BobP

Robalo01, white pine similar to poplar and basswood. It's density varies considerably depending on what specific pine species you get and where it comes from: eastern white pine is 21.8 lbs/cu ft, Canadian pine is 28.4 lbs, Oregon pine is 33.1 lbs. The density numbers are average weights of wood samples dried to a standard moisture content. Some woods like balsa vary greatly in density so the numbers are only a suggestion of the wood you should be looking at for a particular crankbait in terms of buoyancy. I've tried uploading a Microsoft Works spreadsheet of material densities to the site - to no avail.

You got bad info about wood density. The nominal average density of balsa is 11.2 lbs/sq ft and poplar is 26.2 lbs. That's more than twice as dense/heavy. Poplar is even slightly heavier than other traditional crankbait woods like basswood and cedar. That's not to say you can't make a great crankbait from poplar and if you have learned to do that, changing to a different wood brings the new challenges of how to work, ballast, and finish it. But if you want maximum action and buoyancy in a shallow running crankbait, you need to consider balsa or perhaps paulownia (16 lbs/cu ft). Not all shallow crankbaits need or want that kind of performance but if you are talking fat shallow running square bills that are going to run through fairly heavy wood cover, balsa is king.

Like Ben says, balsa density varies greatly, from 6 lbs/cu ft to 18 lbs, with 12 lbs the average. The more dense it is, the harder it is and most crankbait companies want to use "hard balsa" just because the baits require less reinforcement and last longer with typical commercial build techniques. Hobby builders aren't limited by business concerns. I used 6 lb "competition balsa" for years because it was what I first ordered as an ignorant newby builder. Makes a damn fine shallow crankbait if you want lively action and with the right build techniques, they last just fine. But it takes more work and more time. The bottom line on any wood crank is that as long as the topcoat remains intact, everything under it will be just fine. Once the topcoat is compromised, failure is on its way sooner or later - usually sooner.

I don't care how much an undercoating soaks into raw balsa - as long as it never lifts off the wood. Epoxy, propionate, and Solarez all work fine for me. I would ask how fast is it to apply 3 coats of minwax sealer, each sanded versus one coat of Devcon 2 Ton epoxy? Devcon cures to touch in 5-6 hrs and is ready to sand in about 12 hrs. I dip 6-8 times in propionate with a couple of minutes between dips and then let it harden overnight. You can apply Solarez, let it level out for a few minutes on a lure rotator, then cure it in 3 minutes in a nail UV box or just set the rotator out in the sun for half an hour - voila, you're ready to lightly sand and begin painting in an hour max. Superglue is certainly fast and it makes a hard surface but I'm leery about sanding it out and getting down to raw wood, and I'm uncertain how its impact resistance is versus the other options.

Amen to that! I NEVER want to sand a balsa crankbait down to raw wood. To me, it's pretty much unrecoverable if you do. One way to remove all the paint from Rapalas is to torch it off with a propane torch, leaving the undercoating intact. You have to be careful but the flame will quickly wrinkle and release the clearcoat and paint from the non-flammable undercoating on Rapalas. I hesitate to recommend this when a light sanding would probably suffice because you are literally playing with fire. It's easy to ruin the lip if you're not careful. Nor can I guarantee that Rapala uses non-flammable undercoating on all of their baits. I've experimented with torching on a few repaints of wood lures. Worked great on Rapala Risto Raps. Burst into vigorous flames on a Poe, which uses a very flammable undercoating, and instantly ruined the lure. But if I had 20 Rapalas to repaint... ?

These are "Player's Choice" issues. And it boils down to how durable you want your balsa crankbait to be. As far as hangers go, I don't do a one-piece thru-wire. I split the blank, lay the hardware into grooves scored into the balsa, then glue it together with epoxy. I feel this provides a continuous epoxy 'backbone' through the lure and functionally connects all of the hangers, which are long hand twisted screw eyes. I don't use poplar dowels 'cause I never learned how to do that and I think seating the hardware in solid epoxy is plenty strong enough. I've not had a balsa bait broken in a decade, so it seems to work OK for me. As far as "sealing" goes, it's easy to confuse base coatings. Sealers seal and waterproof the wood grain so it doesn't raise up when hit by paint. It may or may not provide reinforcement to the wood. Many of us don't think that's enough for a soft balsa crankbait. Like HAWGFAN, I use a coating of epoxy, UV cured polyester, or multiple dips in propionate to seal the wood, waterproof it, and most importantly to harden and strengthen the soft wood surface. Some guys like super gluing the raw wood, but they usually add epoxy immediately after. I understand why shops that sell baits build them as shown in the video - time and materials cost them money and the way they build them is "accepted practice" among many commercial shops. I got into the bait building hobby mostly because i wanted to fish wood baits that would last better than the fragile models I was buying 15 yrs ago. You have to decide for yourself how much durability is enough.

Richard, I shoot Superhide White in multiple coats, usually 2-3, until I get the cover quality I want. It dries quicker than most other paint so multiple coats are pretty much a continuous process. The fast drying quality makes it unlikely that subsequent coats or a hair dryer will push it around on the surface of the lure, which is a big plus to me. I haven't found a better cover white. In my experience, there's no airbrush paint that is so "homogenized" as Createx, so mixing it with any other brand gives you something that is less stable. That said, as far as mixing Superhide with Createx, I've not had a problem with that and use it often as a base for formulating other colors. However, they do have slightly different chemistries so the mixed paint will occasionally separate during storage. But it shakes back to the desired color/consistency pretty quick without forming anything to clog my airbrush so no harm, no foul.

Sounds like it's setting up too fast for you. Might try adding a few drops of denatured alcohol, which will thin it slightly, extend the brush time a little, and help it expel bubbles.

You didn't say what paint you used? And is the Houston clear a two part catalyzed clearcoat? Two part clears are tougher and adhere better than one part clears - but they are also toxic so wear a rated mask if you use them. The best results I've had painting metal blades are with acrylic airbrush paint and clear coating with Dick Nite S81 moisture cured urethane, which will soak into the paint to adhere to the metal. Very durable after the clear cures for several days. Dick Nite also sells solvent based lacquer paints, which would probably adhere even better. Access the Dick Nite TU discount site page here if you go that route: http://www.dicknite.com/TU_Lander.htm If you just want better adhesion using the products you have, I recommend giving the blades a light sanding to improve adhesion of the paint. You can also use an etching auto primer on the blades before painting. Downside is that the more coatings you put on the metal, the heavier the blades become so keep the coatings thin if you can.

My paint box has a little flip top storage space - I just throw them in there and thumb through them when needed.

Attached is a reel diagram from Mike's Reel Repair in PDF format. Looks like you need to remove a couple of screws from inside the right side of the reel after removing the left side plate and the spool (which is pretty common). Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf Quantum_E600PT.pdf

One thing to consider is that crankbaits are similar to eggs, or to bridge arches. Their curved structure can withstand lots of external force but can easily be broken from internal force. Otherwise, birds chicks couldn't get out of them!

Does Azek expand and contract with exposure to heat? I've heard of many instances where guys stored plastic cranks in the boat in hot weather and found them blown up and cracked. They have solid plastic shells and are sonically welded. Should our custom cranks to stand more extreme conditions than that?

I like Devcon 2 Ton for a few reasons. First, being a glue epoxy, it yields a thicker film so I never need to use more than one coat on a bass lure. It cures faster than most other epoxies - you can usually lightly handle a bait after 5-6 hours. It's "brush time" is 3-4 minutes, long enough to coat a couple of baits without panic. In a cool environ, you can add a few drops of denatured alcohol after mixing it and that will extend the brush time a couple of minutes and will also help the epoxy to expel bubbles. Any epoxy, including D2T, will yellow more quickly if you don't pay attention to measuring the resin and hardener accurately or if you fail to mix them thoroughly. I measure mine with a set of epoxy syringes and then mix the hell out of it. Like most epoxies, Devcon will yellow slightly over time (usually a few years). If that is an issue, you can try Flexcoat UV, a rod guide epoxy containing UV inhibitors (at higher price). Musky lure builders often favor using Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX), a decoupage epoxy, on their lures. They feel it has more impact resistance and durability in that extreme environment. It requires multiple coats and long cure times, as a trade-off. There's a knack to applying any specific epoxy, and it changes with the brand. Each brand has a slightly different character in terms of how best to mix and apply it so I think it's preferable to choose one and develop a knack for using it if you want to avoid the occasional goof-up.

Yep, I see no difference between G-10 and Lexan as far as holding an in-lip line tie. I use G-10 on ultra-deep divers (20+ Ft) with no problems.

G-10 circuit board is about half the thickness of polycarbonate (Lexan) for the same stiffness. I use 1/32" G-10 for lips. It's easy to cut with metal snips and fine tune with a Dremel sanding drum. Circuit board lips typically have a faster dive profile and they deflect off of cover more sharply than plastic or polycarbonate lips. They are particularly good on crankbaits fished through rocks. McMaster-Carr carries G-10 circuit board 12x12" sheets for a reasonable price. They list it as "Garolite". G-10 comes in an array of colors and the most popular color on crankbaits is white (very slightly greenish). That's the color of the pre-made lips you can buy from lurepartsonline.com, Janns Netcraft, etc. Recommend you check the color before you buy - white is sometimes hard to find.

I got a small digital Chinese scale off of Ebay for about $25. It weighs in 1/10 grams and 1/100 oz, up to 5 or 6 oz max, which I feel is the right accuracy for determining ballast and hardware on crankbaits. When I'm reproducing a crankbait, I like to match the weight to within 2/100 oz of the original, and this scale allows that.

I use a spray bottle of water and a Q-tip to clean my gravity feed brushes between colors and it takes less than a minute, but I do disassemble and clean them whenever needed and always at the end of a session. One thing I noticed when I switched to gravity feed is that I use less paint. Many shots require only a few drops in the cup. All in all, they're just easier to use and they shoot paint more reliably and at lower pressures than the siphon feed brushes I've used. That said, you can do good work with either style airbrush and the results depends more on your experience and artistic ability than it does the equipment.

There's still a company in Johnson City TN that sells custom Tennessee Tuffys from a website of the same name. I bought several from them which had excellent action and were well built for a reasonable price. Of the Tapp style baits I've tried, these are my favorites - they catch fish.

I have a translucent 20+. The ballast is 2 steel balls. One cavity is in front of the belly hanger, starting about 1/8" in front and continues for about 1/2". The other cavity is very similar in size to the front, starting about 1/8" behind the hanger. Both cavities are the width of the bait. The rear ball looks to be about 1/4" diameter, the front ball about 1/8". There is no weight shifting channel or internal structures apart from the cavities.

I've heard that shops building crankbaits for sale typically coat unsanded wood blanks with a thick "build coat", which is a waterproof coating that serves as the undercoating/primer and covers up all of the minor glitches in the wood at the same time. This makes sense if you are building in volume and want to avoid as much hand finishing work as possible. So how much you sand depends on the thickness of the first finish coat you apply to the lure. I typically use one coat of Devcon 2 Ton, which goes on thicker and cures faster than Etex. But I still use hand sanding to fine tune the shape of the lure. To each his own.

From the photo, most of the lips are plastic. However, the currently available Tapps from Peepers Baits look like they are probably polycarbonate (aka Lexan) The Tapps I've seen look to be about 1/2" wide. So many copies and knockoffs of the bait have been made that the dimensions are pretty iffy

TU'ers have tried almost every epoxy brand imaginable and my take is that once on the lure and cured, they all perform similarly. There are three main categories of epoxy that are popular: slow cure glue epoxies like Devcon 2 Ton, decoupage/pour-on table top epoxies like Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX), and rod guide epoxies like Flexcoat. I see no reason why West epoxy would not work as long as it has a long enough work time, levels out well, and will not yellow quickly from UV exposure. The epoxy that should always be avoided in topcoating is quick cure 5 minute epoxy - it hardens too fast, will not level, and will turn an ugly brown after UV exposure. There are significant differences among epoxies regarding their work time, how long it takes to cure (translate - how long you have to rotate the lure after application), film thickness, etc. Guys usually try several and settle on one that suits their work habits and finished product desires.

On pre-formed bodies, I loop a thick rubber band or a piece of flexible plastic over the front of the lure and adjust it until I get the lip angle I want, check it for symmetry, then mark it with a pencil. Then I use a Dremel with a thin fiber reinforced cut off blade to cut the slot by hand. It's advisable to make the slot a little thicker than normal to leave extra room for adjustment in case the slot is not perfectly square to the body. I glue the lip in with paste epoxy (Rod Bond slow cure), which fills in any extra space and allows me to square up the lip to its final position.

I think most of the ones used on baits are chromed hollow brass balls.