diemai

@ CMARTIN269 Years ago a Belgian friend sent me a pack of E-Tex , that I had used up on lures back then . He had warned me before to mix and stir that stuff REAL thoroughly for a couple of minutes before applying it . Think to remember , that there was a thread on the subject in here a longer time ago , .......guess , that some other guys had the same problems with E-Tex . greetz , diemai

@ hybrideye Exactly ,what I am using , ........got a small hobby routing machine , nothing else but a drill press with feed and crosswise feed table and a machine vise fixed onto it ! I have an approx. 3" dia. round saw blade with a shaft to chuck into the drill ,..... that one takes care of any liplots , only make sure to set the vise in a way parallel to the feed direction of the table to have everything accurately angled . Just draw a pencil line on the still rectangular blank where you want your lipslot to be and set that line level to the sawblade inside of the vise by eyeballing , .......if not sure about right level , you may just scratch over the blanks surface with the sawblade to determine about direction , possibly alter the blanks position in the vise , .........that little flaw would later vanish anyway , when finally shaping the lure body . Since I am using this method for my lipslots , I don't have any issues anymore about inaccurate lipslots running out of plane and angle . But you need to make sure to shape your blank symetrically afterwards , .........I always draw a center line around the blanks outline , .......this one is one of my references leaving it untouched until almost the final fine sanding of the body . good luck , diemai

@ CMARTIN269 It can also be caused by not keeping the accurate mixing relations of resin and hardener ! I also have issues like that with the epoxy topcoat that I use , ........after having mixed and stirred the two parts THOROUGHLY I'd start topcoating my lures , ....usually a bunch of 6 to 8 lures . On the first two lures these dimples might slowly evolve , when sthe stuff starts to set on the lure's surface , ....no problems on the rest . I use fast curing epoxy , so on the last lure it has already turned a bit jelly like , only has a processing time of 15 to 20 min , depending on room temps . So what I have found out , is that the epoxy mix should be left alone for a few minutes after stirring , just to set for a while inside of the mixing jar . But when doing this , I could topcoat less lures with one mixture due to the fast curing time . So I actually start immediately after stirring and have the first lures evolve dimples , but when I'm about to get finished with the batch , I would pick just a little more epoxy on my brush and spread it all over these lures , the dimpled coat is still just liquid enough to be able to be spread again , ............after no dimples would evolve anymore . good luck , diemai

@ Fishwhittler I am aware of this , have already noticed about the neccessity of plenty of ballast on PVC lures , when making my first smaller baits . These baits are wide enough to embed some more weights left and right of the harness slots , I could use lead shot or some small 10 X 5 millimetres cylindrical lead slugs , that I borrowed from curtain weight bands , .......if neccessary , I could also hammer these to any shape required to fit them into the blanks . Epoxied screw eyes should hold up well for pike in PVC , I guess , .....did a test recently trying to pull out an unglued 3/4" eye with pliers(pull direction aligned with shaft and without moving it back and forth) , ........could not move it a single bit with all of my strength , the pliers would rather always loose their grip . But it's true , I should rather put my trust on a tru-wired PVC lure ,....... the average pike won't do any harm to screw eyes , but what about hooking that 50" pike of a lifetime ? greetz , diemai

@ Jio .........got plans for other lures , Janne ! But these are very elaborate , but I really enjoy working on them ! Just furnished all of the connecting wire forms of the carp bait today , also fins and initial lead sheet weights . Guess , that these double pieces of lead sheet won't be heavy enough to have the PVC sink , but at least they do already provide a good share of ballast , I would do the fine trimming after having all sections connected . I have started to glue in the wire-forms and weights , but it would take a few days to get done , as I can only glue one section within a day , need the glue to cure thoroughly to be able to clean off excess without having it smear my tools constantly . Glued in wire and weight into the pike's head as well , but still have to make all the other wire forms , weights and fins for that lure during the coming week's rare leisure time . greetz , Dieter

@ genekickinit Nice site , that "crankbaitcentral" , .......thanks a lot for sharing ! greetz , diemai

@ hybrideye These new blanks are looking a lot better than your first ones of plywood ! But you really should have cut the lip slots on the shad bodies as long as they were still square . I guess , that symmetry of a lure blank is always more important than the body taper towards tail and back , ............the smaller a lure blank is , the more accurate it has to be shaped ,......... f. e. little flaws in terms of symmetry on a 8" muskie crank won't have such a great negative effect as they would have on a 2" perch crank . A crankbait lure blank , that it not sufficiently tapered or rounded, would not wiggle as much as a more streamlined blank , thus sport less action , .......simply because these tapers and roundings of back and belly of its body provide less resistance in the water . This also counts for flat bodied glider jerkbaits ,......... models with thoroughly rounded backs and belly usually do perform a better glide than models with having only broken edges on the transitions of back , belly and its flanks . Otherwise on a swimbait you will want the first head section not to be too streamlined , as it has to generate commotion and vortices in the water , that help to get the entire bait to do its typical "snake" motion . These are just rules of thumb , that I 've learned about during my luremaking carreer , certainly there might be exceptions to the rule ! Always try to work as accurate as you can on your lures , ........guess if you are taking possible flaws into consideration right from the start , they would occur automatically ,............small blemishes and inaccuracies can be fixed with wood filler , anyway ! good luck , diemai

Thanks a lot folks , .........just got back home from my wife's usual shopping trip , but I've managed to find some more teddy bear eyes for the second carp lure as well . @ VermontPhisher You're right , Brett ,.......... these swimbaits require some ballast in their bellies ,....... something , that you need to take into consideration BEFORE starting out at all ! If you choose a very buoyant material like this PVC , you would need a lot of space in the bellies of the single sections to place it into . This also has an effect on the location of hook hangers and especially the hinge placement and construction . On the other hand , .......choosing a kinda hardwood having a lower buoancy , your entirely assembled lure might already sink or barely float without any added weights(due to hooks and hinge hardware) , but certainly not in the proper upright and horizontal level . This bait with the pop rivet bearings reminding you of a puzzle does have sufficient space for belly weights , as there is no wire or screw eyes passing through the center of the sections . On the other throughwired baits jointed by interconnected wire eyes one should not position the lower wire forms too close to the belly but a little more upward , just to gain some more space for belly weights . I like to taper the flanks of my swimbaits towards the tail at about 2/3 to 1/2 of their entire length , so that they would become less buoyant down the tail , this way I won't have to put any weights into the last sections and maybe only little in the second to the last . The majority of ALL ballast is located in the first head section , a little less most likely in the second one behind the head . This is one reason , why the head section should be the biggest and most voluminous one , .......sections reduce one for one in size and volume down the tail . Second reason to keep the first section bigger and longer is , that there are vortices in the water generated by that section , these do flow down the flanks helping the trailing sections to move sideward thus resluting into the typical snake action (there is a thread about these vortices in here started by Vodkaman , I guess). To be sure to generate enough of these vortices I like to keep the upper nose portion of the head section rather flat , only round off the edges a bit . The belly and the backs and bellies of the trailing sections I still do round entirely , but it is not neccessary for proper function . Rather more streamlined head sections don't seem to generate as many vortices , thus such baits are harder to swim properly , ........at least this is my theory now . I also place the tow eye quite low on the first section , I do not make the nose symetrical with the tow eye at the nose tip in center , ..............I believe that this way also some leverage around the tow eye occurs , generated by the oncoming current during retrieve . This unequal water pressure above and below the tow eye also helps the first head section to break out sideward thus trailing the rear sections , the vortices then do their share to "snake" the bait . Thanks again all and good luck , .........greetz , Dieter

@ mark poulson It truly is a great material , Mark , ........carves and sands like a dream ! Just did some detail carving to the pike lure this morning , not quite perfect , but I'm OK with it so far ............need to obtain some more teddy bear eyes , as these were my last pair . Gonna carve some details to the carp bait tomorrow , hopefully I would also find some eyes somewhere , ...the small craft store in my hometown has shut down recently , have to check in Hamburg ! Want them pike eyes(presently only temporary mounted) in orange , .....but I might as well paint the bottom of the socket , these eyes are clear , the color surely would shine through ! greetz , Dieter

Just proceeded a bit with my latest PVC swimbaits this morning , .....at first I've made the lenghtwise belly and back slots with a "Dremel" cutting disc , .....after furnished the separation cuts inbetween the sections on my hobby routing machine leaving some connecting material in the blank's center to keep it still in one piece for sanding the outer body shape with nice transitions . A made the cuts a bit wider , not just went through with the round saw blade once , just to achieve the about gap , that the two interconnected wire eyes would create after final assembly , ...........this is also for nice outline transitions , especially with lure blanks , that have a pronounced taper at back and belly . After those separation cuts I've sanded the rear flank tapers down the tail and finally rounded off back and belly of the lures to achieve the final body shape . Next to do would be to make the eye sockets(planning on stemmed teddy bear eyes) , after I would decide whether to still carve some details like mouth and gillplates , ....not sure about that yet ! greetz , diemai

@ mark poulson Thanks a lot , Mark , ........to be honest , I was happily surprised , that they swam that well , because if I moved them in my hand , the joints would sometimes "edge" or clog inside of the hinge sleeves or against the opposing section and not move freely . But this looks like just a gravity problem ,......... as the bait is in the water some lift is generated to the single sections , also the line pull kinda centers them against one another so they do swim like they should ! Just started out with some bigger PVC baits yesterday , planning on joining them with interconnected wire forms glued into slots cut lengthwise centered into back and belly , .............not through lengthwise bores in their backs this time , like I did to my first wooden batch . I am hoping to have a little less work this way , still trying out many things ! greetz , Dieter

@ Geppa Thanks for further info about fish species in Italy , .......really did not know , that there are still pike in the South of your country . Also didn't know , that you obviously have a good stock of bass , only knew about waters in Spain to have them . Somewhen in the past they've tried to establish American bass in Germany as well , but it did not work out to build up good stocks , so they vanished again , ........... and nowadays we have learned more about the dangers of taking alien species to places that they don't belong , anyway ! Sorry for little off-topic , ............PM sent ! greetz , diemai

@ Geppa Absolutely great work you've achieved there with a state-of-the-art finish , just a very fine lure ! What species you're using it for , ........I know , that you've got silure in Italy , probably zander(walleye, pike perch) as well , ....do you also still have pike further south of the Alpes ? greetz , diemai

Thanks a lot for your kid words , guys , ........... happy if I could provide some input with my humble work ! @ CatchemCaro There are multiple ways to seal off wooden baits , several are described somewhere in here(utilize the search function) . I just dip my baits into liquid wood sealer twice(the kind one would use to protect wooden parts outdoors like fences , sheds , etc.) ,......... not the best way , but fine for me . I also utilize a 50/50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine to soak my blanks for a few days , ....a very slow method , has only worked on abachewood so far , takes several weeks to dry , but seals off perfect . Afterwards the lures have to be painted with a few layers of acrylic clear to prevent the liquid inside of the wood reacting with following paintcoats , thus yellowing them after a longer while . Guess , the best way to seal off wooden baits is propionate , ....but I haven't yet used it , lots of write ups about it in here , .......a good describtion you can also find at My link , check out the "How-To-Guides" there(left upper window of start page) . This PVC material , that I utilized last for my lures , does not require any sealing , you can even paint straight on the fine-sanded blanks , also weight them in a water bucket or test them yet unglued without any sealing treatment required . good luck , diemai

Just got done with these small PVC swimbaits yesterday , made a little bath tub video of them and my latest PVC crankbaits , you may watch it here : Whilst topcoating the swimbaits the joints became clogged up just a bit , but I have managed to scrape all paint remainders off of them , so they obviously move freely now . Really enjoyed working on these tiny bits , but my next swimbaits are gonna be a bit larger , I guess ! greetz , diemai