Vodkaman

The Netcraft bodies will get you safely past the first hurdle and get you to the waters edge a bit quicker. But don't give up on the carving. Give yourself an uninterrupted 20 mins a day, for carving practise. There is far more pleasure to be had, catching a fish on one of YOUR OWN creations. I suspect that this is the message that BobP was making, I just want to make sure you got it.

This subject has come up so many times, I thought, "here we go again". I was so wrong! It must be a full moon or something, as a plethora of information has emerged. It just goes to show that re-visiting the old questions once in a while, does bring forth new information worth reading.

Excellent information Palmetto. You should consider a handle change to Palmetto Paulownia!

I think the melting effects of metal combinations was invented by some bored university professor, in order to make life difficult for his students. This was a really tedious subject for me, I never really got my head around it. Tooo many long words. I just found this diagram that may help you predict what a mixture will do, but it does not explain why, but who cares anyway. The phase diagram Constructing the phase diagram You start from data obtained from the cooling curves. You draw a graph of the temperature at which freezing first starts against the proportion of tin and lead in the mixture. The only unusual thing is that you draw the temperature scale at each end of the diagram instead of only at the left-hand side. Notice that at the left-hand side and right-hand sides of the curves you have the freezing points (melting points) of the pure lead and tin.

What's the definition of suspense? I'll tell you later!

It is best to make all those critical cuts before shaping, ballast holes, eye screw holes and lip slot. That way, if you screw up, you don't lose an hour of shaping. Also, the body can be shaped to compensate for any misalignment, or just start again. Always use forstner bits, or at the very least, sharp drills.

Watch out Opra, the competition has arrived! Hope everything works out for you both.

The difficult part is controlling the symmetry, keeping both sides the same. I would start off with balsa, as it is easy to work and the feed back results come faster. Once you have mastered controlling 3D space, you can progress to more durable woods. I am not a skilled wood technician. I do all my carving with a dremel, sad, but what ever it takes. It's the final result that counts, no matter how you get there. If you are going to cast your bodies, then you can justify all the time and attempts you need to get a good master. You are going to produce a lot of lures from this, so be self critical, try to get it as close to perfect as you can. Don't be afraid to start over. It's just practise.

The temperature extremes here are 80F low to 100F high. Usually around 85F every day throughout the year. I don't go out in the day unless absolutely necessary. When I return to the UK, my friends expect me to be tanned, milk bottle white am I!

You certainly know how to work the camera.

http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10312&highlight=biodegradable This thread ran a few months ago, might help some.

He's not kidding, he just escaped from a mental institution disguised as a cat! Welcome to TU.

If you are contemplating aluminum, you should definately prove the lure by going the PoP or RTV route first. Otherwise it could be an expensive mistake. Can you post the diagrams, I can understand if you would rather not, so no problem. It would just allow us to help you more specifically on the best method to make the master and the mold.

Design is a compromise between fantasy and reality. Personal experience. Dabskie, your Pop was a wise man.

That'll work, neat idea.

OK, no one is convinced about my idea. Well that is understandable. It is natural to want to position the grain layers from top to bottom. When the body is shaped, this configuration gives nice curved contour lines, pleasing to the eye, when viewed fron the side. Whereas, if the layers are positioned side to side, all you get is a bunch of parallel lines. Unless you are going for a natural wood finish, all the above is irrelevant, no one will ever see the artistry. Another arguement for horizontal grain layers is construction strength. The ballast hole would be a lot safer to grill, virtually eliminating splitting. To prove the point, I found the grainiest piece of nasty wood in my apartment (now a three legged kitchen chair) and the bluntest 1/16th dia drill. I hung it out of the end of my drill and drilled this hole 1.4 inches long. Laser Straight!

Is the grain lined up top to bottom. If so, this is your problem. Run it side to side next time. This way, the drill passes through the layers, rather than running parallel and getting pushed over. The layers of wood from one grain to the next varies in hardness. The drill will try to take the easy route. I hope that made sense.

Typical ozzie.

I cant view vids at home, some problem on my laptop. Now I can't view them at work, they've put a block on youtube. I'll have to get the laptop sorted out, I'm missing out on a lot of information.

That's got me reaching for the frying pan.

Hi Slider and welcome to TU. Don't worry about the English, we can all understand what you have written. Below is a tutorial, from the member submitted tutorials section. This excellent document should get you started. If their is anything that you don't understand, just post a question. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5195 A lot has been written on this subject, so you should find a wealth of information if you try the search function at the top of the page. But, you can always ask, if you cannot find what you are looking for.

Unfortunately, the posting software has edited out the full link. Is their a search string that can be used?

I'm with Dampeoples, I need to see a pic of the lure. C'mon, c'mon!

Two part epoxy is a chemical reaction. So once it is mixed, it is going off, no matter what. You can slow it down by reducing temperature, but this might not be enough to solve your time problem.

Read the recent thread on Dick Nites. I recon the same rules will apply. Don't let the excess drip back into the tin.