rofish

What if you ask the fishes? Believe me, they are the best judges.

I like them. I think you would not like to see my first ones. Bear in mind that fishes are not able to see details on a crankbait. Only we are capable of that. But fishes do sense the action of a lure. Focus on that, and you will have good results.

I like the unlikeness of such a lure being designed.

My new lure holder is even simpler. I made it from steel wire. I have different lengths of "S" shaped steel wires to attach the lure to the lure holder. I bend the wire until I can attach the lure with the "S" shaped wires. When released, it keeps the lure tight. The holder can be kept in hand while painting or topcoating, or it can be put in a vise, or a jig that you make for this purpose. Now I am thinking of the best solution on how to put such a thing on the drying wheel after topcoating. This holder offers a much better possibility for topcoating, since the eyes are practically reachable with a paint brush, better than if you keep the lure with the handle of an exacto knife.

I am amazed at such many ideas about how to glue the twisted wires using epoxy. Some of them, I was already thinking of, but I never tried them, because I needed some kind of assurance. Now I can try even more ways to do it, knowing that each of them would work. Maybe others would also benefit from this thread.

I save threads as word documents. Even if there are pictures in them, you can save them this way. Just use copy and paste. If there are pictures attached to a post, copy and paste the posts, then you open the pictures and save them in the appropiate place. Photobucket.com does not allow me to upload a word document, for you to see how it looks like, so I will try to attach this document. The document represents the first 2 posts of the thread "a new mistake", including a picture.

I make 2 mm (0.0787

Seabasshunter, 5 min. epoxy to glue lips in, Devcon 2 ton (30 min.) for the topcoat. I have learned it from different threads here on TU. If you click some of the related threads which you can find at the bottom of this page, you will get your answer.

Tell your son I will pay him a beer or a soft drink (depending on age) if he helps you making a tutorial about how to make such a swimbait. You can leave apart the painting process.

Thanks, Hazmail

I do not know much about different types of clearcoats, but if the scales are made to a metal foil, I would recommend an epoxy, even if thinned.

BigFishin, maybe it would be a good idea that you take pictures of the lure, as it is now. It is possible that you would like to repaint it, as it was before painting it

Just a thought: what if we are all doing wrong by trying to put the best colors on our lures? Sometimes (many times) fishes seem not to be able to appreciate that. In such a case, who is wrong, we or the fishes?

You call them mini pikes? 4"? The biggest crankbait I made so far is a little over 3". A matter of different approaches, I guess. They look like being able to swim well.

To compare (I've just found it out from the net): 1 US gal. = 8 US pt 1 US pt = 16.000000673 US fl.oz. 1 ft3 = 1,728.0006297652 in3

Let's put it in another way: 1 cubic meter = 1,000 cubic decimeters 1 cubic decimeter (which is also 1 liter) = 1,000 cubic centimeters 1 cubic centimeter = 1,000 cubic milimeters. So simple. Anyone willing to try?

Up to now, I have not heard about such a thing as board foot. Now I know what it represents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_foot Learning new things about lure making is the main reason for my being here

Vman, I am trying to answer Palmetto's question. I am deeply confused by the american system of measuring units. I think I would be lost in the US. I had to use the internet to transform the data provided by PB into international units. Please note that the measuring system in inches, ounces, gallons, miles etc, gives me more headaches than you will ever be able to. I took into consideration the following data: 2" = 5.08 cm 3 15/16" = 3.9375" = 10.00125 cm (here I had a little problem. If I look at the figures from a mathematical point of view, I should multiply 3 by 15, then divide the result to 16. The outcome would be 2.8125, so less than 3", but 15/16 is added to 3") 36" = 91.44 cm The volume now 5.08*10.00125*91.44 = 4645.732644 cubic centimeters Mass 22.5 oz = 637.875 grams Density 637.875/4645.732644 = 0.13730342421 grams/cubic centimeters This means it is a very light material. The density of pure water is 1. Now if there is an american way of expressing the density (such as cubic feet/ounces), I don't even know. Maybe you can take it from here.

Vman, now I remember that you said somewhere on TU that there is another method to calculate density, which is much simpler than this one. You must have a perfect shaped piece of wood, with all surfaces and lines parallel. You calculate the volume of that piece of wood, you measure its weight, and the density is a ratio between the 2. Isn't it simpler?

Vman, you are right, I still have a headache. Your way of calculating the density seems OK to me, but isn't there a thing to be taken into consideration when going through this process? Wood takes in water, so if you suspend the wood as you say, you will get the neutral buoyancy, but if you wait a little bit more, you will see that the wood goes down, as it takes in more water. So should the wood be sealed somehow or not, before using all your neurons to go through this process?

Thanks to all. One more thing to say. Meanwhile, I have managed to break the stick of a lure holder. I cut these sticks off the plastic handles of some cheap paint brushes. I liked the fact that they have a slowly decreasing diameter towards the end. Or maybe I was to lazy to think of a better material. Anyway, I should have tested the handles before gluing them in the lure holders. Now I have found out that they break easily. I have some bamboo sticks at home, which fit the diameter of the hole in the metal sheet. When sanding them, I noticed that some fibers of the wood tend to split from the wood. I solved this problem with propionate solution. 3 layers, sand, one layer, sand, and so on until I was satisfied with the result. Now it is very smooth. And I don't think this will ever break. So if you think you will make lure holders similar to mines, pay attention to the materials you use. The picture below shows how I keep the lure holder between my fingers when I topcoat the lure.

Mark, your lures look great! But you have forgotten to tell us one thing. Which ones are the best catchers? Maybe some of us would like to copy them

Mark, just (re?)read Hazmail's thread about uploading multiple pictures (now in page 2 of the threads). After reading it, I was able to post pictures in my recent thread. And my English is not the best in the world.

BobP, I do not insert the dryer with lures attached. The wheel stays fit on the axle of the motor. I take a lure holder, clamp the lure in it, topcoat it, then I turn off the motor (if there is another lure for drying), insert the small stick (handle) of the lure holder into the hole of one of the 4 rubber discs on the wheel, then turn on the motor again. For the first lure which I put in the dryind wheel, I have a "false" lure on the opposite rubber disc, to balance the weight on the wheel. Also, I put a false lure for the 3rd lure to dry. Or, I would better say, I will do that if I ever put 3 lures at a time to dry, but I don't think this will be the case, because I don't have more than 2 lures at once on the wheel. When I insert the lure holder, I must keep the other hand on the wheel, opposite the lure, because the wheel is flexible, and otherwise it would flex or move. The drying wheel has 3 parts, but I see no reason why I should not glue the linking part to the disc. What I like about this dryer, is that it is very easy to assemble or dismantle. It takes me less than a minute to stop the drying wheel and put it in a wardrobe.

I have seen many idea son TU about how to make a drying wheel, but no one is good for me. I don