way I can pull them out and change the paper. will keep you guys posted on results. oops, site above is a woodworking site, heres the correct link for taxidermy site... http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/search.php?q=tumbler

I have picked up some great tips to apply from these guys at this board, it truly is the best resourse I have found... I use a high speed belt sander that uses 60 or 80 grit 1.5 or so inch belts. The floppy wheel sander is great for contouring and rounding the underside curve area. I just got a good laugh about fingers! by the time I am done with a bin of 50 or so blanks shaped out I usually have atleast three fingers taped up! I love all the steps involved in making cranks, but really do enjoy watching a concept take shape and actually become a working design. I do it in steps. First I chose a shape and size. Then work up about 20 blanks, all as exact as possible including being from the same piece of wood and having same density and characteristics. I fine sand the blanks and seal coat them all leaving the natural finish. then as they are drying, I decide on a lip style and cut them out of lexan sheets. After doing so many I can almost guess where the pull point should be, yet I make up 5 different groups of 4 varying the line tie position progressivly closer to the lure end of the lip. When the blanks are dry, I take them in groups of four and choose where to drill the weighting point and epoxy in the weight I chose. I then cut lip slots in all and apply the different lips to the corespondingly different blanks, numbering each one and keeping all in a notebook. At this point I just predrill small pilot holes and apply screw eyes and hooks of correct size. Later I usualy rather opt for a cleaner brass or SS wire hanger style rather than the screw eyes. Now its time to go out and throw them, make notes and keep throwing the ones that feel better in a seperate pile, rating them each time until I find the sweet ones, then I go back and duplicate them and retest sometimes combining attributes of the best two or three into one lure. I end up with piles of "not so good" ones, they all will catch fish, but to get it just right takes getting it wrong too... The numbered runs of blanks that didnt quite make it adorn my shop hanging by the hundreds... They work well to impress visitors, and remind me od all the hours of enjoyment I have spent on a particular design.

just curious, one of the most tedious parts of trying to make larger batches of crankbait blanks is hand sanding after the initial shape is cut and roughed out. Has anyone tried tumbling them in a drum with a medium like coarse sand and glass? My initial tests with such seem promising. has anyone else tried this?

Jed, Thanks for the compliments, I agree with math as applied to the dynamics of the action of a crankbait in the water, sometimes the most I want to understand is a action taken by me is going to produce a reaction when pulled thru the water, Hopefully a positive one! Me and the puter arent getting along well tonite as the software I did the scetches on isnt loading the pics on this site. so... Please stand by... and for your viewing enjoyment, a little more show and tell on one of my crankbait designs. from cutting them out with jigsaw to shaping on a belt sander I can keep them under 5 minutes per body... Not too bad for a tapering rounded style blank. Most important part is scribing a center line around the top and bottom sides to be consistant on material removed, the rest is all done by eye and a fast eating sanding belt.

Coley, little did you know, you have fooled with moving balancers in a sense. With where you locate the rattle so high in the baits center of gravity, in essence your rattle sliding back and fourth in the chamber is is giving it the exact characteristics of a moving balancer. There are many ways to attain subtle balance shift internally , and they are all directly related to the baits center of gravity, and influence of of lip to cause a shift against its gravity, thus briefly running out of "true" before shifting again to correct itself. Think earlier posts refered to this action in a sense as "hunting" and it is a attribute you can program into a lure by using moving balancers. Simple shifting or rolling balancers can be positioned vertically, horizontally or laterally in the plane of the lure, or as in the simple hole drilled at a 45 degree angle, covers 2 planes. How and where you locate your blancers and what weight and distance of travel you use is all dependant on the attitude of the lure you are working with and where you have the fixed weight placed, how it sits at rest in the water and what forces your diving lip imparts on the bait. I am sure there are some great physics involved here, but for me, trial and error has yielded a basic understanding, but believe me, I am constantly learning and refining the systems myself. The magnetic balancer and the force the magnet energy pushing the weight (center of gravity) imparts on the lure adds another dimension to the whole system and I am just starting to explore its qualities and uses in my cranks. We all know that fish will strike a crank rythymically moving through the water column sometimes, but think about how much more your strike ratio goes up when your bait glances off of an object. Well, with moving balancers correctly placed in a crank you can get that effect programed in, like a cycle, it will as I said earlier "hiccup" a number of times throught the retrieve. My friend called it "bucking" cause he could feel some of my lures do that thru his rod even though we were in open water. There are some early plastic lures with big metal lips that unknowingly captured this essence, but over the years designers in effort to make every bait run perfectly true fixed the weights inside and essentially headed in the direction of a perfect, very programed swim patern. The Japanese, in effort to enhance casting distance have toyed with moving balance, and are now realizing it enhances much more than just casting. Look at the trend in cranks as of late and you will see the influence. Just another variable to toy with, and you thought you had your cranks almost perfected!

O2L, When I get a little time I will try and draw a diagram (this eve) of how the magnetic balancer works, again, its all in the hands of the person experimenting with it... I described vertical applications, it also has horizontal applications, and is at its best in larger scale lures like BIG jerkbaits, see my big crank below, it has both vertical and horizontal balancers, which at rest cause it to become unstable and want to push the center of gravity to exceed the lateral line of the bait, which means when you stop ripping it and deadstick it, it quivers, moves on its own.. Has taken two tropy pike over 25 lbs. Havent had the fortune to educate a musky with it yet. There are other things you can adapt to big lures because of the room inside to attain interesting results.. think about those funny little kids toys, like the tumble beads and jumping bean kinda things... Taking it to the next level is what it is all about. Coley, what are we looking at in that blank? what is encased in the black chamber above the center of bait?

You do very nice work yourself, Thanks for the welcome too! I grew up on the St Croix river in Minnesota, but have lived in Northern Cali in Clear Creek (near Mt Lassen Nat Park) for 20 years now As for the bearings, I too started using them to aid in casting distance, but found that in crankbaits they had better qualities when used for shifting balancers to change swim patern action in deep diving cranks. I have been working with crankbaits and designing prototypes since I was about 11 and damn.. that was nearly 30 years ago! I have worked with a few companies, mostly giving away my ideas for free... Thought you guys here might be more appreciative of some of my trials and errors... and believe me, I have learned much from you guys myelf from what I have read here in the past year, felt it was time to try and give back a little. I will be the first to admit I need to learn some more skills when it comes to finish and airbrush work, Its a true art in itself, and as I have said I have spent so much time on design and concepts, finish has been neglected some. Herman

hmm.. no comments on above balancers? anyone else playing with the internal mechanics of weighting ? Just curious, seems that in my passion to design crankbaits, I have become more obsessed with the action and manipulating the mechanics rather than finish. I have hundreds of natural cedar clear coat lures and many are just white. And they still catch fish. My observation is action speaks louder than a pretty paint job. basic color tones catch fish when matched with than perfect action for given water clarity and temp. For those who have played with all else, try this! now I havent perfected this yet, and am just going to throw the basics at you, PLEASE if you try this let me know your results and input. This one is very important to take precise measurments and weight the components for later reference. In striving to come up with a perpetual motion type lure that actually has qualities of quivering at rest here is what I have toyed with. You will need some magnets, cylindrical refgerator magnets work well, keep in mind all have different strengths so you want a source you can duplicate. You will need .50 BRASS wire and brass bead with hole diameter larger so it slides freely on brass wire shaft. Now is where all the experimentation come in. you want to get magnets that fit into the belly hole you drill in your lure about an inch and a half deep into the cavity at 90 degrees to the centerline. then drill a small pilot hole at top of cavity to accept end of brass wire shaft. carefull drill very clean holes through both magnets. The bottom magnet will be fixed and glued in place at bottom of one end of the brass wire shaft, the second magnet is placed above in reverse polarity on the brass shaft, and a heavy brass bead is placed above that to cause the two magnets to struggle. The second magnet and brass bead must be able to slide freely inside the cavity drilled. This whole assembly is then slid into the belly cavity, making sure to guide the upper end of the shaft into the pilot hole drilled at top inside of cavity. Carefully glue bottom magnet in place at bottom of belly cavity opening making sure not to let any glue run inside or get on shaft. cut off excess brass shaft protruding thru magnet and epoxy over for smoooth finish. Hope everyone sorta followed that... Now like I said it is all up to you to find materials and experiment with how to put them together best, but when done right, you get an incredible action that has to be seen to be believed! Those who try this please contribute your findings. Enjoy, and good fishing! Herman

By the way, my name is Herman and even though I have dropped in and read here for over a year, just found time to contribute. Another way to add somewhat of a moving balancer to your cranks is to drill your belly weight hole at a 45 degree angle or so toward the nose of the bait about an inch or more deep depending on size of lure ofcourse... then go get some bearings, Walmart sells wristrocket slingshot ammo, these work great. pick up two sizes, one slightly smaller than the largest which will be the size you drill the hole. insert the smaller one into the chamber, then press the larger in and epoxy over. I know you lose the belly hook attachment and will have to drill a seperare hole, but gain a really new action. As the crank dives the smaller bearing works it way forward, untill it forces the bait off balance, the lure violently jumps out of track, and forces bearing back to bottom causing a loud clack as they strike together, then returns to running normal, over and over throught the retrieve. The only way I can describe the action gained is to say the bait does an hiccup almost as if it has deflected off something, and we all know what that action can do for you while it is cranked near fish. This weighting method works best on 2 to 3 inch medium to deep diving cranks. Especially desired effects in flatsided cranks with coffin type bills. Though most everything I do is in Western red cedar, I am sure other you could gain these effects with any materials. Key word is experiment, but carefully measure all vairables and document so that when you hit just the balance spot to drill and depth and angle, you can go back and reproduce same desired actions in future cranks.

I have played with chambers inside wood cranks, but this Japanese made wood lure takes another step... [/img]