Travis

Hmmm.....good luck on that one. http://www.alivelure.com/ http://www.remoralure.com/ https://www.google.com/patents/US6581319 http://www.google.com/patents/US6804909 Also several others covering oscillating motion and different forms of vibration.

I found the Norpor to excel at holding spoons, pencils, and other miscellaneous lure making stuff but that was about all it excelled at in my opinion.

My little compressor runs low 50 decibels and no concerns with noise. If that is your price point then just buy that one or whatever and focus on a friendly return policy just in case.

I would get a dedicated airbrush compressor if quiet is the real key. Reasonably priced? All dependent on the person. I would have no issue with 500 or more if I painted cranks every night. I have a small airbrush compressor (Fusion 1000) I bought at Hobby Lobby clearance for around 25 bucks several years ago. It specs out a little higher than the ones I see now listed. It pushes 45 psi max (for an initial burst but drops to 35-37 psi in use). I would prefer a little more at times but it does the trick and the price is right and it is quiet. You can carry on a conversation while painting. I would likely get a "name brand" air brush compressor and if really want to push the noise level construct a box to place it in (similar design to the boxes many make for small compressors or shop vacs used by hobbyist woodworkers). Compressed air is always an options also as renting a tank/regulator isn't all that expensive.

Set up the same way as you but I place near the end of my bench and clamp the base to bench. I usually clean when hot with a folded over cloth (damp at times) and more about removing just hot plastic. I have used a puddy knife also just heated with a torch also.

The issue I have with PVC.....I find it messy and it just lacks the "warmth" and tactile nature of wood. Simply it is more enjoyable to use wood in my book but I would recommend trying PVC. I have to disagree with poplar or pine as being a wood I would intentionally source for carving cranks. As far as carving the three I listed above are definitely where I would start if going to carve with basswood being the easiest for most to source. Balsa is my second favorite to use for cranks (but not because of carving just the lively action and heavy weighting you can get in a small bait). You can get basswood at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc... but they are charging crazy prices. Much cheaper to get it from a mill or local sawyer and being in Michigan you shouldn't have any issues finding decent sources of basswood. Worst case I can send you a priority mail box of the stuff. As far as tools all you really need is a good knife. A specialty carving knife would be what I recommend for ease of use. Keep it sharp and use a strop and cuts like butter is almost dead on description of using basswood. I use Flexcut knives (just a solid entry level knife) and use the roughing knife, detail, mini detail, and cutting knife. Definitely other options for knives and if the Hock knives (Ron Hock) are as good as the plane blades he makes definitely worth the money. As mentioned you do have to get a good topcoat and glue in ties and lips good to avoid issues. I never found it to be an issue in the cranks I have made and definitely don't worry about it. Worst case it fails....you build another one. You are far more likely to loose a plug fishing than loosing a plug to water issues, unless you just use bad techniques.

Same hot knife I have for the same reason. Works great.

What are you wanting to do? Carve a realistic crank or just carve a crank? I prefer basswood, palowina, or jelutong when carving. Balsa just not great when it comes to taking detail but you can shape it easily with a knife or just a few passes of sandpaper. For most cranks I use a flexcut knife or similar to round over the profile. If looking at detail I will do the same but use a dremel and various bits. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/26592-wooden-lure-templates/

Brandon- I end up making all my baits and havent' bought any blanks. I would have no issues with Predator or the other usual ones. To be honest this is one of those things that you should have no issues with getting some support on, especially if you have any information on the program. At 30 kids I don't think that is too difficult to come up with a single pack or plastics, a crank , or a spinnerbait, buzzbait, etc...for each. I know you said you weren't looking for handouts but send me your contact information. It won't be junk or used stuff.

Best bet is to sell on this site or ebay. Otherwise you will be hard pressed to find anyone wanting to buy the product and most would want to charge you to take it.

If I am not making it I would rather just buy the real deal.

So a lure actually catching fish never comes into play in regards to determination if it is a good lure or not?

Craftsman.....becomes a difficult one to nail down. I don't view a lot of what we make as being produced by a craftsman. For some it becomes a necessity as they don't have the time to make the numbers they need. If dependent up on or needing the income it becomes the clearest way forward to make the demands. Just the progression of things for some. I find that a lot of guys that end up going production end up losing that something special that made their baits sought after to begin with. They still sell based on the name but all so often if you have a few of the pre production baits you find those are the gems and the new ones are nothing more than the "poor man's" version of big box baits. Others do it just because that is what drives them. For some I don't think making a decent bait has anything to do with it for them purely more of a look what I did, some sort of verification they are "legit". I think I see this a lot more in soft plastics as the barriers ($$$$) to do so are lower. I think it becomes difficult as many can't differentiate the qualities of a crank bait. A mass produced $2.00 crank off the Wal Mart shelf, a well done mass produced crank, a hand made crank from the average guy, and then a hand made crank from a group of "special makers". They all will likely catch fish but...... Bottom line a hand made bait made by a guy that understands (performance, how to fish, etc...) that is hand tuned will almost undoubtedly outperform a mass produced product.

It is static. We utilize various methods to control the issue on all our balances. From simple static strips, U shaped ionizer to pass samples through as placed on the balance, and faraday basket/cage to hold sample for weighing. Last time Mettler Toledo came to demonstrate some balances part of the dog and pony show is demonstrating what you describe. Low humidity also makes it worse.

Definitely should be posted in the thread. Turned out pretty good and looks clean. I had a lot of scale patterns printed out on lens paper but never actually tried it.

This is for top coat....

I simply have a lot of tackle. I fished a lot for years (200 + days). I was on the lake, a river, pond etc... all the time and for 4 years also on the water for classes doing water sampling, contour mapping, typical fisheries stuff... It was a passion of mine and I thought something I wanted to do as I had no wife no kids no responsibilities. All I did was fish, study fish, eat fish, lol... Fishing stuff was everywhere and I always found bargains and had money left over after paying for everything and putting money in my Roth, savings, etc... so I just bought tackle. A lot of stuff was given to me as I knew/know a lot of people that have connections. Now I have a garage with crap stacked in the boat, on shelves, and in a closet that I cringe every time I step into it. I have purged a lot but still have too much. None of my kids show much interest in fishing but haven't given up yet (reason I kept the left hand reels) As they get older they may be more inclined to go. We went a lot when they were kids but fishing was low priority and swimming, catching critters, etc... was what we did mainly. It just didn't transition over to fishing so far. I understand the lefty issue. It is a hot topic in my house. My wife suffers (and my middle child) from this disabling condition. On top of this they are constantly discriminated against. I have to point out I understand the difficulties of using a glass, cup, fork, door knob, etc... all designed for righties. We can't even go to the movies as the popcorn is always right handed kernels. I figure at some point my wife will give in and file for disability. I tried that video clip and and got a good laugh trying it. My hands are so stiff/sore right now from working in the shop more than usual. I couldn't do it but closer with the left hand.

You two crack me up. Here I thought locating and catching fish was the tricky part!!!!! Left hand bait casters are relatively easy to come by anymore, especially if you don't mind ordering from Cabelas, BPS, Tackle Warehouse, etc.... Heck hard pressed not to find a left handed bait caster offering if you just click on one at BPS site. I have a few some still new in the box. They are older Daiwa S 103HL models. I got them to try out flipping as they were hyped as being the "cats meow" in some circles, as you could just engage the reel with a flip of the switch if needed. NIB should tell you how much of a difference I found them to make.

I am fairly certain I had a few packs of that color at one time (got them with an entire box of goodies from a deceased yammamota pro staffer also). I will take a look and see and if I have the recipe in my cook book.

Spinning reels have their time and place and frankly most bass fishing applications aren't one of them. Yes it can be done with both but efficiency and ease of use really have to be taken into account. With the right rod and reel you can cast a crank far enough with bait casting equipment (air drag on the bait itself and line become the limiting factor not the reel). One might argue that just look at guys making their living fishing and see what they use...any reason for that? See a lot of guys cranking with spinning gear, fishing traps, fishing spinner baits, fishing jigs/pigs, fishing carolina rigs, etc..... Outside of light lining and other finesse situations not much a bait casting set up doesn't excel at in the right hands for bass fishing applications. As far are gear ratio.....spinning reels are usually found in the same gear ratio and/or line recovery inches per turn as bait casters. You don't have to spend a lot to get solid equipment. I think my Shimano Symetre is pushing 20 years old and besides regular cleaning functions nearly as well as day one. I have a few other spinning rod/reel set ups in the same price range but they don't compare. Many guys will point out the Pflueger President is one reel very hard to beat with regards to bang for the buck and I know a lot of creek guys and waders like it as it is cheap, performs well, and ends up getting dunked, dropped, etc.. often in these scenarios. I have been looking at Shimano Stradic and St. Croix Avid X to try out next. I don't fish near as much as I used to but would much prefer decent gear in my hands. Just think of all that money we are saving making baits just put some of that towards a quality rod/reel set up.

You test them on the water......Doesn't take too long to know how deep those deep divers get. Find a submerged road, bridge, pilings, stumps, etc.... I have fished a lot of cranks made by guys reported to get to x depth to find out real quick even with that rod tip rammed into the water I wasn't hitting objects at a known depth. It is all about the feel. If you can't tell how deep it is when fishing then you have to spend more time on the water. Electronics make it easier but nothing you can't figure out with a carolina rig, texas rigged worm, or jig and then follow up with the crank.

At one time there was a thread concerning the usual fryers (fry daddy etc...). I don't know if the slow cooker is similar but the claim was once the base was removed there was a temperature set screw that was covered with some sort of coating that could be removed and then the temperature set. Never tried it so might not be legit. The small crock we have at my house looks to have a "rivet" that has to be removed before the base could even attempt to be removed from the housing.

I use the sanding sealer. I believe it is a 3lb cut but find it works fine and don't dilute. I will sand lightly to get some tooth, as you pointed out, and knock any potential raised grain. I don't venture much outside of basswood and balsa. I use CA glue frequently to seal stuff on the lathe as it doesn't get much quicker. I have made a few cedar cranks but most of what I have is stuck on the shelf.

If hand made definitely going to be hard to be true identical copies. However "identical", in my opinion, has some variance that will allow one to get the same to near same performance. This allows one to make cranks that repeatedly perform. I try to repeat the same process when making my cranks once I get one worked out as it reduces errors. We could take a micrometer and find variances but I believe I use enough methods to insure repeat ability and get "identical" cranks. Starting out important to do multiples as it really helps one to to learn repeatable technique (at least for me). I try doing a half dozen or so as a minimum.

Band saw blade works well. I have a few old junk saws I cut blanks out of and shape using a dremel, files, etc... to desired profile. I use them mainly in a scratch stock however. Usually I stop at 150 or so and seal with shellac then a quick pass again before paint. I have dipped with Zinsser Bulls Eye also as it usually end up being thick enough to cover up any imperfections and makes sanding less important. More like the undercoat on Poe's cranks.