eastman03

One thing that I was happy about so far with these lures is that this was the first run I tried with the slot on the top method, just for kicks. And I was worried about there being a noticeable line down the top. But without any of the hook hangers in the way, plus some epoxy as a base coat, it easy to sand, and is as smooth as can be (minus the black paint/epoxy issues). The hook hangers on the bottom came out pretty clean as well. It's a bit of a pain, but overall, not tooo much more of a pain than a regular slot method. I think of all the methods, the drill through/fig 8 hook hangers, is still probably my overall favorite. But they all work, and have their merits.

Yea I hear ya. I only get to tinker a few evenings here and there between kids and work. I don't have a problem waiting in between steps. Thanks I'm glad I have wood heat in my shop as its -35 C here right now. lol

I've used spar urethane cut with thinner before. It seemed to do the job. I can't remember why I changed away from it. Stinky? lol That wood hardener is crazy, how it makes the wood like a rock. It is hard to even sand afterwards.

I think it’ll work. Probably pretty shallow, like 6-7 feet? with a big slow wobble. I’ve made one similar looking with a 12” body as well, my lip was slightly smaller and it basically didn’t do anything. I think you have enough lip to give it some action. Let us know how it goes.

I totally remember you saying now that you remind me. Yea I’m pretty sure a quick clear with something solves this problem. I’ve never used the rustoleum stuff. Might have to try it too. Thanks. how fast does that stuff dry? Like how soon after would you clear coat roughly?

So this is a new one for me. Honestly not a big deal as the lures (not the rainbow trout bottle opener) are just for me to beat up and made with different weights and lips to test. So even the paint schemes were done pretty minimal. I checked on the final epoxy this morning and thought oh boy, I must have contaminated the lure because the epoxy was very blotchy. Especially the second black and green one. I wasn’t particularly careful at all. I also thought maybe I torched them a bit to much? Although I didn’t think I over did it. the paint was dry as it had been at least a day since any of them had been painted and heat set. As I inspected the two bottle openers and five lures I epoxied it was pretty evident that some of them finished very well. Like the two bottle openers (phew, I had spent more time on those for sure). And the two orange lures were pretty much flawless. On inspection, it was clearly only the black areas on the other three lures where the epoxy had been blotchy. It was jacquard airbrush acrylic paint, which I’ve used before. Even the green stripes on the worst lure (second from bottom) was pretty smooth compared to the horrible black stripes where the epoxy pulled away and globbed. Anyway, like I said, I’ll throw another coat on and they will be ready to fish for myself. It really pays off on my quality lures to go the extra step for getting a good finish. Like on the rainbow trout bottle opener, I prepped for epoxy by spraying the surface with polycrylic. And ensuring that once the wood work was done, the surface was kept clean. anyone ever seen this happen?

I like the look of a tapered bait like the one on the left. As far as action on a crankbait, I don't *think* it would change much. Lots of flat sided cranks out there. Way way way easier to router and build the flat sided one. Which is why that is the choice for lots of lure builders I would imagine. As far as a glider, I have much less experience. Hellhounds are pretty much flat sided, as well as phantoms, so I could see it that shape working for either one.

haha on no! I've been there. I can bandsaw thin shims pretty easy, and use my belt sander to get them down to the right size real quick. And yea I've done it frantically after i've mixed my epoxy lol. Baits look good! As far as the RAS, I have heard that it is a finger destroyer. But it is about as safe as it gets for simple cross cutting. With this jig clamped down, I don't have to even have my hands on anything except the handle of the saw. That is what I really wanted overall. Those guards came with the saw. Pretty neat, but I don't think they would help at all for a quick climb cut into your hand if it were in the wrong spot. I love watching "Frank Makes" on youtube, and have learned how to use a RAS from him. Never have your hand in the cut line, no matter what. Just good practice.

@Big Epp this was that jig I made for my radial arm saw.

This was asked about on the other forum post, so I figured I'd start a new post. This is how I cut my thru wire slots. Radial arm saw works well for this purpose as I can visually line it up as far as depth. It isn't much of a jig, but it does the job. I just made that all the pieces were perfectly perpendicular to the RAS fence. Then as long as I have one straight side on the lure blank to reference against the small "fence" on my jig, it allows the saw to cut straight along the lure body. I would like to get a thin kerf saw, but RAS saws should have a negative hook blade angle to prevent the saw from pulling aggressively through the wood, and those blades are hard to find it would seem. I haven't ever had that happen, but that would be a surprise I want to avoid. I put some scrap piece under the clamp to just hold the lure blank up against the perpendicular fence of the jig with some pressure. **EDIT** that piece of wood in the jig isn't a lure blank, I just threw a cut off piece in there to show where it would go.

Search the form for ballast calculator. There have been many discussions on this in the past about buoyancy and density and weight etc.. Here is an example Epoxy weight and/or density? Buoyancy spreadsheet questions - Hard Baits - TackleUnderground.com If you know the density of the material you are using based on the grams per centimeters cubed measurement, you can use the woods weight in grams, or volume in cm cubed to figure out exactly how much lead would get you to achieve neutral buoyancy. Then you could add/subtract as you desire. This is all based on Archimedes principle which I "understand" barely lol. It's all about the volume - my mind was blown when only even kind of understood that. The good thing is! @Vodkaman has put together a ballast calculator spreadsheet that lets you plug your numbers in and much smarter/technical people like him have done the legwork for math and putting it in a simple to use spreadsheet. I, like a lot of builders, use much more trial and error method. But the calculator has helped me to hone in on the correct number very quickly!

Here is a video from solar baits. He shows pretty much exactly how to do a version of through wire. Very talented lure maker. He manages to get a layer of epoxy down before putting the lip in. I would have thought that would have been an issue. But I’ve never tried it that way. https://youtu.be/ECW9f6sNomA

I like to saw the slot in the lure while it is still in block form. My preferred tool is the Radial Arm Saw. It makes this task super easy. I'm sure a table saw wouldn't be too hard either. I made a simple jig so I can repeat the same cut with the RAS and quickly line up the center and depth (and keep my fingers outta there). It does allow me to also cut a slot, on a bait while it is formed to if necessary. A flat sided bait makes that even easier. It probably unlikely that most guys have a radial arm saw. That is my other hobby, collecting vintage equipment from the 40's.

Yea, I use a small palm sander to do most of the work. But, with practice, you will be able to get it to the point where you only need minimal sanding overall. I think a 1" belt sander would be amazing. That might be my next purchase, or that tiny hand belt sander. I'll use a scalpel to wittle off anything large around the hook hangers if there is. Then a quick sand with my palm sander. Then a bit of hand sanding/light filling to finish. I'll say this too, with bondo or epoxy, sometimes it's tricky to sand just the epoxy down. The filler is often much harder than the wood, so it can be tricky to work the filler down, without changing the shape of the wood too much. Again, do it a few times and it gets pretty easy. If you are using epoxy as a base coat before paint, it fills in and hides alot of little tiny imperfections, and still leaves you with a perfectly smooth base for painting.

ahhh but I want it nowwww. That is a good idea Hillbilly. I've seen engineered angler do it as well. Make adjustable or multiple tow points, or weights. I should make myself some screw in weights so i could really test a lure out. I really wish i had somewhere to test it through the winter as i usually have to wait several months between building and actual tests. A bathtub is difficult to test a 8"+ lure. I can do float tests, so I'm a best guess kinda guy as well. Documenting all the weights and placement has helped me lower that learning curve. I will also usually build 4 or 5 test lures "quickly" and have varying components to try to hone in on the ideal action.

UKandy let us know how these test blanks work based on the differences of weight/hook placement. I'm making a side to side top water (prototype) and just guessed at where the best weight placement would be. I would think you'd aim for a level fall with the weight close to the center of the lure to act as a pivot kinda? But I really have no idea.

The wood shim is the way to go. I spent a few years messing with trying to fill the entire slot up with epoxy and it sucks. Sanding it out works, but it is hard not to nick the hook hangers Thru wire gets easier like anything you do multiple times. Don't settle. I like your passion for making a quality lure! To me that means through wire! Remember- you don't want to be remembered for this= (this is a 120$ Canadian headlock lure). I don't want to name names, but there ya go. Their lures work great and catch fish! And I love their epoxy finish and aluminum lip. But that's about where it ends. I fear I paid for a name, not a quality product.

I've been meaning to make a bending tool like this as well. Anyone that makes lures will probably have most of their questions answered if they watch all of his videos!

Sounds good! Yea, the top slot does suck for that reason. Drilling holes through to still allow the hook hangers to go through is a bit of an extra step. Let me know how the epoxying of the slot goes? I had trouble just using epoxy as it constantly ran out and ended up being a big mess, and I still had to fill the slot a bit more. What kind of epoxy are you using for that purpose? I have some lead sheets from old underground powerline (very old) that works well for ballast. I can cut it and it fits into the slot just right. That was a good find at work. The 1" belt sander would be super handy. I should look into getting one of those for sure! One other thing with installing the lip last. For a musky bait like that, it will probably take some abuse. I would recommend "pinning" it into the lure with something. Not many adhesives adhere well to polycarbonate. Having the lip pinned into the lure with some wire or small screws helps it take the abuse. On second look, what is that lip material made of? Anyway, looks good! Keep up informed of the progress.

Welcome here first of all! I'm not totally familiar with the lure that you are making, but I use .062" wire in my muskie lures. I typically get my wire in the form of Stainless Steel Tig welding rod. Available almost everywhere, and comparatively cheap, and straight! This wire come is lots of sizes, so if you needed you can get .09" (3/32) as well or whatever you need. I have some of the .09 stuff for certain applications, and that stuff is hard to bend! The .062" stuff isn't too hard. Invest in some really good round nosed pliers (anything from KNIPEX is amazing). You can make jigs to help bend wire consistently if you are going to do the same lure over and over.

Yea Vodkaman, my most recent lures that I just finished gluing up have the slot down the back. I leaves me more room as well for other things like rattles or weight. Sanding the slot smooth down the back helps without the hook hangers sticking down as well. I think both ways work though overall. I really like bondo too. Liquid superglue is expensive and i have to order it online. Bondo is cheap and available. Once I apply the bondo, i wait like 5 minutes or so till it is still in the curing stage, then using a sharp knife, I can easily remove most of the excess. I carves off like butter. Then once cured (only about another 5 min), you can sand it smooth. That saves me a lot of sanding.

Nice looks good! What are you planning on filing the slot with? That seems to be my most time consuming part. I "piping bag" epoxy into the slot, place the wire in, then use a stick to get epoxy on the side walls, then jam a piece of thin wood into the slot. Saves on filling the entire slot up with epoxy. If there are any gaps after (which there probably will be), i use bondo (or you could try the super glue/baking powder trick).

Yea, if it isn't right I for sure don't sell it. They go into my tackle box, or a close friend to use and test. If it has my name on it and I sell it, I want it to have good finish. Otherwise, you will be selling all your lures for discount, or other potential customers will see a sub par product. I like the idea of giving them to kids, but yea as a musky lure maker that might be tough lol. Honestly, I don't make/paint tons of lures, so I will usually take the messed up lures, and start over with it. Put a different paint job on it, or experiment with it. I have a bunch of lures on my "wall of shame" that will never go out to anyone lol. I agree with Big Epp, I'll test something out for anyone!

Very nice! 16mm?