Vodkaman

As you know, I am dead against copying, so much new stuff to discover. But I really don't see the harm of resurrecting a few of the antique oldies. To test out the ideas of the day. Many of what I thought were new ideas, turned up on 70 year old lures, so some of the old quirks could find room in todays armoury.

Mrs Red. Are you going to let him get away with talking like that?

Clemmy, a true TU junkie.

Mrs R! I hope you have a warehouse out back.

You are right SmokeyJ, the fish are not that stupid. We don't go to all this trouble to catch stupid fish. Your points are well made, but probably wasted here, as people who care enough to grace these pages, probably wouldn't dream of making such transgressions. But we can all help to get the message out to those less informed. I'm comfortable with that idea.

Probly got fined for not having two licenses.

I've sent the spread sheets out. If you did not receive yours, PM me, I had a problem with one address. PS. I should have stated that the lead in the suspension test should be pure (not an alloy) and mounted externally, I tie mine to the body with sewing thread.

Thanks Sagacious, I guess I was in the pub when that lecture took place.

I had to view it twice, couldn't remember what fish were caught. Loved the tinny sling.

Bi_Metallic Corrosion ( Galvanic Corrosion ) this article shows a table of metals, showing how they corrode together. If the pot is cast iron, in each case, the other metal is the one that corrodes. My point is that, if the cast iron is not reduced by corrosion, what is the problem? Just curious.

I used Devcon for the first time last week. I was very impressed at the clarity and hardness. I tested out the residue on the mixing pallet. It was very brittle and snapped when I tested it. I have used many different epoxies and there IS a difference between brands. You cannot satisfy every requirement. Devcon will be good for clarity and tooth resistance, but rocks and probably hook rash would be a problem. A softer finish would fix this, but the teeth and the finish would be a problem. Just an opinion. Also, I was amazed or more accurately, horrified at the effect on the action of a coat of Devcon had. I had to re-tune the whole lure to get most of the action back.

I think the answer is as stated above, the surface of the eye. You need to take a close look, under a microscope if possible or a magnifying glass and compare with a shop bought jig or an out of the box hook. I first cleaned my eyes with a dremel bit, but I did notice the surface finish of the hook was BADLY damaged, so now I am much more careful and after reading this thread, even more careful. Many use a piece of wire in a dremel. This should work fine as the wire wall is smooth. If anything, this will polish the eye and improve the line attachment. But if the end of the wire rattles against the eye surface, damage will result. I am going to experiment with a tooth pick in a dremel. The idea is that the friction heat will soften up the epoxy and facilitate the removal. It will be several weeks, so feel free to try it. The important thing is not to disturb the seal to the body.

Diemay, my thoughts follow yours exactly. In addition, I would dye the sponge black. The sponge hole would double as a 'kill spot'.

This is a good question, so I am just bringing the thread to the top of the list, so that someone more knowledgeable can answer through experience. I recently did a pull test on a loop of SS wire, 3/4" fixed with resin. The pull was a bucket of water weighing 27Lbs. The test period was 24hrs and the result was fine, no problems. After reading the stripers thread on sealing methods (excellent read), something similar could be done for eyes and different materials. A shock load test could be carried out too, say a closed container with a gallon of water, dropped through a height of 3 feet, this to be performed after the 24hr test. Up to you guys if you want to play, cost is zero.

It DID get shook up, but still worth reading. Welcome home and look forward to the pics.

I obviously use the scales method, but due to slight variations in the wood, if you are going for a suspending lure, fine tunung will always be required. But for regular lures the scales are perfect, you can find the ballast value to achieve the flotation you want when the blank is shaped. By accurately weighing the blank and weighing the pure lead required to suspend the blank, enough information is gathered to calculate the ballast. I have written a spread sheet to perform all the calculations, I just enter the two figures and read off the answer. If I enter the drill diameter, it even tells me how deep to drill the hole. other information given by the spread sheet: volume of the blank, density of the blank (plus sealer), final weight of the lure (approx). The spread sheet allows you to enter the amount of buoyancy you require, I usually go for 90% - 95%, this means that 5% - 10% of the lure mass will be above the surface. I will be enhancing this spread sheet to include entries for weight of lip, hanger, hooks and eyes. Also, the sheet can by made to give information at later stages of the build, before epoxy and after epoxy. For future lures, you will be able to closely estimate the effect of the top coat.Hell, it is even possible to enter the depth you require the thing to suspend, but where do you draw the line. If anyone would like to try the system out, just PM your e-mail addy and I will send a copy. Last weekend I had seventeen balsa blanks on the go at once. It was soul destroying with the amount of work in front of me. I even split them into batches so I would not have to look at them all at once. This is by no means essential kit, in fact the same information is 9and should be) gathered during and after the first build, for future reference. The sheet just allows you to get close with the first one with confidence.

It was Hazmail who posted the effect, but I could not find the link. Pete said the effect was labour intensive, but well worth the effort in my opinion. Fishermen buy the lures, so who cares what the fish think.

That was well spotted and I will look out for that one myself, but won't be holding my breath in liew of any success.

There are a lot of wierd and wonderful ideas in the lure historical archives. I cannot see any problem with re-vitalising a few. If it was me, I would credit the original design etc. In me previous post, I was thinking more of a tutorial on restoration rather than duplication. Duplication is very possible, but you have to satisfy more equation parameters than lip shape and body size in order to get it to work. Again, I would credit the original design of the antique, because if you don't, someone will spot your intentions and the bad press will kill you. Personally, I think there is enough undiscovered ideas out there not to consider duplication. I will occasionally take a feature off of an antique and copy it, just to see the effect of the feature and learn a little more. I have learned a huge amount over the last year, but every time I start to think that I have it sorted in my head, I get slapped down with a problem, which then has to be explained how it conforms to the theory, or change the theory to include the problem.

This has been a very useful thread and it too raises its head as a frequent visitor. Useful because is brings us all up to date with various points of view and teaches us all, new and old, how we should be operating on TU and basically what it is all about, learning and hopefully, a little teaching.

I hear ya Diemai. Some companies will not send me stuff unless the order is over $500. One day, I hope this would be a very small order, but at this time, I am still deciding which material and/or method to go with. I can understand the problem, but if I am prepared to pay the exorbitant postage and costs, what is the problem.

I think there is room for a tutorial on the subject. Bruce, can you scare someone into writing a lure renovation guide?

I used the polyester resin as a sealer coat too. I thought it was very good. It added a lot of strength to the balsa an gave a hard surface for final filling and sanding. Someone posted last week that the resin is not water proof. This came as quite a shock to me and could be worth some further research to confirm (no disrespect to the member who posted). As for possible reactions with subsequent applications, I cannot help, but after 24 hours, the chemical reaction is complete and the result should be fairly inert, but chemistry was not my favorite subject.

Jamie, looks very good, should work. Like you said, the next variation should have height adjustment. I'll try and think of a solution. Reefslinger, I'm in the UK at the moment and next to my brother. He has made molds using the sawdust/PVA method. He applied the mixture in 5mm layers and built them up gradually. The result is an indestructable mold, but takes more time and effort.

Read post No20, by Hazmail. It might help. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/12035-foil-2.html