LaPala

Okay. That makes it 2 for epoxy, 0 to Super glue. I'll go and Devcon it on now... ya the biting holes too. Thanks guys.

I'm making a laminated (wood-acylic-wood) lure as pictured. What is the best adhesive to use to glue the parts up? Devcon? Super Glue? I have to make sure it's rock solid as the lure is designed for giant-snakehead and arowana, both fishes are big, powerful, destructive brutes.

I agree with Lincoya on the knife thing. Once you get the hang of it, nothing beats a nice thin bladed sharp knife 11/2 to 2 inches is just nice. In fact, you can fashion some nice carving knives from old hack-saw blades. Just add some elbow grease to hone it to a scary sharp edge.

Thanks for the input guys. I have a little grouse over flat sided bait after casting them for arowanas last Friday - getting hits but no solid hook-ups then I switch back to a rounded lure & got the only hookup for the day on the third cast. Could it be the gap between the hook & lure body that's causing it? (see attached diagram) Arowanas have a rock solid jaws & these buggers are like F1 cars. I had 2 busted 3X treble that day. I'm back to the drawing board now, wanna create a round bait that uses oversize single hooks. I even have a name for it , the new lure shall be call "OverKill"

Wow! That makes Timmy in league with the big boys!!!! Way to go man.

Rivrman: Like I've mentioned b4, why don't we get the ball rolling by securing donations/funds first. Who to give to can come later. I think it better that we already have something to give in hand rather then having reciepients with us having nothing to give.

I'm a couple of days late but welcome!!

Welcome aboard Michael. That's exactly what I said when I found this site. Nice, friendly, and helpful people peopled this site!!

It has been raining cats & dogs for the past 3 days here. Can't go fishing, humidity too high to make lures - so I have some time to kill I practically grew up on Rapala lures over here so till a couple of years ago I used to assume all cranks are rounded or at least contoured :oops: When I started making lures, it was out of unavailibility of the Rapala SFR so that turned me to trying to "pirate" copy one & have now sunk so deep into making lure I sometimes feel I go fishing just because I wanted to test out a new lure, concept or color combinations. Since participating in this forum I was exposed to a lot of concepts/finishing/methods. Some new, some I've done that, and the best is the "Hey, why I didn't think of that" stuff. Coming to the flat-sided lures. Since seeing a lot of them here & how some can even produce it as a buisness; I tried making some. And going from making rounded lures to making flat sided ones make me go "wow, this is easy". Then come the moment of .Why make rounded lures when flat ones are easier to make & duplicate? Not having much experience with flat-sided lures I copied some Rapala lure profile but kept the side flat (& slightly slimmer to keep bouyancy characteristic almost the same) & then tweaked the lips a little to get almost similiar swimming action. Here's what I found: Flat-sided lures movement in the vertical plane is more pronounced but are more resistant to side to side movement. It's like moving a plank flat thru water compare to a round dowel of equal diameter. The flat plank catches more water whereas water seem to just flow over a round profile. Now coming to lures; assuming we are able to produce similiar swimming action in a flat-sided & rounded lure, the flat-sided lure as it moves thru the water will produce a more pronounced wake (water turbulance) thru its path compare to a rounded lure. More wake = more vibrations = more fish attracting qualities??? I haven't had any chance to do a side by side fishing comparisons but so far both type catches fish. But then fishes are finicky, one day they are aggressive, one day they might only take finnasse, subtle presentation. So I might never know for certain is there is one type that is better. Anyone has any take on this?? I'm real curious.

If you just sand/scrape off the mineral deposits carefully & not hurt the original clear coat then I'd say just a clear rattle can aerosol coat can hide the scracthes & you'd be using them in no time. Just make sure you wipe the whole lure with thinner b4 you spray. Oil/grease spots will make the thin aerosol coat peel after some use. If you top-caoat again the be careful not to do it too thick. The balsa Rapalas are pretty sensitive with added weight & it does kill the action a bit. The plastic type if it's RNR then make sure the slight indentation on the front is not covered flat, it kills the action.

I'm encrusted with saw-dust at the moment, but I'll put in a quick one here. I'll go for CASH or conversion to cash. When we have the $$ if a worthy cause is found we're ready to give. We can set up some kind of trust or someting along that line here at TU. This can be an on going thing too, set up month auctions/sales to raise the coifer. If we can raise enough to get the funds rolling and a little bit self maintaining we can even have a page where those with need can apply. This means a lot of work for people to maintain it though but it then wounldn't be a on-off kind of thing. Just my 2 cents.

I notice this is your first post, welcome aboard. And you're one lucky guy. I've found tackles b4 while diving but never in a 5 gal pails My first love is Rapalas & have taken quite a few apart so let me answer briefly. Yes all Rapalas are covered with a top-coat; I still don't know what they use but if you would sand/grind/cut a corner out first you can insert a blade under the coat a peel them off. I don't know what condition the lures you found are in but if it's from the sea then make sure you check the line-ties & hook-eyes. A couple of days in the sea can corrode even those stainless steel parts & usually it's the part just inside the body where you can't see it that's been rusted out conpletely .

Thanks for the explanation JR. I've been having trouble shaping lexan and pelexiglass b4 cause I usually overheat them & cause bubbling and the short working time too. Now maybe I can try more complex shapes like the Rapala SSR lip Thanks Didn't think of using my jig for balancing spools & arbors, cool BTW, I cover the whole jig in a transparent plastic container cause the jig is so friction free a little draft will cause my lure blanks to swing.

JR: Can you please explain what the heated sandbags are for? I'm a little bit lost there. Is the lexan heated & then placed in between the sandbag or it's placed there to pre-heat it. Thks.

Jed: Nice one. I'm a little bit far to be sending in stuff but I can volunteer some PayPal transfers. I would like to suggest activities for the phsically challenged, I have a soft spot for them.

cullin8s: I did that. What I meant was the bait-fishes here are plain vanilla looking & not as interesting to make photo finish of compared to sunfishes & the other colorful fishes you have there. The snakeheads by Art Brush are colorful but it'll surely scare the living hell out of my target fishes as snakeheads are the top predetors here. I've included a pic of seluang for your viewing pleasure - the bait-fish I was making a photo-finish of.

You guys are right. There is just too many variables in the making of a wooden crank and the real charm in the wooden crank is "there's no two identical ones". I was miserable when the jig showed so may "flawed" blanks but then I do differ about the process as I do think it is important to take out all the humanly possible variance and when we arrive at the final product it is as consistant to the last one as possible. Sort of taking out as much "guessing" as possible from the equation. I'm shooting the moon here but I feel at the end I might arrive at a more controlled end product. BTW, How do you guys balance your lure? My mind is actually moving at a tangent here right now... If I contol how much listing there is in a balnk I might arrive at an angle that makes a lure hunt, sort of built in the listing (& imbalance?)... hmmm. I've already tried yesterday on the depth placemennt of weights & even a 1 mm difference change the listing. Even by drilling 1 degree off can cause an otherwise straight blank to list. I'm mumbling here.. better stop & get to my lure making table Terrydabassman: did some photo-finish but our local bait-fish that I try to imitate isn't as colorful as sunfishes & perch over there, so it's just so-so finishes. Been adapting the technique to detailing though - on a new body that I'm developing; I'll post some pics when I'm finished.

After reading one of Chips post somewhere about using an RC propeller balancer to check his lure’s balancing; it got me thinking. I’ve always wondered about how “balanced” the wooden lures I’ve carved & floating it in water doesn’t always show (especially) the right-left balance of a lure blank. This is componded by the fact floating in water will cause the lure to soak up some water & I’ve got to wait for it to really dry up to test again – after sanding of a bit here & there by guesstimate & eyeballing the lure blank. This is what I came up with: I tested a lure-blank & found out I'm a bad carver: Notice as I added weight & then a hook, the lure begins to be "righter". This IS expected as I'm lowering the centre of gravity each time & those added weight "pulls" the blank straight. Now I'm more confused than ever, b4 this I just test floated my lures & eye-ball it for rightness. Now I know 8 out of 10 of my blanks list to one side without weights (not as bad as pictured; chose the worst for clarity of pic - but they still list). Flat sided blanks are more forgiving in making though it's about 3 out of 10 that list and easily corrected. (Maybe this is one of the reason I get the occasional "hunting" lure) In a purr-fect world the blanks should balance right/left but I'm only human, so the question is: A. The blank should be right-left balanced withoud added weight/hook - without exception OR; B. As long as blank can balanced with added weight it is okay OR; C. I am nit-picking cause the lures I made b4 this test was alright. Any ideas guys?

Ever thought about belly-buttons guys? Actually an a$$-hole would be more accurate. I notice this one time when I was fishing for jungle perch (Hampala macrolepidota or sebarau is what we call it here). There were lots of dead bait fish on the surface with busted bellies. I netted some home for observation in my aquarium & they were attacked readily. The one to die first were the one with slightly more bloated belly & the anus was slightly protruding & reddish. They were the females that just laid their eggs or going too and they were targeted first by the sebaraus in my aquarium. The next trip out I tricked my lures with a round red sticker on the belly. And voila! a kill spot. It works for other predetory fishes here too. Works best on lures with white or chome/foiled belly. Give it a try, just a round red sticker on the belly. I tried it with a friend once using the same lure & tackle and I out fish him 3 to 1. Someone can come up with a scientific explanation?

Awesome Shawn. Now I don't have to grope in the dark (pun intended). Thanks a million. This post sure belongs in the knowledge base. Following your lead, maybe I can place a stencil over the lure and just sprinkle the spots that I want to glow...; small depressions craved into the lure to hold the epoxy & powder. Hmm... I wonder when I can have the time to try out all the ideas & methods I've learned here. Thanks to cullin too for your suggestions.

two hands pressed together and held near the heart with the head gently bowed - "namaste".

I found a shop here who sell's glow-in-dark powder (green) that is mixed in epoxy. Meaning to try out this stuff for a while but couldn't get any until now. Can someone tell me how to use this stuff? Which layer should the glow stuff go? Under the paint or above? How I can control which part glow & which part doesn't? I was also informed that it comes in blue, green & white but it's too expensive, the guy doesn't carry them. Anyone knows any source off the web? I'm from Malaysia so going to Walmart would mean spending 800 bucks on airfare alone; so only mail order might work for me. Offhand from what the guy selling it tells me about application method I would mix the powder in epoxy & cover the whole lure after the primer layer & then do the paint job. Is this basically the right order & method? Thanks guys

This website explains a lot about color mixing & theories for the artist, maybe you guys would like to check it out. Lots of links & info about color and it's base compositions; clickable color wheel to arrive at pigment info... heavy reading stuff (at least to me). Should help you find the correct color you want to use. The url: http://www.mauigateway.com/~donjusko/RCWDS.htm; start here and follow the other links. Don't blame me if you're stuck here forever , it's heavy reading & tons of info to digest. PS: kellure: Is this the true chartreuse you're looking for? http://www.mauigateway.com/~donjusko/rcwyellowgreen.htm

Thanks Skeeter for clearing that up. Yeah, the Devcon 5 min Epoxy sure yellows, even Devcon's Adhesive Guide states the color as light amber. It even bleeds thru over time to make the 30 min stuff yellow. Used the 5 min once to glue in thru wire & then painted white over it. After a few weeks I have a yellowish belly where the 5 min glue line was. Avoid it like plague now