Griffond

I actually just used a wide thick sawsall blade with my hand to cut the slots in the grandma lures that just seem to work really good for me just another thought to try... you do have to make sure to keep the blade flat and not tip it more one way then the other thou

Well then I say for some stress relief you just better go fishing

Oh those videos from Paul are great and I would have to agree to try aluminum... after working with it for the grandma lures I will find it hard to work with other material and the good news is its super easy to find in many thicknesses at your local Home Depot or Lowes or local hardware store for that matter... and its CHEAP! and super easy to cut... I used shears to nip the corners off and just rounded it out with a file and cleaned up the edges with sand paper. I have a few smaller Phox style minnows I cut out of balsa that I need to finish but the aluminum I bought for the grandmas is to thick so back to the Home Depot for me to get thinner stuff... the other advantage I can see with the aluminum is if you cut your lip angle just a touch off you can just tweak the lip the way it needs to be... and if you were really handy you could even put a curve in a lip if you wanted without to much effort I am guessing... I think I know the book your talking about as well it has a bass on the cover? If your looking for lip sizes to fit your lures the one thing I figured out to try was to download this link http://luremaking.com/catalogue/download/making_crankbait_lips.pdf which has a bunch of lip patterns on it and either adjust size with printer or adjust the size on the screen and gently trace them out with a pencil on a white sheet of paper right over your screen (dont push hard) it allows you to make them a little more custom size to your lure... just my two cents anyway good luck and post some pics on your progress

Great video as always Dieter was nice watching on my TV with a cup of coffee this morning... I did some searching around and I found something online you will like here is a link to a E-Book with a very thorough description of these lures and many many more with pictures enjoy http://books.google.com/books?id=3imrwVye9pwC&pg=PA327&lpg=PA327&dq=Canadian+Baits+Inc+300+Nicollet+Ave&source=bl&ots=RjU6kT0RQN&sig=kD-Fcp3Tb4Td90zO_x4s6vtdrUQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=geRnU4XvBonmyQGOxYHoBQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA

Someone has a video on youtube I'll see if I can find it where he takes out the coffin bill of a DT and replaces it with a larger standard shaped bill I'll see if I can locate it tomorrow after I get some sleep...

looks good and like it would catch fish!

Just a random thought about contests... you could have a little fun with them "sometimes" and have themed contests for Holidays?or Seasons? Or perhaps by just randomly picking a couple colors that have to be the main color pallet of the lure... just something to change up contests a bit that add a small but fun random touch to work towards.

That is some interesting rules... either way your only a day or so away from giving them a shot best of luck to you dieter

Saltwater... it would be interesting to see the size of that lure with a ruler... I am guessing you could make that from acrylic as well

just a random question on this guys after looking at that website and never using this product before... but why couldn't you just get mylar balloons from the dollar store cut to shape and just use spray adhesive or a glue stick even... I am guessing you would get the same effect for a fraction of the cost.

Well I got most of the body shaped out for the fist one... I decided to use 3 pieces of 1/4" balsa all sandwiched together to get the thickness needed from the dimensions the shaping is coming along thou... I am taking my time with sandpaper after shaping with a knife.

Did you guys just use split shots or pencil lead for ballast?

Ok the difference I can see with the balsa version over the lucky is no scoop cut in the face is that correct?

yes pike opener here is next weekend (the 10th) and I am hoping to troll them around a bit and see what happens... I think there a little light duty for musky... especially the balsa one... most musky would bite that one in half without trying even with d2t on it and holding it together... I am going to make some more out of poplar (aspen) thou and try some rattle can finish and some photo/foil finish. Are printer died awhile back and we haven't bought a new one at all but I figure I can go to a friends house and print or just pay a local print shop to print some sheets out for me. I think if a person were to change the lip design you could make these a much better casting bait... and these are a good candidate for coin rattles as well... (which would be good for your catfish lol) we'll just have to see what happens I guess...

just brushes with acrylic art paint nothing fancy... I would use spray paint but its been raining forever here and I have no shop or garage to use it in so it's gotta be done outside I did paint the other one thou just a bunch of layers or acrylic paint and d2t to top it off

Interesting idea you wouldn't happen to have a picture of the back would you...

Yeah I love mepps type lures or french spinners... those are the first lures I ever started making... I still thou have never seen anyone catch a cat on a lure here... it might just be a different time of year or something.

So I ended up with another piece of 1/4" thick balsa a friend gave me so now I have a ton of it... and I got to thinking that the best size bait on the river is 4" Husky jerk or Original Rap... now I know I could make 4" raps but well that seems a bit more work then it's worth to me...(and I already have a ton of them) anyone have any ideas on 4-5" balsa made baits that either suspend or slow sink and preferably I could put aluminum lips on since that is what I have laying around if I needed to I could possibly track some lexon down but it would take a minute. Or something with no lip works as well. Thanks in advance.

Well since the wife wasn't home yesterday I figured I would work on my Grandma's I made one from Balsa just to get an idea of making it easier and one is currently in the works from poplar which I prefer to make it from after making the balsa one first. I still have to ballast the poplar as well now that the D2T is dry... if only I could paint as well as I can carve I would be doing better lol and I crinkled my foil as well its flashy should still catch fish.