I've made a couple of punkers, my wood of choice = Red mahogany. I got some for free, scrapped from my girl friends old bed frame. Its just right, light weight but hard. Weight them so that they float a little less than half way out of the water, nice and flat/level. Mine walk way better that the real injection molded ones from black dog. I use screw eyes with 2 ton on the threads, then again I haven't caught any teeners with them either.