fatfingers

Glad to hear that you're getting to wet a line, Kb.

What a great foiling job, great idea, and great salute to Riverman. Nice work.

Here's another. This one is a pregnant flatshad with a tiny bit of gold glitter down the lateral line:

Dampeoples, what's interesting is that even though it seems to set up faster and take less time before the bait can be handled again, it seems to actually have a bit longer working time before it starts to get to where you can't easily brush it on.

That's so simple, I don't know why it never occurred to me, but I'm VERY new at this lathe stuff. (That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!) Actually I've made two of these, one is out in the paint shop waiting to be finished. I made them both from dowel material and made the forehead cuts on the beltsander, but it would be just as easy to make them from square stock. I'd just have to make sure that the grail lays out right so that the belly hook hangers are inserted in a cross-grain manner for maximum strength. Thanks for tip and the compliment, rowhunter.

This was my first attempt at a lathe-made jerkbait with a Lexan guide on the tail. I'm still trying to figure out a way to build a jig that will allow me to make the tail cut on the same horizontal plane as the slope-cut on the forehead of these things. I eyeballed this one and luckily it came out right, but I was hoping to get some idea from some of the engineering minds on this board. You cut the forehead on the beltsander, then you need to cut the slot for the lexan piece that goes in the tail. That's where it gets VERY tricky. It has to be level, meaning that if the tail guide (which looks like a lexan lip stuck in the tail) is cut at the wrong angle, the bait will swerve to one side and either up or down because it acts like a tail rudder. Any ideas on how to build a jig to coordinate the head slope which is flat and the tail slot? And while we're at it, cutting the tail slot is problematic because even if you've got the angle right, you have no flat surfaces to use as a guide to make sure you cut the slot evenly and straight on the horizontal axis of the tail. Ideas on that would be appreciated also.

In the last few months, it seems that Devcon2 may have been altered a bit. It now comes with a pink sleeve over the twin tubes. I am having much better luck getting it to flow smoothly and it seems to set up a bit faster, which is nice. It seems to have a slightly thinner consistency when you mix it and has less of a yellow tint in the tube and after mixing. I happened to have had some of the older stuff and the newer stuff has way less of a yellow tint when you compare the two types in the tube.

Another thing you might try is to look at commercially offered baits of the same size to see what works for those.

I'm going to give the acetone and pellets stuff a try as soon as my schedule opens up a bit. I had an oil-based sealer that I was using to seal my poplar baits. Unfortunately, I've used it all and can't find anything but "sanding sealer," which does not penetrate nearly as deeply. The oil-based sealer that I had penetrated deeply into the wood and I think that is important if you're concerned about water passing through the bait when the exterior clear coat (meaning Devcon or envirotex type stuff) is breached from hook rash, fish teeth, or general wear and tear. Poplar can swell if it gets wet and causing the bait to sort of burst. I'm not sure that the acetone/proprionate stuff will prevent swelling of certain woods if it gets peirced somehow. Can anyone set me straight on that? As I say, I have no experience with it...yet. For what its worth, I wouldn't think that a varnish, even a polyurethane varnish, would make a trustworthy sealer or final clear coat because it doesn't penetrate wood very deeply and as a final clear coat isn't nearly as hard as the epoxy stuff available to most of us.

That thing is beautiful. Great carving, etch. What does it do when you stop reeling? Does it dive or sink horizontally?

Thanks, rj. I get .22 gauge stainless from a local joint that buys closeouts and industrial type scrap. I would think that any welding shop could hook you up though.

This is made from cherry and has a stainless steel lip, #2/0 Eagle Claw hooks, and is unweighted. At four inches long (measuring the body only, not the lip), it runs exactly like a Hot-N-Tot but it has a wider body and is taller in the middle from a side view. Casts very well and trolls well at speed. I have high hopes for this thing at three of the four lakes where I chase muskies. I'm finding that I really like using stainless steel for the lip on certain baits. It thinner than Lexan, and thus has a lot more vibration and of course the stainless flashes well in the sunlight.

Ahhh, another speed freak like me. If you're talking about commercially sold baits, the SuperShap by Rapala is hard to beat. It comes in some decent colors, is very reasonably priced so you can buy a bunch, will go as fast as you'll ever want to go, as deep as you'll ever want to go, doesn't run as close to the boat as some other deep speed baits, and holds up well through many fish, and is overall one of the better musky-producers on the general market. It is mostly the lip configuration of that bait that does all those wonderful things at the same time. I spent a lot of time this winter fabricating and bending that lip pattern in polycarbonate and stainless steel and I've found that the lip is not only bullet-proof and versatile, its very forgiving as to installation and size as compared to other standard round or coffin-shaped lips. Every one I've built and installed has tested out like a champ. I'm very amped up to paint and weight these things in the patterns and shapes and sizes that I know will produce on our local waters. Stainless: Lexan:

Let me know if you have any problems after you look at it. There's a piece in there that needs a "set screw" to make it grip the rod that spins. Also the rod that spins is a bit of a sloppy fit so a bit of electrical tape around the end of it seems to take the play out of it.

I fixed mine when it started "slipping" like they have a tendency to do. I took it apart. There's an apparatus into which the rod slides. I put a screw into it so it would tighten up nicely. Then I applied some black tape to the chrome rod that fits into it. It is now tight and smooth running and should be good for another 100,000 miles. Don't be afraid to take yours apart, if you have one of these. The repair was easy and as soon as you look at inside, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Very nice work. I really like that one on the top left.

In the past, I've made them using a pencil eraser, dipped in white. Practice dabbing it first, before you apply it. Mark the spots on the bait first, so you know exactly where you want them and you get a nice symmetrical look. After applying the white with an eraser, you can then do the same with the black or read (for the pupil of the eye) using the head of nail. Of course, the nail head should be smaller than the eraser.

It's been my experience that with smaller baits, you have to use a little caution as to how much of clear coating you apply with Devcon. I've had smaller cranks lose their action with excess clear. I use four coats of Devcon2 on my musky class foil baits, three coats on most of the other musky baits. For pike sized baits, I use only two or and three on the larger ones, and I use only one on bass and walleye size baits. Of course, those are general terms; it depends on the bait body shape, the weighting, if any, lip choice, and a few other variables, such as where in the water column the bait was built to run. I would think that envirotex would be a better choice for bass type baits, as it seems to work better in thinner coats.