pikester

I used Etex to seal 4 baits one night last week in a room without ventilation & no mask. I did notice I was dizzy afterwards so I will definitely be using ventilation or at least a mask from now on. Better to be safe than sorry I think!

Thanks for the ideas fellas, I actually painted the glider last night with the idea of keeping it basic & simple to get the most out of the foil but it ended up getting out of control! I just started adding colours & couldn't stop Oh well, 2 more to go but because I am super busy with work, 3 little boys , & a wife who lacks patience for my free time, it might take me a week to finish them! Will post pics of all 3 when done

Airbrush paints, I think most use Createx Auto Air myself included. Don't ask me how to get it to spray nice because I still struggle with that myself even though I've tried all the usual tricks; Windex, water, reducer, medium, etc. I think the biggest trick is just getting real good at using your brush I have had real good luck with 2 other products; Golden Airbrush paint made by Golden Artist colors, & a sprayable ink called FW Acrylic Arists Ink made by Daler-Rowney. I like the FW the best because it is made with high quality pigments which result in nice, vibrant colors plus it's pretty thin so you don't have to add anything to it; just pour & shoot! The only downside is it's pricey for me ($8.00 for 1oz!) & the only store in Calgary that sells it doesn't have a lot of color variety. Clearcoat is easy, most use either Devcon 2Ton epoxy or Envirotex Lite pour-on epoxy. The ones who don't use those use Dick Nites(sp?) topcoat. That should be enough to get you rolling a little smoother

Haha, I can assure you it's silver foil. I'm not much of a photographer yet so I had to take that picture in real low light to get it to turn out. When I took a picture with more light it was glaring so bad it was like looking into the sun! Thanks for the tip about keeping things basic & simple, it would be easy to get carried away & paint the heck out of them thereby defeating the purpose of the foil job.

Not a great pic I know but it's all I got of my foiled blanks for now!

Hey folks, just brainstorming on what to do with some new silver foiled baits I got cookin'! Two are flat-sided balsa cranks, one is a Glidin' Rap style balsa glider, all destined to be chewed by pike & walleye. My personal favourite is Clown so at least one will get that treatment but just curious to hear what colour schemes are productive for other builders here

I hear what you're saying, thanks I will give it a go! BTW, just as a point of interest, the crank in my avatar is a 4" from red cedar

Interesting... this is starting to sound more like a study in chemistry & alchemy every day!!! I am definitely leaning towards aluminum lips now

I draw out all my shapes on my wood before hand, making sure the outlines are all the same. I just cut the rough shapes out with a scroll saw if it's softer, thinner material like 3/8"birch or poplar, etc. On heavier hardwoods I use a bandsaw. Once I have the basic blank I cut all my lip slots on a table saw, then do my initial shaping, rounding, & smoothing with a bench sander.

By etc I meant that sometimes I incorporate a metal tail fin & possibly a vertical fin of some sorts, I just didn't feel like elaborating at the time, sorry. When you take into account a line tie, two or even 3 hook hangers ( on the 9"), plus a tail & dorsal fin, that is a lot to sand around. None the less, you have convinced me to give it a try, will attempt it on my next one, thanks.

I see, thanks for the tutorial Rofish! I actually do a very similar process (including using the same die grinder bit!), except for using the toothpicks as locator dowels, I like that! Still kinda leaves me with the same predicament though, after shaping & sanding the bodies I have to spit them in half & lay them down to install the hook harness, lead, rattles, etc. I realise that with smaller lures like you describe it's easy enough just to let the hardware half rest in your hand to do everything, then glue it but most of my balsa bait are 6"-9" long & include 1 to 1&1/2 oz of weight as well as a long harness, & a couple rattles so that's not an option. I guess that is the point where I'm stumbling. I just have to be careful I guess to keep my work area clean of things that can divot my surfaces, as well as doing a coat or two of sealer to firm it up.

Ah cool. Thanks mate!

Thanks for those tips as well! 47" eh, wow I would love to see one of those up close!!! My PB is 41" caught on a rainbow trout coloured #11 Countdown Rapala. By the time I got the fish netted she had torn through my steel leader & one of the trebles had pulled right off the split ring!

I'd eat it yummmmmmmm! Thought about glueing some eyes on that bad boy? Not that you have to, I'm addicted to eyes, I put them on everything. My kids even end up running around the house with google eyes stuck to them

Dave, I think you are right about the sensitive nature of stainless. I use carbide tipped chisels at work all the time & I do my own sharpening which is a process that takes much care & a special grinding stone, we just call it a "greenstone". Maybe this type of stone would work for stainless as well?

Ah, so maybe it's my snips that are not up to snuff then! Maybe I'll keep an eye out for aluminum instead then, sounds easier to deal with, just that stainless looks so cool it mesmorizes me!!!! Thanks for that BTW, I have not spoken to you much but I want you to know that I've seen lots of your lures & I really admire your experimental nature that goes into most of your lures, very unique & thought provoking! I dabble with some pretty "off the wall" stuff as well but most of my ideas end up in the bottom of a drawer somewhere lol It is definitely fun though!

Yeah, I hope to be that lucky lol. Is 0.5mm material stiff enought to use as a diving lip on a 7"-9" crankbait with a lip size @ 1" X 1.5" or would there be too much flex on 0.5 material to use as large lips?

Thanks for the encouragement Prof! What are your thoughts in regards to a particular order of epoxy materials to gain optimum flexibility & resistance to penetration? For example if a person sealed with Etex, then did one coat of Etex for a topcoat, then a clearcoat of Devcon 2ton would that result in a lure that is more "flexible" as well as durable than say a balsa lure which has been sealed, topcoated, then clearcoated all with Devcon? Also, I just want to apologize to Balsabee for somewhat highjacking this thread. I like to think that this lurebuilding forum is probably one of the most forgivable types of forums to highjack on because there is no such thing as wasted or useless info here!

Hahaha, let me guess, been there done that a few times hey Pete? So you got me thinking when you mention that your using wood harder than balsa; where does bass wood fall in the catagory of hardness/ floatation characteristics? I haven't done any work with basswood yet but to my amateur eye it seems like a good compromise between balsa & true hardwoods. Thoughts?

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work! My scroll saw has only one speed- super fast so I guess I'm hooped I guess I need to take Salty's advice & then go find someone who can do the cutting for me. All that wonderful free material might end up costing me anyway!

Interesting, I thought about doing it that way but couldn't wrap my head around how to get all that sanding done having to work around all the hook loops, line tie, etc. I guess I just don't have much patience lol

So I recently came across some nice 1mm thick stainless steel panels which I "borrowed" from an old water distiller. Looks like good material for small/medium sized diving lips, tail rudders, etc. Problem is I can't figure out how to cut it!! I already found out that the scroll saw is NOT the way to do it; went through 3 blades & only got a quarter inch cut to show for it. Not to mention it sounded like a machine shop in my basement lol. Also tried tin snips but all that did was hurt my hand & create some horrible angular cuts which bent the material all along the edge! Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the pointers on proportionate, I may try the long dip idea! As far as balsa not being the best material for pike, you are absolutely right. Thing is the action you get from a balsa bait (even big ones like I make) is uncomparable to any type of hardwood. I have several Rapalas in my box which even though chewed to a pulp will still outfish anything else I can throw! My fishing buddy has a Super Shad Rap which is missing the back 1/3 of it's body & almost no paint to speak of & that thing still gets the biggest pike for him

Not to dispute your knowledge Rofish but one of the balsa cranks I made 2 seasons ago got nearly torn in half by a big pike last fall so it gave me chance to really see what was happening under the surface of my lures so to speak. Although I couldn't peel the proportionate off the wood with my fingernail (which is obviously a good sign) I saw no sign what so ever that the prop had penetrated the wood at all. Perhaps I'm mixing my proportionate too thick? Your thoughts on deep penetration potentially being a bad thing makes a lot of sense, never thought about that. One of my biggest concerns about using an epoxy sealer is exactly what you mention; the weight factor after putting a coat of sealer on, then maybe 2 more top coats or even 3 if your leveling out a foil bait! I guess a guy would just have to learn by trial & error how to compensate for the added weight when originally building the lure.

In my experience you have basically 2 choices; either dip in proportionate several times or like most of the guys seem to do you can mix up some epoxy (Devcon 2 ton usually), thin it with denatured alcohol, then brush on. I find the proportionate dip makes for a nice base to paint on but it doesn't really penetrate into the wood. It just kind of creates a plastic coating, but the nice thing is each coat dries reasonably quick & is relatively cheap compared to Devcon. The thinned Devcon 2 ton is much more durable, actually penetrates a little more but takes longer to dry, & is pricier to use. I think you would be wasting your time to build a balsa bait & not seal it properly before painting but it's your choice! Just as an aside, the type of paint you use might have some determining effect on how you seal. I use water base paints like Createx & it seems to me that it adheres better to the epoxy sealer than it does to the proportionate sealer. Just my opinion though, there are more experienced guys than me who will hopefully chime in