BobP

http://www.texaswoodcarvers.com/Tool_Catalog/Adhesives.htm#Epoxy%20Glue The above site sells D2T in 9 oz sets. You can find Envirotex Lite at craft centers like Michael's. It's sold as a table top epoxy.

No one can say how fish "think". But some believe that seeing the prey's eyes is an important part of the capture routine for predators. If you want to save on components, it looks perfectly OK to paint the eyes on.

Scientific dynamics aside, I suggest you build early crankbaits using baits you like and have been successful for you as models. There's a learning curve that everyone has to go through when they begin building, mostly about how to get build steps done efficiently and in the right order. That requires some planning. If you keep the crank body symetrical, take pains to make all the hardware centered, and install the lip straight, you'll be far along the path to building baits that perform well. It amazes me how many commercial wood crankbaits don't seem to get those basics right.

I bought several of Jann's plastic baits just to check them out. The FS Medium Diver is a plastic copy of a D-bait. Inferior action to the balsa original and the circuit board lip is held in by the clearcoat, so it'll snap right out. A favorite bait of mine is the Lucky Craft CB200 which the Jann's PC200 imitates - but it doesn't have the shot content of the CB200, weighs less, and won't fish as well. The FG shallow diver is a copy of a Lucky Craft RC1.5. Nice looking body but again, not enough ballast or action, and it's hard to tune. In the end, I figure you get what you pay for. I'm not complaining - the blanks are probably worth about the price they're sold for. But JMHO, life is too short to spend time building or fishing anything less than proven baits. I'll stick to rehabing good originals or building wood baits from scratch.

It's great when a plan comes together like that. Very nice bunch of fish!

Hmm, if you want something similar to watermelon worm with red flake, I'd start with watermelon base and then flick on some red splatter with a toothbrush.

I think the 4" model is a knock-off of the Deep Little N. Can't comment on whether it's as good. Many blanks look alike but aren't really the same. Even if they are the same shape and size, they often have different ballast (usually less than the popular original).

I do mine using plastic templates drawn with a free autocad program (Powerdraw) to insure symetry. A bit less accurate alternative is the old "paper doll" method where you fold a 3x5" card, draw half the lip at the fold, cut it out and unfold it to get a symetrical lip. I make 3-6 baits at a time so volume and speed are definitely not issues. I just want the few lips I do to be right. I trace around the plastic template with an ultrasharp Sharpie, rough cut it to about 1/16" with metal shears, and then sand down to the exact line with a fine grit Dremel sanding drum. It's a good way to make accurate lips with almost no equipment. To polish the edges, I use a wool Dremel polishing drum without polish. Sort of like doing it on a carpet at 20,000 rpm but don't leave the drum on any part of the lip too long or it can begin to melt Lexan.

Acetone can damage the needle packing in some brushes. Packing stops paint from migrating into the back of the brush. Many brushes now use Teflon packing that is more resistant to solvents. Depending on the age of you HP, it probably has Teflon packing too. I've occasionally run acetone through a new HP-B without noticable damage but prefer to use less volatile stuff like denatured alcohol, Windex or Createx 4011 reducer. They seem to work just as well for acrylic paints, but I can't speak to lacquers.

Dunno, if you only want glass. If plastic 3D eyes will do, you can find various sizes at Jann's Netcraft or at staminainc.com

The only way I've ever gotten it right is experimentation. If you want a lure that has a "X-ing" action, mount all the hardware and then slowly push the lure off a flat surface until you find the tipping point. Ballast there puts equal weight in front of and behind the ballast and gives the lure "X-ing" action. Not saying that's the action you want, but it can be a departure point for experiments. With foam molds, you are in the perfect situation to experiment with ballast position and amount to get whatever action you like. That's not so easy to do with wood baits.

Balsa has a "reference density" of 11.2 lb/cu ft and basswood is around 20 lb, so 16 lb foam is pretty bouyant.

The recently introduced Sisson P-20 deep diver is a balsa crank, so the type of wood you use doesn't necessarily determine the diving depth, but it may impact how lively the bait's action will be. I'm certainly no expert on deep diving lures. Generally speaking, the smaller the angle of the bill relative to the bait's horizontal plane, and also the narrower the bill, the tighter the action will be. The position of the line tie is also relevant, as is the location of the ballast. Somebody with lots of experience in deep cranks, like Skeeter, can undoubtedly provide more detailed help in this area. You may also pick up info in some of the TU tutorials.

Akshully, I think they look nice regardless of your tools or experience. Good sharp detail and nice fades between colors.

Yeah, waterweasle has it. I've got a couple. The head is made from pot metal, not lead, and I think it's designed for saltwater.

I've never used cherry. It has a density of 31.2 lbs/cu ft versus 11.2 for balsa, 20 for white cedar, or 23 for basswood, which are popular crankbait woods. Obviously, it isn't going to be very bouyant so you'll need to go easy on the ballast. I suggest float testing the lure after you waterproof the wood. Mount all the hardware (incl some test trebles and the lip). You can wrap lead solder on the front treble until you get the float you need (remember the finish will add .03-.04 oz of weight to the lure). Then drill a ballast hole and melt in the solder wherever you feel it needs to go. As far as the crooked lip, I'd enlarge the slot until you can fit the lip straight, then use a paste epoxy to mount it. A 50/50 mix of epoxy and acetone is a good sealer but anything that is waterproof will do. On hardwood lures, I feel the sealer's main job is to prevent later water based coatings from raising the grain of the wood. The clearcoat will waterproof everything as a last step. I'm not pro or con on cherry but a less dense wood would give you more options on ballasting and balancing the crankbait and would be much cheaper if you're buying it. With a dense wood, the mass of the lure is distributed throughout the body and only a small ballast (if any) is possible. As well as determining the float, ballast also stabilizes the crankbait, so less dense woods like cedar or basswood offer more options.

Don't know anything about Kistler rods but I made my rods with no foregrip and didn't want the threaded barrel of the seat to extend past where the seat nut would be when holding a reel. Just screw a reel to the seat and mark the part of the seat's barrel that extends beyond the nut, then shorten it with a Dremel cut off wheel. If you use a hook keeper, mount it far enough up the blank so you can loosen the seat nut to change reels.

It depends on how many you want to ship in one pkg, but one of the lightest and strongest pipes to use are the gray 2" central vacuum plastic pipes. The white PVC gets heavy fast! The last time I shipped via USPS, I was told there is a length + circumference total that you cannot exceed (I think it's 96"). So the smaller diameter vacuum pipe is usually necessary to mail 7' rods. Otherwise, you'll probably have to go UPS or FEDEX. As long as the shipper keeps it off conveyor belts, you're OK. If they don't, there's not much that will keep a rod unbroken. It may be worthwhile to check at a UPS package shipping store to see what they offer. I agree the triangular boxes are virtually worthless protection.

The Ambassadeur Pro Max 1600 and 3600. Hot Reels for Not Much Money (and just a little work) I'm a Shimano low profile reel junkie and when Jim Johns of Heartland Tackle Service highly recommended the Ambassadeur Pro Max reels to me a few years ago, I had my doubts. Round reels usually seem pretty clunky to me. But considering the authoritative professional advice and the reel

This must be one curmudgeon to another, Skeeter I love my Scorpion 1000 but we'll disagree about a few features. I totally agree it's one of the best casting reels I've ever used and think Shimanos are the gold standard for baitcaster reliability. I like my Scorpion for small crankbaits and for finesse plastics since it casts light lures so well (and I hate spinning!). But its retrieve is not as smooth as some Shimanos (the 5.9 oz Chronarch 50Mg for one). A longer handle is a significant upgrade at modest cost, IMO. No, a short handle Scorpion will not actually bind. But it can feel like it's on the ragged edge when retrieving a big heavy bait sometimes. A longer handle won't change the gear ratio. It does supply more mechanical leverage to the drive system. One revolution of the handle still turns the spool 6.2 times. Keeping H2O out of any reel is a good thing. Is that even arguable? I was just reporting my experience and that of a friend who is a frequent BASS and FLW coangler. 4 or 5 consecutive days fishing in downpours is not that unusual for him. Teflon taped spool and grease on the sideplate threads works well, is easy to do, and doesn't harm the dry performance one iota. What's not to like? On a wiffle spool, water and dirt can infiltrate even in dry conditions since the spool is being filled with wet line on the retrieve. Water in the brake drum can adversely affect brake reliability. Finally, that brass brake drum and the little white plastic brake blocks you see when you open the left sideplate are the SVS mechanical centrifugal brake system. No magnets. We're arguing details of a very good reel but I like mine to work perfectly and I do everything reasonable to bulletproof its performance. That includes annual disassembly (to the very last screw), cleaning and lubrication (bearings more often). I'll continue using a drop of blue thread locker on those handle screws, just like they do at the factory. Lose one and you're out of business for awhile.

Yes, the HP's are great brushes. Just be careful with the needle and the tip. They are hand tuned at the factory and are delicate. Mine's a HP-B+ and I've really enjoyed using it since I got it last year.

I think the spots where the Etex was repelled are "fisheyes", usually caused either by failure to wet out the paint at that spot when brushing or by contamination of the spot by an oily film of some kind (from your fingers or from an oil leaching through the acrylic pait from underneath). I topcoat directly over acrylic paint, and paint directly over an epoxy or prop weatherproofing coat without problems. If you use a wood that contains oil (redwood, cedar), you must waterproof with a solvent based product to prevent the oil from leaching through the acrylic.

Bogdan alex, try some round nose wire bending pliers, perfect circles every time. Buy them at Michaels Craft shops or at Sears. Another route to gold foil: I like to use silver aluminum duct tape for foiling and discovered by accident that a light spray of Createx Transparent Yellow does a nice job of turning it into "gold foil". I've also used Prismacolor dye pens but the Createx does a nicer, easier job IF you have an airbrush that can spray fine mist (like an Iwata HP or similar).

I just squirt out equal sized blobs; it's worked so far.

http://www.texaswoodcarvers.com/tool_index.htm Here's where I ordered 9 oz duo bottles from recently. JMHO, it only pays to order it online if you're stocking up or getting other items to make the shipping costs reasonable. I got some nifty Kutzall tungsten burr bits at the same online store. If you google Devcon epoxy and look through the sellers, you may find another source with a cheaper price.