BobP

I split balsa baits with a razor blade, using a scribed line around the bait as a guide. Can't drill a straight hole to save my life! It's also nice to have access to the whole interior of the bait for routing wire, installing weight, rattles, etc. Having a solid epoxy "backbone" throughout the bait when you join the halves provides a lot of reinforcement too. I use smaller wire than Yake since there aren't many big toothy critters swimming down here in the S.E.

On floating baits, I just sand the existing finish with 400 grit sandpaper to remove any oxidation or loose paint and give it some "tooth". If I need to remove ALL the finish (suspending bait or badly chipped/scratched), I use 220 grit paper and/or peel (not scrape) the old finish off with a very sharp Swiss Army knife, then sand with 400 grit as before. I've never had any luck with solvents; it usually ends up a big gooey mess.

A split ring? Honestly, with all that hardware I would have built it with the screw eyes one insde the other. IMO, no sense in adding hardware if you don't have to.

I make a few 5" Sammy style banana walking baits and I put the ballast mid distance between the belly hanger and the tail. You have to float test the bait with different ballast weight to find the amount of weight that wil give you the float angle you want. Also, I don't recommend melting lead into a ballast hole in soft balsa. The hot lead chars the wood around the hole, making it weaker. Slap that baby on the water and the ballast will shoot right out through the finish - believe me, I know!

I only use thru-wire on soft balsa baits. Don't see any need to use it on hardwood but I always epoxy in all eye screws.

That's a great looking bait! Nice work.

I'd be looking for a brush with a .2mm or .15mm tip for fine line detail. You need to use it with properly thinned airbrush paint at the right pressure. When you see brushes sold as "fine tip", that really isn't significant. It just a relative term meaning smaller than their medium and large tips. For example, the Fine Badger tip size is unspecified but is obviously larger than the standard .2mm tip on an Iwata HP-B.

I shoot Createx at 30-40 psi (unthinned) and haven't had any problem. Could you be putting too much paint on the lure? Do you use a white color basecoat? Holding the airbrush too close to the surface? If the brush is partially clogged, it can separate the paint from it's suspending fluid and can shoot mostly water. I flash dry each color with a hair dryer before moving on to the next (start with gentle flow or that can also push paint around).

I'm assuming it's wood? The segment absorbed water and expanded. I'd hang it up to dry for a week or two and maybe it will shrink back to size. Then, go over it carefully to find where water got in. It's probably the segment joint, the tail, or the hook hanger. Fix it by brushing Devcon Two Ton epoxy over the cracks and the leaking area.

I use wire bending pliers too. They have round noses so you can form wire loops with various diameters. I ordered mine from stamina or netcraft but have seen them in craft stores too. I lay the wire on the lure to eyeball the bends and do it on the fly. The pliers are fairly quick and work well but I can see where a more powerful stationary tool might be better if you're bending hard stainless wire larger than .050" dia.

Stainless leader wire - I pick it up from sporting goods or hardware stores that stock saltwater stuff. Malin Hard-Wire leader comes in a plastic 8"x8" blue and red envelope. I use the coffee colored #12 180 lb test .029" dia wire because it's small enough to bend easily but strong enough for any bait. The coffee color makes a nice "stealth" hook hanger or hinge but it also comes in bright silver. I got my last envelope at Ames hardware, 42' of wire for $2.89. American Fishing Wire makes a similar product. Malin makes a wide variety of wire products. I use their soft stainless steel or soft brass wire for line ties, ordered from McMaster-Carr Mark - Thanks for the rundown on pin hinge construction. Maybe I'll try it next time!

I don't mask but you should remove masking tape immediately after applying epoxy (something learned from rod building). I just try to be careful when doing an epoxy clearcoat. I want it to fill the crack between the slot and the lip but not to get too much on the lip. I use a flat 1/4" artist's "blending" brush for epoxy so it isn't hard to do. When coating with Dick Nite, I just dip until all the body is covered. That usually means getting some out on the lip but IMO that's necessary and acceptable.

Nice looking piece of furniture!

Salty, I'm unaware that Devcon 2 Ton epoxy is volatile or outgases any solvent (it doesn't contain any that I'm aware of). It is a skin irritant. Some epoxies like Etex do contain solvent to slow the cure rate and release bubbles. Also, Dick Nite moisture cured polyurethane seems to outgas most of its solvent quickly, within an hour or so. You can dip in an outdoor area, rotate them for an hour and then take them inside to harden over several days. I haven't read any good reports about water based coatings from those here on TU who have tried them.

Mark, re your question to Dean: Yes and Yes. There's a big density range for balsa, harder being heavier. I often substitute paulownia, which is very hard but only 18 lbs/cu ft (same as the hardest balsa). Mainly just because I have some paulownia and the only balsa I have is very light stuff. Another advantage of very light woods is the crankbait tends to splash down more softly than a plastic or hardwood bait when thrown by "Joe Average" fisherman (that's me!). IMO, that can be an advantage when fishing shallow shore cover. You can't catch'em if you scare the beejeezus out of them.

I use .029" Malin 180 lb Hard Wire stainless steel leader wire. A roll of it is fairly cheap and does a BUNCH of hinges and hangers. Any stainless wire will do as long as you can work it with the tools you have. I use double eye screws formed one inside the other for hinges and haven't tried the eye/pin technique. It just seems more fussy to get right and since I'm doing it from wood, more prone to water infliltration.

I've tried sanding the gloss off D2T to get a matte finish and it works .... until you get it wet. Water fills in the scratches and makes it glossy again. Most of the matte finish lures I've seen have a soft rubbery texture.

Any balsa will work but harder balsa is easier to shape accurately and makes a more durable bait. It's awfully easy to sand a soft balsa bait into a toothpick. Plus you have to take herioc measures to reinforce and toughen it up to be durable. Whatever hardness, it is usually best to split balsa baits and use a through-wire frame for the hardware. The glue (I use 5 min epoxy) you use to rejoin the halves also serves to reinforce the bait.

Speaking of motors, I'm still using a $7 Macro Yang AC-1011 4 rpm timing motor on my little 6 bait dryer after 3 years and a few hundred baits. I got mine from American Science and Surplus but occasionally see them on Ebay. It has a surprising amount of torque but I'd probably go with something beefier if I were turning musky baits. It has worked fine on baits up to 1 1/4 oz.

Nothing will clean it after it cures. Up to a couple of hours after application, denatured alcohol on a Qtip will clean it without clouding the Lexan (the sooner the better).

Another option: If you want a more permanent solution, buy a fine tip caligrapher's pen for less than $5 at a craft store and dip it in Createx black for your signature. A caligrapher's pen looks like the metal tip part of a fountain pen, mounted in a plastic handle. Added benefit, it makes a finer line than an ultrasharp Sharpie.

Craig, you're braver than me - I don't strip them all the way to bare wood because I can't sand the body "straight" if part is raw wood and some still has finish on it. I just sand them down to the undercoating. JMHO, Rapalas have the highest quality versus price of any mass produced wood bait. They don't cover the whole spectrum of crankbaits I like to fish, but with the addition of lots of shallow models the last couple of years, they're getting there.

What more can a man ask? A fishing mother in law.

A sanding tip. On wood lures, never sand all the way down to bare wood. It's usually softer than the finish and you will not be able to maintain the shape of the bait's surface trying to sand both a hard and a soft surface at the same time. Whatever amount of sanding gives you a smooth solid surface is the maximum amount of sanding you want to do. I start with 220 and then finish with 400. If it's already solid, just sand the shine off the existing clearcoat with 400.