kahawai

thanks for the feedback & suggestions. the lure swims well and i'm happy with the joint. its a configuration of same orientation overlapping wire eyes with a stainless steel screw acting as a pin. i could put the lure together to test it, then take it out of the water, take out the screw and foil each segment seperaterly. haven't had the time to paint it up yet. for the scales - its carved in the balsa, sealed, then foiled over.

have been working on this for a while. not sure if its been done here before. i make my wood lures mostly out of balsa with thru-wire and have always had problems doing jointed lures - the topcoat gets everything stuck togther. was trying to figure out a way that i can paint and finish each segment indivually before linking them up. pls see pics for a solution i am working on right now

thanks for the replies! There's no photo finishing involved in this method. the details are a combination of carving, etching in the foil, & hand colouring. attached is a pic of the raw state of the lure. blending/fading done with different toned markers plus solvent applied over to blend them.

been toying around with an alternative painting method. would like to share cos i'm fairly pleased with the outcome. the steps: 1. foil 2. clearcoat 3. art markers 4. solvent applied with cotton bud to create patterns 5. clearcoat. simple! posted a pic in the gallery. not sure if i am allowed to put it here!

pic attached of work in progress.

i'm coming back to lure making after a rather long break. right now i am working on a double prop(one in front and one at the rear) woodchopper style lure and need some advice on weighting. does anyone have advice on the "best" way to ballast this type of lure to achieve maximum splash? i was thinking that the lure need to be lay horizontal with the hooks on(incl rear hook) with the props lying exactly on the water surface film. however my kitchen sink test shows that this results in a rather light lure. i was wondering if i am being a little too obsessed with getting the lure horizontal and getting the props to lie at the surface? basically my question is - would a heavier, tail heavy, prop under water lure throw up more splash, and fish better?

i've done something similiar to this on balsa swimbaits. a bit finicky for smaller lures though. http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~f-sense/build2.htm

hi matthew, I've got some lure making experience and i'm in singapore. pm me, we can exchange email/numbers if you'd like to chat. Peter

the scales are 3d which means the direction of the spraying matters. 1. spray white. 2. spray flourescent orange. 3. spray black from the front(nose) and top of the lure. 4. thin layer of clearcoat 5. use a gel ink pen and individually outline and hatch the gold lines.- took me a while! 6. use a cotton bud and water to cleanup/ touch up/ smudge/smear where needed. 7. final clear coat. cheers peter

hi, thanks for the kind words. will try to answer your questions. but take note that my materials are bought mainly from the UK where i was living... 1. a firm silicon rubber - RTV101 http://www.tiranti.co.uk/subdivision_product_list.asp?Content=RTV-101+Silicone+Rubber+-+Silicone+Rubber+-+Mouldmaking&Subcategory=51&Subdivision=173 2. smoothon's foam-it 15 or us composites' 16lb foam. have also used another brand which i can't remember the name of. 3. depends on which lures in my gallery you're referring to. assuming its the foil you're looking at- its insulation foil from the hardware store, no particular brand. have also tried kitchen aluminium foil with spray adhesive, but i much prefer the insulation foil. 4. i use rattle cans then pentel gel ink pens(& saliva) to get more detail and highlights. http://www.pentel.co.uk/catalogue/product.asp?func=show&id=3869&did=5. depending on the colour scheme, sometimes i need to clearcoat over paint, then paint on another colour(s). i find this allows me to contol the colours better and to do detail work with thinner/solvent and a cotton bud, or tooth pick, as the clear protects the colour below. 5. mostly devcon 2t, sometimes etex. brushed. so far i've made about 30 odd lures from 1 mould and it's still ok hope this helps! cheers, peter

hi, i've found etex needs you to be more accurate with the measuring. measuring cups are ok but syringes work better for small amounts. d2t is more forgiving with measuring and is what i find myself using more often. i coat only 1 or 2 lures at a time so i only mix a small amount. With d2t i just measure with disposable plastic spoons. eg 2 spoonfuls of each part can do about 1 6 inch lure. tight lines.

made a pike type lure years ago (2005 actually) that swam nicely so here's my 2 cents worth , no real logic here, just what i did and it happened to work- head needs to be wide as it is already tapered from the side. first segment should be longest, last segment shortest. weigh all segments so that it sinks horizontally tail segment needs to be shorter and much more tapered(thinner) line tie from below/angled down. a pic shown here for reference, a few more in my album.

i use a high density 2 part expanding foam or 16lb foam. its kind of "old fashioned" round here. its not the moset user friendly stuff, it can bubble and the density varies slightly from lure to lure. takes some weighing down too. has its advantage though- its fairly cheap. do a search on here for "16lb foam" or "foam-it 15" cheers

very very nice action on that lure! looks just like a jack pike.

i am looking for the exact same thing too! so far i have made my own boxes, but thats been for 3 lures only. it is time consuming. would appreciate it if someone out there has some suggestions....

Hey thanks! I carved the scales on the master out of balsa, then made a mold. lures are cast in foam, foiled over, then painted, and clear coated. cheers!

just completed some lures from an old mold, which i will be displaying since they are a little to big for the fish round here. looked high and low for suitable boxes but couldn't find any. so i decided to make some boxes out of basswood and balsa to put them in. Wondering if any of you guys make lures to show and/or collect and if so what type of boxes do you use? cheers!