RiverMan

Beautiful job!! They couldn't be nicer. jed

Ok, this is for the mathematical types on this board. My friends have always told me that "I always want to know how things work", guess I still do. I have been thinking about the total weight of a particular lure. Assume that we have two baits that are absolutely identical in size and shape...lets say for simplicity that these baits are 10" inches long. One is made from a very light wood, say basswood, another from a dense wood, perhaps hard maple. The basswood will be much lighter thus requiring considerably more weight to get it to sink but the hard maple starts out heavier. Assuming only enough weight is added to get the bait to sink, which bait will weigh the most? I borrowed this from another site. Apparently it was Archimedes that discovered why ships float, this guy figured this out in the 3rd century!! ____________________________________________________________ Why Do Ships Float? The Greek Mathematician and inventor Archimedes lived during the 3rd century BC. According to history he was in the bath one day when he discovered the principle of buoyancy which is the reason why huge Greek ships weighing thousands of pounds could float on water. He noticed that as he lowered himself into the bath, the water displaced by his body overflowed the sides and he realised that there was a relationship between his weight and the volume of water displaced. It is said that he ran naked into the street yelling "heurEka" which is where we get our word "eureka!" (I found it), Greek heurEka I have found, from heuriskein to find. Archimedes continued to do more experiments and came up with a buoyancy principle, that a ship will float when the weight of the water it displaces equals the weight of the ship and anything will float if it is shaped to displace its own weight of water before it reaches the point where it will submerge. This is kind of a technical way of looking at it. A ship that is launched sinks into the sea until the weight of the water it displaces is equal to its own weight. As the ship is loaded, it sinks deeper, displacing more water, and so the magnitude of the buoyant force continuously matches the weight of the ship and its cargo. _____________________________________________________________ Assuming all other things are constant, the two lures should weigh the same amount at the point of sinking....correct? Jed

Well we have pictures of baits that were custom painted more than a 100 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if custom painting dates back hundreds of years, perhaps thousands. Early painters probably used various wood pigments, charcoal, etc., to color their creations much like the early cave paintings and tattos were done. Very interesting subject. jed

Dragline, Many of the top musky builders use eastern red cedar for building baits...not western red cedar, big difference. I have use western however and it does work altho it is quite soft, much like basswood. Poplar is what I have used almost exclusively in the past but it has a nasty tendency to create bubbles in your finish. If you use Poplar it will be necessary to seal the wood very well before painting and finish. Redwood is one wood I have not tried but ironically enough I bought some yesterday and cut out several baits from it last evening. I know of at least one builder using it and he very much likes it. I drilled some holes in the stuff and I would say the density of the wood is comparable to poplar. jed

Yep, it just seems to "glow" Dean when you put on the Etex. Robzilla, All of my baits (well 99%) are sold to musky fisherman in the midwest and Canada. This particular bait went to a doctor in Wisconsin. I do sell a few baits to bass fisherman in CA, AZ, and TX. Thanks for the kind words guys! Jed

Windknot, didn't get the message...you can try again or just email me directly if you prefer at: tossmealine@yahoo.com. jed

Just finished this 8" bait and wanted to show it to you guys, great swimmer too. Hope you like it. jed

I order mine from WTP and haven't found a place that can beat the price. The min order tho is 1000. jed

Thanks for sending them lunge, they are perfect!!! I hope to give it a try this wknd. Thanks to everyone else for the input. Jed

Yea the ones we use for salmon here are big, like 6 inches long and have a huge left to right wobble, really cool! I want to modify one but can't do it with the plastics on the market because they are hollow. The "flatfish" design is a very old shape with lots of versions. Here is my email lunge and thank you! tossmealine@yahoo.com

I will probably be using a light wood Brock. Mallard, Have you tried to tried to build a big Oreno? Like 6 inches long? I want something with a big wobble just like the flatfish. Jed

That is fine brock so long as you aren't building some real big baits. I have found that bigger baits require additional sealing! Use the kilz, let dry a full day or longer in a warm home, then go to paint, wait another day, then go to clearcoat. Watch out if you are using western red cedar, it's very light and not the best choice. Jed

Brock, Do a search on these topics...you might specifically do a search on "skeeter" as the author as he has spent a great deal of time in the past discussing bill angle, length, etc. There are some great minds here just keep asking and keep looking. I received my first degree at WWCC many moons ago. I was raised in Walla2 and spent a million hours chasing smallmouth on the surrounding rivers. Get ready now and you will be ready for some serious smallmouth action on the Walla Walla in about a month. Jed

Hey Brock, I didn't realize it until now but you are about 30 miles from me. I was raised in Walla Walla and now live in Pendleton. I will be driving through College Place tomorrow evening for work....small world eh? I would be happy to stop by your place sometime to talk about baits. Perhaps you are involved with the college there? Listen to what the guys are telling you, it's all great advice. Skeeter is right too, pick one bait and stick with it until you figure it out. The other piece of advice I would give is to pick a bait you like and make one somewhat similar. Home depot has a great selection of woods to choose from. jed

If you are building large lures like those for musky a sealer cannot be overstressed. If you do not get them properly sealed you will be plagued with bubbles, believe me, I know! If you are using eastern red cedar like the stuff used for making cedar trunks you will experience far less trouble than western red cedar which is far less dense. If this is your first bait keep it simple, white body black head, red body black head, yellow body black head, etc. RM

Have you noted any yellowing with the lacquer baitmaker? RM

The fees have jumped in recent months considerably too. Last year was red hot for baits on Ebay for me but this year things have really slowed up. Ebay is a great way to advertise tho. jed

As of a week ago, this! My new baby!!!

Here's a pic of me hoisting the beast shortly before blowing out my knees, my back and several other vital body parts!!!!

For what it is worth I bought a single bottle of windex probably a month ago and have painted dozens of baits since that time and I don't think I have used a half cup of the stuff yet. For 3 dollars you will probably have enough windex to last several years, lol.............I don't think it's gonna break us. jed

Brandon, Be careful about using etex or devcon over the top of many of the plastic baits. Many of the plastic baits are not designed to have a thick clear coat put on them and when you put the stuff on it will dramatically change the action. You might even find that some baits won't swim at all with a thick coat of clear on them. If you are repainting plastics I would suggest you use a spray on lacquer or similar type of clear coat that goes on thin. Maybe someone else with more experience in this regard can chime in here and help you. If you do put the etex/devcon on try it on just one bait first to see what happens. Jed

Devcon can be obtained at Wal-Mart...get the "two ton" version not the five minute. Envirotex lite can be obtained at many craft stores and some hardware stores. I order mine online here: http://www.alpineimport.com/searchresult.asp?CartId={9D2B4F9B-612F-47EEVEREST9-A7B4-8E5A688E627E} jed

I'm thinking about a slight modification to a flatfish for salmon and wondered how hard it is to make a flatfish from wood. Quite some time ago I tried carving some flatfish from wood but never did get around to weighting them.....I am thinking a large size, like 6" long flatfish. Anyone ever built them successfully? jed

I ran across a bit of info several weeks ago while surfin a newsgroup on google and wanted to share the info with you guys. The airbrush experts on the newsgroup suggested to use Windex to thin water based paints instead of water. Well I tried it and it makes a big difference! First off, if you aren't spraying createx or a similar grade of paint I would highly recommened you do so soon. The difference between cheap Wal-Mart paints and createx is enormous and spraying good paints is fun. The createx from my experience still requires some thinning which I now do with windex. I just spray the stuff in on top of the paint, shake well, and start spraying. I do still get the occassional dirt clod on the end of the tip and have to adjust air pressure a bit but once I'm dialed I just keep spraying, it's awesome! The windex is blue but it seems to have no effect on the color of the paint.. Try it, you will like it! Hehehehehe jed

I'm wondering how you get a bait that is covered in etex/devcon on to the wheel.....what will hold the bait while you are putting on your clear coat? My dryer has a large motor on it, guessing it has 10 times the torque a BBQ motor has and I have to keep the wheel balanced with the big baits or it starts working too hard. I am guessing you will find the same thing with this dryer. I am very interested in seeing how you end up attaching the baits. jed