.dsaavedra.

well, to remove the blade, all you have to do is hold the little tab that is closest to the handle, and then twist the handle off. but the blades are shorter than the frame is, so to put them on you have to secure the blade in one end of the frame and then push down on the frame to bend it so the blade can reach the other end of the frame. then secure and tighten handle. i guess they did this so the blade would be under a lot of tension so it doesnt move a lot.

ok i got it. it just took a lot of pressure to bend the frame so it would fit. dont i feel dumb now

just bought a coping saw and cant figure out how to put a new blade on!

i havent tried it, and i wouldnt plan on it. leather is strong, but i wouldnt trust it. plus it gets waterlogged and its easier to rip when its waterlogged. add to that that its organic and will rot if its not properly taken care of... plus its ugly

got some fins put on:

well i got too impatient so i just went a head and bought one of the bits without your approval first havent tried it out yet, but it feels like it will be pretty good. got a little work done on the bait this morning. i drew in the gill detail last night and went a head and carved it out with the dremel this morning. here is what i have done: under the chin: head on:

yeah i got the idea last night while trying to fall alseep. my mind was just racing with ideas and i couldnt sleep . i was trying to think of all the successful swimbaits and what kind of hardware they use, and 3:16 wake jr. came to mind with its "no see thru" joint. im not sure if i wanna try doing that with this bait or not... i think i want to try the chain idea on this one and maybe use the door hinge on the next.

i downloaded that program a few months ago. its neat for planning out building a shed or deck or something, but i can not for the life of me figure out how to use it to design lures. i havent used it much and i am by no means skilled with the program, i have just played around with it. maybe a pro can come in and show us up.

thanks for the info. that really helped. when doing what you described, would you make the front < the "female" <? here, i sketched something that better explains this. also, i considered building the joints right into the wood. most people use screw eyes that are put into one side of the joint and the recessed into the other and a pin runs down thru them. well i considered just carving the wood in a way that would eliminate the need for screw eyes, but still need a pin. i also sketched this. i think this bait is better suited for the chain idea because the bait is split down the center. i would fear that if i used the integrated hinge, that the split would greatly weaken the strength. on a future bait i will test out the integrated hinge by making it from one piece of wood and just screwing hardware in.

i planned on running stainless steel bead chain thru the middle of the length of the bait. if you take a close look at the jointed portion of this lucky craft live sammy, you will notice that there are two wires running thru the length of the tail portion: i want to do something similar but instead of wire i will use stainless steel bead chain.

those look vicious! are they any better than the dremel brand tungsten carbide power carver bits? i noticed they are a few dollars more than the dremel brand.

nope i have never made a lure from plywood before. this was just there so i grabbed it. i figured it would be real good for making a swimbait because each half is real thin, and when i put them together it makes a nice, 3/4" thick body. also, it eliminates me having to cut the bait down the middle which i am terrible at doing.

im not going to have "hinges" per say, what i planned on doing was running a chain thru the middle of the bait. i dont wanna screw anything into this bait, so i dont want any screw eyes on it. i just dont have confidence in screw eyes. i changed the bait from having slanted joints to vertical. as for the shape of the joints i think im gonna go with a slight U shape.

ok guys, i need a little help here. i just jumped into swimbait making on a whim today, and i need a little bit of help on something. how should i shape the joints on my swimbait to maximized its chances of swimming right? you can see from my thread "a swimbait in the making" that i plan on cutting the joints at a slant. is this good or not? should they be vertical? now that i think about it, vertical cuts would provide more room for the joints to swing. is there a certain shape i could cut the joints in that would provide better action? i see a lot of baits with V shaped joints like this << and some with U shaped joints like this ((. would it still swim if i just cut the joints straight like this ||? or what about if i cut them with reverse V's like this ><? also, where should i put the line tie? i was thinkin of putting it just underneath the chin of the lure. is this a good place? thanks for bearing with me.

okay guys, follow along here... i am gonna make a lipless swimbait and document my progress here. whether it works or not i do not know. but here goes... i started out with a piece of 5"x7"x3/8" basswood plywood. i cut it in half and sketched out the shape of my swimbait on one half. then i roughed out that shape and then did some refining to get it how i wanted it. i then traced it on the other half, roughed it out with a hand saw and used rubber cement to temporarily attatch it to the other half. then i went in with a dremel and refined both halves so they were exactly equal. here are the two halves, glued together, and refined (still pretty rough): leaving them together, i rounded off all the corners, tapered the head and tail with the dremel, and then did some hand sanding with 80 grit paper. i also marked where i will cut the joints. side view: head on: tail view: later tonight or tomorrow morning i will cut the joints and shape them. to be continued...

hey thats a great idea! there is a store called five below (everything in the store is $5 or under) and last time i was there i saw some mini discoballs for $4 i think. i should buy one and take it apart to get the motor out.

k im gonna check ebay for a cheapie, cuz i dont have any money and i cant afford $20 for a rotissarie motor.

ok i didnt plan on doing this too much, and just for one lure at a time (im not setting up a drying wheel for this). i dont have a trash microwave, and i dont know if i could get one. we have one other drill, but it is ANCIENT. it is huge, heavy, and plugs into the wall, and its not variable speed either.

i know someone here dries epoxy with a cordless drill. i just got one and i was wondering if it is hard on the drill (ie. damages motor/battery) to leave it running at such a slow speed for extended periods of time (30 min to turn epoxy)?

real quick to answer your questions, the fins are in the photo, i just grabbed the photo off google images, there are tons of em, and for paper, i used tissue paper glued onto foil tape. but instead of making a super long post, i'll just give you the link to the tutorial that i used: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/7671-photo-finishing-foil-faux-finishes-tutorial.html good luck guys, its great fun!

thanks guys!

they asked me 3 questions, i answered 3 questions...whats hard to believe? im not good with sarcasm if thats what your gettin at:whistle:

kribman and boomah, yes, yes, and yes. THANKS EVERYBODY!

is 1 RPM too slow for turning lures that are coated with devcon 2 ton?

lol thanks for teh compliments guys