JBlaze

Those are awesome looking! John

Welcome Kevin, just to warn you, there is no cure for the bug but once gotten, you must have a daily fix . Good Luck! John

Good Job, this made me smile. Glad you caught her she must be a keeper

Wow, That can't be easy! Good luck with your endeavor, hope to see a picture of them soon. John

Thanks Bob, I don't build a lot of baits and am still learning. Hope I always will. I am sure, that the balsa I get at the Hobby Lobby is the light stuff and I have never had a hanger, bib or tow eye come out with a fish on or from getting hung-up and I have only used had twisted stainless wire too and only used the thin super glue to install them in a drilled out hole I have found that the thin glue will follow the twisted wire all the way to its end and makes a really strong bond between the wood and wire. I have always sealed these baits with thinned epoxy or thin super glue which really soaks into the bait and more than a few times has soaked all the way through the bait and glued my fingers to the opposite side. I have found that it really increases the strength of the balsa and doesn't seem to make it any heavier however, it does make it rather difficult to sand after using. Also Bob, thanks for responding to the question about concrete sealers. I am really getting interested in this stuff. Yesterday, I tried researching the Behr Brand and could not find anything which gave me an answer as to the amount/percent of solids in it. Also if memory serves me correctly, I think it is water based. Will double check on that. John

Ben, I have always made do with what I could get at the local hobby store and have never had a problem with it except for one. I had sawed it out with the direction of the grain running from belly to back instead of lengthwise. It self destructed rather quickly. Think I will go with the PVC as I believe the Balsa wood would get very weak with that many holes drilled in it for ballasting. Thanks for the good luck wishes. John

Mark, I am thinking that the PVC Trimboard will be the way for me to go. I have some 3/4 inch and after slicing off the thin hard layer on the sides, it will leave me with a 1/2 inch thick board to work with. It is comforting to know that your bait held up to the 5lb stripers as they are a hard fighting fish. I will be looking for mostly smallmouth with these baits. I suspect that it will not take a lot of ballast to get these lures to slow sink and I know that getting them to suspend will be a lot of trial and error. I used to wrap solder around the hook shanks of a crank bait to get it to suspend. Will let you know how they turn out. John

S56, I have never used hardwoods, probably because I never seem to have enough time for doing the things I want to do. Balsa is so easy to work with and fast to shape. PVC trimboard is almost as easy as the Balsa to work with. I have used PVC Trimboard in the past to make cranks with good results and the convenience of not having to seal it each time you endeavor getting the ballast and balance right on a new lure is a major plus. In a few months, I will be retired and plan on trying different woods, Yellow Locust being one of them. It is so hard, that I have had sparks flying off the chain of my saw when cutting this wood. Thanks for the input. John

Ben and BentonB, thanks for the replys. Ben, not really what I wanted to hear but I already suspected it would take a lot of ballast for the balsa, thanks for the benefit of your experience. Think I will go with the PVC trim board for my attempt at suspending baits. I have 8 of the balsa woods cut out and one is already shaped, think I will make floaters out of these. Will let you know how the suspenders work out. BentonB, I was kind of worried that the long skinny lure bait might break in the middle. I like you have never had one pull out of a crank bait. Thanks for the reassurance. John

I am attempting to make my first suspending jerk bait, It is made of balsa wood and was made to the shape of a Smithwick Rogue and is slightly fatter and just a smidgen taller than a rogue. I have made crank baits with balsa and never had a problem with tow eyes or hook hangers pulling out but this bait is longer and skinnier. #1. My Question is, Will it break and/or Does it need to be thru wired? I have followed all the posts relating to concrete sealers and am thinking about giving it a try for sealing and top coating from what I am seeing/reading, it seems that the AC1315 is the way to go. I have never saw Behr brand concrete sealer mentioned. It is available at our local Home Depot. #2. My question is,has anyone has ever given it a try and if so how did it work out? Thanks, John

I am of the same opinion as the others, nice job! John

BarryBait & Hurley here is one that I foiled without losing details of the scales. The secret was after forming the scale pattern, put a layer of http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/13860-3d-foiled-dean-helton/ Here is how it was done, post #25 http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/29011-making-3d-scales/page-2

Hurley, with the encouragment of and help of many here on http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/29011-making-3d-scales/page-2