BobP

Don't know about ASAP, but I'd order it online from mcmaster.com, which lists theirs as "music wire". They carry a wide array of wires, have good prices, and ship pretty fast.

Maple and oak have a nominal density of 47.1 lbs/cu ft, which is among the higher wood densities. The woods most often used for crankbaits are balsa, basswood, and white cedar. None of them have a density above 23 lbs/cu ft so your maple will be twice as dense. Is it possible to build a crankbait from maple? Yes, but you may have problems making it float after you add the hardware. Most of us prefer lighter woods so we can adjust the buoyancy of the bait with ballast. Lighter woods also give baits a more lively action. JMHO, the raw material (wood plus hardware) for a crankbait is dirt cheap compared to most craft products and is of minor note compared to the amount of work you will put into making a good crankbait, so it makes sense to use what you feel is the "right stuff". On the bass crankbaits I make, the most expensive component are always the treble hooks I hang on the bait after I finish it.

I didn't mean to suggest using either lacquer or water based acrylic paints without topcoating it with a durable waterproof clearcoat. On my crankbaits, I figure any kind of paint or coating will stay on the lure if you topcoat it with a moisture cured urethane, epoxy, or automotive clearcoat (provided the various coatings are compatible enough not to bubble).

Sonny, a thumbnail primer on circuit board: Using G10 circuit board for lips started a few years ago. It's as tough, thinner and more rigid than clear polycarbonate (aka Lexan). Besides the depth advantage that Ben notes, it also produces a sharper, different rebound off of cover than Lexan does, which many consider an advantage for inducing reaction strikes. Circuit board is a substrate that is impregnated with an epoxy resin and then heat set. The substrate can be various things - paper, fiberglass, etc. For the translucent white-slightly-green board most popular in crankbait lips, the substrate is fiberglass. Circuit board is called by various names like G10, FR4, Micarta, Garolite, etc. G10 is a technical classification for circuit board and there are others available in the G series classification with varying physical properties. However, G10 is usually considered the best balance between cost vs performance for crankbaits. Circuit board comes in a range of thicknesses and colors: black, brown, green, yellow, white, etc. It's also available copper coated. Electronics builders generally don't care about color. We do, so you have to check to see you're buying the color you want. For bass baits, I use 1/32" thick white-slightly-green G10. It's the same stuff and thickness that the fishing lure component stores sell as ready-to-install circuit board lips, and that's what you see on commercial baits with circuit board lips. The 1/32" G10 is plenty stiff enough to use on deep divers with big, long lips. The only issue that exists with G10 is that it is not transparent like Lexan. Some builders feel a clear lip is critical, some don't see it as a big issue. You have to make your own judgement. Having fished lures with both Lexan and G10 lips for several years, I haven't sensed any hesitation for bass to hit lures with G10 lips - even super deep divers with lips that are as long as the crankbait's body. That said, if there were such a thing as transparent G10, I'd use it. But there isn't. McMaster-Carr online catalog carries a pretty good description of the various properties and tech specs of circuit board, which they carry under the term "Garolite". It's worth a read.

Ben, I have enough to last awhile but it's inevitable that I'll need more and it's hard to find! I think the G-10 I used to buy from ASP Rocketry was called "Wonder Board". There are various manufacturers and I gather from earlier searches that the native size from manufacturers is a 4'x8' sheet.

I'd post this on the wire baits forum.

Matt, I use soft temper stainless "safety lock" wire from McMaster-Carr. It's easy to bend accurately but is still strong enough for the hook hangers and is an advantage for the line tie because it allows you to tune the bait without cracking the finish on the nose. On 2" baits and larger, the .041" soft temper ss works well. On smaller baits, I move down to .032" wire. If you look at some of the "classic" fat balsa baits, and many modern custom versions, they often use soft temper wire. The old baits typically used brass or copper but the soft ss wire is corrosion proof.

I don't have problems with hand twisted eyes in heavy balsa. I make them at least an inch long, poke epoxy in the hole, butter the screw shank with epoxy, and push them in. I've never had one pull out while fishing. Is it as durable as thru-wire? Not if the lure is abused, but even a thru-wire won't save a balsa bait that's abused. Just never slap the bait on the water to clear weeds off the trebles. Hand twisted eyes in harder woods are never a problem.

Rob, High buoyancy is exactly why shallow crankbaits are made from balsa. It makes for very lively action and allows the bait to be fished through snarly wood cover without being snagged. I like to shoot for a blend of buoyancy and castability and I look to popular commercial baits to give me direction. One of the premier commercial baits of this type is the Zoom WEC E1. It's exactly 2" long and weighs 1/2 ounce with short shank #4 trebles. I like to throw a bait that's a little lighter and more lively, .40 to .45 oz, so clone an E1 and ballast mine accordingly - which turns out to be 4.25 g of ballast with the light balsa bodies I make. To figure required ballast, I weigh the body and all the hardware, add .025 oz for finish, and subtract the total from the desired target weight to get the amount of ballast needed. You can hit a target weight + or - .01 oz reliably using that method. If you are building a unique fat balsa bait, this method is not as exact because your body is probably shaped somewhat differently. In that case, a float test is really the only way to be precise. But based on my experience and likes/dislikes, I think you are close to where I'd want a 2" balsa bait to be with 4.5 g of ballast. I agree with Mark that If you want a slow floating bait, there's little reason to build it from balsa. I'd choose a wood (basswood or white cedar come to mind) that is naturally more dense and durable, and will require less ballast. But you'll still need a float test. You did one on your bait - you just waited too late in the build process!

Many of us never get into lacquers because of the toxicity but having seen lacquer painted lures, my impression is they make for some very nice baits with vibrant colors. If you have the facility and already have a "lacquer skill set", there's certainly no reason to avoid them.

Maybe RayburnGuy can give more authentic info but the Rayburn Red I see are more a reddish orange to burnt orange, rather than red. I start with orange and add a little red, then maybe a few drops of brown.

I bought a roll of "frisket material", which is an adhesive plastic film with a peel-off paper backing designed for airbrush stencils. It's much more pliable than a milk jug or other things I tried and it's easy to cut accurately with an X-acto knife. Rather than peel and stick (which can lift paint when removed), I leave the backing on the film, cut the stencil, and just hold it on the lure. Reverse it for the other side of the lure. That way, it becomes re-usable and you develop a library of stencils as you go along. About $10 from an art supply source is a virtual 'lifetime supply' of frisket material.

Yes, fish see colors. I've read that red dulls pretty quickly and goes to gray at less than 10 ft deep in freshwater. Shades of blue persist the deepest, maybe as deep as 20 ft. Contrast can only be calculated between 2 colors, so you have to specify which 2. But black-white, purple-yellow are classic high contrast pairs. I don't think there are any issues about using fluorescent shades. In shallow water, they'll fluoresce. In deep water, the fluorescence will disappear and the base color characteristics will still be there. If you want to brighten things up in deeper water, you can also go with glow-in-the-dark paints which are available in a wide variety of colors nowadays.

I think it's impossible to be exact in figuring that out. I've built 15-20 rods on various rod blanks and think there's a break-even point somewhere around $100. If the components cost less, I can usually find a factory rod with similar components at the price I'd pay for the components alone. Above the break-even point, you save increasing amounts of money compared to the price of a factory rod - easily as much as $100 or more on high end rods. So, at the "mid-range" $200 price point, you will save some money. But having gone through the process myself, I would not build rods just to save the money. There can be other benefits besides cost but there are also possible pitfalls. And building a good rod is a skill set that takes some time, study, and effort to learn.

Maybe, but my favorite source for all kinds of wire is McMaster-Carr online (mcmaster.com). I think it's called "music wire".

Yes you can. Assuming your compressor is an oil-less model with a valve that can regulate the pressure to the 10-45 psi range which airbrushes use, all you'll need is to add a moisture filter. If it's an oil lubricated motor, you'll also need an in-line oil filter. A moisture filter and a few connector adapters from your local home center air tool department and you should be in business.

Clint, you can learn a lot by doing a search on 'airbrush" and 'compressor' on the Hardbaits Forum. Many guys ask the same questions. Long story short, most airbrushes will get the job done. However, there is a preference among TU'ers for quality airbrush brands like Iwata and for gravity feed/internal mix airbrushes. If you're going to use one airbrush, a model with a .3 or .35 mm tip size is probably the 'sweet spot' for crankbait painting. There is also a preference for using tool compressors instead of "airbrush compressors". Like the airbrush, most compressors will get the job done but a compressor with an air storage tank works better and tool compressors are relatively cheap compared to many airbrush compressors.

It doesn't seem like Rich is asking about the trebles, but a hook hanger that rotates. Wouldn't that basically be a swivel? I haven't seen any that are designed as hook hangers.

I've never worried too much about variation in basswood density because it seems very uniform compared to other species. I build crankbaits to a "target finished weight", so if the wood density varies, I'll adjust the ballast to get a specific finished weight and the baits will still perform similarly. Personally, I don't worry about the cost of wood - or glue, or paint, or Lexan, etc. All that stuff together never costs as much as the quality trebles I put on the bait when I'm finished building it. And that's one of the charms of building your own baits.

Does anyone else have this same problem? It has been several months now since the last change to TU and it is still the SLOWEST site to get a server response after my browser connects, compared to any of a hundred other sites I visit. It's getting to the point of being a buzz kill. I have a fast desktop machine, a fast DSL line, and other sites flash up on my screen in less than 1 second. When I access TU, I may as well get up, go get a cup of coffee, and take a nap!

http://www.jannsnetc...cks/340200.aspx I don't think there's anywhere you can buy "ready to paint" balsa lures. On the above, you need to install the hook hangers, ballast, and lip, then finish the lure including sanding, undercoating, painting, and topcoating. In other words, you have to do everything to make the lure except shape the body.

I can't believe anyone would leave a gallon can of moisture cured urethane open on the bench and dip lures directly into it! Unless maybe he was getting to follow that by dipping another 500 lures after filming!