mark poulson

I don't think symetry is that important in a top water. I free hand their shape, even though I have a lathe. If I were making diving cranks, symetry would be critical, but part of the reason I can make topwaters and triple trout knockoffs is that the shape isn't that critical. If I were making a popper with a concave face, I'd probably use some kind of a stationary belt sander to hollow out the face, or I'd regrind the end of a paddle bit to the shape I want, and use a drill press. I'd use dowel stock to start, holow the face before I shaped so I could clamp it while I drilled out the face, and then have at it with a stationary belt sander, sanding block, or just a block plane and sand paper. It ain't rocket science. Good luck.

I use Envirotex Lite on repaints of traps, and have no issues. I use a piece of stainless steel wire (tempered) to "drill" out the eyes. That's a tip I picked up here. It removes the epoxy without damaging the lure, or the recoat on the lure, if you're careful. I have no clue about alligator clips. Sorry.

You're looking at $30+- for a rotisserie kit. It should have a motor, mounting brackets, a square shaft, and two meat attachment forks. Here's the one I built with a kit like that.

Shawn, I think you can achieve the glider action with the spook/wood chopper shape by where you place the weight. The flatter sides (relatively) of the Punker may affect the action a little, but the weighting is more important to the action than the detailed shape, so you should be able to make both types of baits from the same shaped body. You may find you want to put a slightly beveled underside to the head, like a spook, but otherwise the cylindrical body should work.

Try making a Lunker Punker type gliding topwater. They are roughly spook shaped, but the weight is mid and rear, so the bait sits horizontal in the water with only the first third of the lure out of the water at rest. The weight farther back makes the bait glide side to side after each pull. Depending on how hard or fast you work it, it can walk the dog, or glide side to side two feet. Great big fish action. And they're easy to make. Or look up the Wood Chopper online, and see if it's something you could imitate. It's a great, loud top water.

Depends on whether you're attracted by her laminar flow, or her votexes. Is Pergo a laminar flow?

I ajust the fall/suspend rate of small suspending jerkbaits by changing hook and split ring size. If you repaint/recoat a lure and it no longer suspends, try changing out the hood setup to a lighter/smaller hook and split ring. In the spring, when I want a jerbait to float down onto a bed and sit there, I put larger hooks and split rings on the front. They also cast a little better with the larger hook setups, due to the additional weight, but Orbits cast really well out of the box, and they consistently suspend at 3-4' from the factory.

Never mind, Vman. My question was answered in another thread a little farther down the page.

And...... I've repainted and recoated light jerkbaits baits like Orbit 80s, which are 5/16th oz. suspending jerkbaits, and they still suspend. I sand off the paint, but not what's in the cross hatch scale pattern, and the spray with Createx, and coat with one coat of Etex Lite.

I wipe down with alcohol after the first coat is set, 24hrs. I don't use alcohol to smooth the first coat, only to prep for the next coat. I was told by the tech at Envirotex that it was unnecessary to sand between coats, provided I wiped with alcohol between coats. If I have a really rough spot after the first coat has set, I will sand with 400 grit, and then recoat. But I only sand the rough spot, not the whole lure, and then do my alcohol wipe down and recoat.

We use mixing nozzles on the job for structural epoxy. I never knew they were available for hobby epoxy. Silly me! Where do you find the mixing nozzles? I've been using measuring and mixing cups for my Etex, and I just use my eye for my 5 minute Devcon.

I made my wheel out of a $29 rotisserie kit I bought from the local hdwe store. A chain store. The wheels are 16" diameter, and I used the forked meat holders to attach the wheels to the shaft. They have thumb turn set screws so I can adjust the distance between my wheels for different size lures, although I mostly just use extra paper clips to adjust the lenth of the lure attachments instead of moving the wheels. That way, I can coat and sping lures of different lengths at the same time. If I'm only coating one lure, I will attach an already finished lure of similar weight opposite the lure to be coated to make the wheel balanced, which makes the load onthe motor even. These motors aren't the most robust, and eccentric loading (out of balance loading) puts a strain on them. Here's a picture of my wheel. It took me 30 minutes to make, once I figured out what I wanted to do.

If you dip in Minnwax poly acrylic twice, and sand after each coat with 220, you can get a smooth enough bait for painting. I make larger baits, so fine detail isn't that critical. When I first started painting, I would dip and sand, base coat with Createx flat white, and then paint with pearl white or silver, putting enough on to even out any rough spots that might be left. Then any other shading colors, accents, and detail. Finally, I would coat with epoxy, and let the epoxy give the final smooth finish. Now, I don't sweat getting the bait too smooth. I found that wood grain showing through the paint gives an added 3D effect to the paint job, so I don't even worry about sanding too smooth, or filling the wood grain any more. I just hit it with 220, round the edges, and, if there's any grain showing, so be it.

Try Envirotex Lite. It takes 12 hrs.+ to become tack free, but I can coat the lures after I put them on the drying wheel, and then turn it on, hit them all with a hair dryer for a minute or so each as it's turning (1rpm) and then let it turn all night. I check for dry spots as I'm hair drying them, and can add a little more epoxy on the dry spots, or just brush them out, and hit the with the dryer one more time. And I can use the brush to remove any excess I see starting to sag onto the underside or edges of the bait before it sets. The slower setting epoxy gives me time to coat as many baits as my wheel will hold (8 pieces) although the most I've done is 4 at a time. That way, I have enough room to coat each one on the wheel, without them getting in my way. If it's cold and epoxy starts to get stiff in the mixing cup, I hit it with the hair dryer, and it becomes more runny and easier to spread. In hot weather it lasts for the entire coating procedure. Even in the cold, if I have some left over, I can reheat it and use it to coat the insides of the joints of the next batch of jointed lures, which makes it easier to coat them when I put them on the wheel. Coating the insides of the joints is the hardest part of coating jointed lures. Grrrr!!!! I usually coat in the evenings, and turn the wheel off the next morning, but don't take them off until that next evening, giving them 24 hrs. to set. If you wipe Etex epoxy down with rubbing alcohol, you can re coat after 24 hrs. without sanding, which I do before I take them off the wheel. Two coats of epoxy, on the larger baits I make, doesn't affect the action or buoyancy of the bait, and it makes them more resistant to "rock rash".

Great idea! Thanks.

Someone here recommended polyurethane decking from Lowe's. I went online, and saw they have a polyurethane decking available in 12', 16', and 20' lengths. Sorry, but I don't remember the brand name. Rip off the outer, finished layer on the table saw, and then shape it with your normal procedure. Bear in mind that polyurethane is a petro chemical, and machining it may give off gases. I don't know that for a fact, but it seems logical. Maybe the person who tipped me off to this will chime in with the quirks of the material, such as how you attach the hook hangers, hinges, and eye ties, etc.. I haven't tried it myself. After I thought about it, I realized I was better off sticking to wood because I only make a few larger baits for myself and my friends, and I am comfortable with wood.

I keep a small tupperware-type plastic container filled with water on my work bench, and, between colors, I wash my airbrush out in it. It doesn't matter when the water gets a little dirty. Last thing I do between coats is fill the cup a little with airbrush cleaner, and back flush, loosen the needle and work it back and forth, and then spray out the remainder of the clean. I make sure I've worked the needle thoroughly, and then I move to the next color. When I'm done spraying, I do the same thing, making sure to clean the tip with an artist's brush (throw away), and then I run cleaner through it one more time, and then hang it up until the next time I paint. I pull the needle out before I paint again, and, if it's still dirty, I clean it and run a little acetone through the gun, and I'm ready to go again. Most of the time I don't need the acetone. And the "dirty" washout water works fine. No running to the sink. The airbrush cleaner last step takes care of any residual paint from the "dirty" water.

Pete, One other thing might be a leaky oil seal in your compressor. If you have another compressor, try switching and see if it still happens. Although a water separator should take care of oil, but you never know. Otherwise, it sounds like it's time to purge the system. Dump the thinner, the epoxy, and every other "wet" part of your finishing system, and start fresh.

Try counting down a 3/4oz chatterbait, or a 3/8oz sworming hornet with a jr. fluke trailer.

Exwives never understand, but you'll get visitation rights on the weekends, when you can take them fishing. )

If you're just a beginner, you've raised the entry level bar pretty high. Good looking baits.

Do it! Free time and having a life are way over rated!

Pete, That's really clear. Thanks. I haven't had any problems with "finger fat" so far. My hands are so dry, and I am careful not to grip the fresh paint, but use a hemostat to hold the lures when painting, and opened up paper clips to hold and hang them between coats while I'm painting another lure the same color, or while I change colors. Lately, I've been spraying a solvent based rattle can glitter over my baits before I top coat them, and heat setting it with a hair dryer, and haven't had any finger fat/finger print problems. Of course, that's with big lures. When I repaint cranks (I haven't tried making my own so far), I have a bill to hold, so finger prints aren't an issue. It looks like you use latex gloves on your hands when you paint. Good idea. I'm going to have to try that, although doing it bare handed saves so much on finger nail polish!

Great site. Thanks. I use Krylon primer or Minnwax acrylic sealer first to seal my baits, Createx water based paints for finished painting, and Envirotex Lite as a topcoat. I generally shape, weight, undercoat, and test in one session. Then I paint and topcoat in one session. That means I'm putting my topcoat on Createx that's been heat set, but not cured out. Do you think spraying lacquer flip flop paint over a built up waterbased color scheme that's only heat set would be a problem?

I remember those. My Mom used to have them to cover our food when we ate outside.