bluetickhound

I had some relatives that lived in Slidell (pre-Katrina) and believe me.... I feel your pain!!

I live in Georgia just south of Atlanta and my D2T us setting up fine. IDK how Devcon compares to Envirotex but it is a 2 part epoxy, as I'm sure you know. Hope this helps!

Now for some reason I can't edit my own posts.... It should read (among other things...) that looking at the lure from the side its flat and straight across the bottom and the top side has a curve that resembles a LC Sammy... I wish I could log on from my laptop and post pix but that's a whole other issue. Not sure if it's a crappy laptop or if I have some connection Issue with TU.

Since my laptop refuses to cooperate and I'm stuck with my iPhone I guess I'll just have to describe Lure #2 and hope that will suffice!! If I had to compare it with anyone's work I've seen on TU I'd have to say Haz's lures that I saw on the "making lure eyes" thread would be the closest. If you look at my lure from the top it looks like an exclamation point (minus the period at the bottom!!) it's flat and straight on the bottom and has a curve resembling an upside down Lucky Craft Sammy... My lure sits in the water dead level (side to side and front to back), with about a third above water and 2/3 under... but on the retrieve instead of a side to side swimming action the nose has kind of an up and down pecking motion. The tail, however wiggles really nicely side to side!! It dives rapidly to about 4-6 feet and at a stop will back up. This I really like. My thought is that the bill (which is round-tipped) still needs to be trimmed. The line tie sits right on top of the bill and ( after some bending to get it running true..) the lure itself seems to be ballasted correctly... I feel like I'm really close to having a fish able lure but I'm reluctant to trim the bill any more without seeing from y'all if that seems like the thing to do. By the way... The bill is at about a 20' angle and is exactly 1" from the tip of the body which is 3/4" at it's widest and the bill is 7/8" at it's widest.

Have you tried McMaster Carr? They seem to have everything I need!

I just finished doing that w/ lure #2... I was swim testing it and after several adjustments I was back casting and SMACK!!! Right into the dock.... Packed up, went home, sanded down and broke out the wood filler to repair... While I had it sanded down I drilled my hole for the ballast slug. After all was buttoned up I re-did the D2T and got a toothpick to pop the few bubbles I had. Every time I do this I get a little better!! This is a pursuit that so far has seen very tangible progress with each exercise...

I agree completely. As I discovered yesterday... A tiny ( and I DO mean TINY) amount of DA in the epoxy coupled with a breath or two completely dissipated any bubbles in my D2T. Once I got the hang of how fast to stroke the brush I eliminated all but a very few bubbles in the finish.

I got a dual setting heat gun from Harbor Freight and I'm sure my "noob-ness" is a large part of the problem but so far I'm not a big fan... I held it about a foot away and on low heat with a two second "on" and then off I still managed to boil my D2T and had to sand down and start over... Honestly, living in Georgia (where they don't call it "Hot'lanta" for nothin'!!!) I probably don't really need a heat gun. I just saw Solarfall using one in his (most excellent!!!!) videos to help flatten out and cure his finish but dude lives in Finland!!! It's COLD there! I'll revisit the heat gun around November or so but for now I'm just gonna leave it in the box.

For my money, the biggest satisfaction of my short time as a lure maker is in making everything myself.From designing, cutting and shaping the blank, making a through wire...making the bib, eyes and doing the paintwork... It's the best part of the deal to me. If I could make split rings and hooks ( and perhaps grow a balsa tree!!) I'd really be set!

Success!! More or less anyway... I decreased the amount of DA, recoated and except for just a couple of very minor dust boogers this coal really looks glass smooth. I'll let this dry overnight and tomorrow will do my dunk test to determine ballast location(s)... Thanks for everyone's help and input!! BTH

I bet "Ms Piggy" can't want to get her lips on that one! Really nice paintwork. BTH

Me too. I didn't like the looks of lure #2 this morning so I sanded down with 400 grit, mixed up some D2T and a couple of drops of DA and was AMAZED at how well it went on and looked.... Until I hit it with the heat gun... What I learned was to leave well enough ALONE!!! I had it beautiful and screwed it up. Will sand down tomorrow and try again, sans heat.

After further review I think I'm going to go with a Rikon 10-305. It's a 10" (as opposed to a 9") and seems to be really sturdy and well built. I don't think a 12" or 14" saw would be very practical for my limited space and frankly, it would seem like overkill for lure making.

I tell y'all what... I love me some search function!! I typed in "acetone" and it took me to a thread ( which actually turns out to be more appropriate for my question here...) that put me somewhat at ease about having used acetone to thin my D2T seal coat. It's not a killer mistake, it's just that DA is a much better product to use. The good news is that I already have a full can of it so I'll be ready on the topcoat...

Uh-oh... I used a bit of Acetone to thin.... Fortunately this is the sealer and not the top coat. If I need to sand down to bare hopefully that won't be a problem. I'd hate to lose this lure as its going really well so far...

Didn't want to start any new threads so I picked this one to bump!! Lure #2 is going really well (so far!!) and I'm at the point of sealing it to get ready for its swim test tomorrow. It's actually on the lure turner I made (which turned out GREAT!!!) even as I write but my issue is this. I thinned out my D2t and it went on smoothly (enough...) but I do have some tiny bubbles that will certainly be there when the dry time is complete. Can I wetsand with some 2000 grit and recoat or am I pretty much hosed? Thanks!! BTH

Which shade did you find most pliable. The HobLob I go to here in Fayettville Ga has light (like baby blue) and a darker shade, like a "true blue"...

I hear you on iPhone.... I wish I could upload directly but I can't... Thanks for the heads up on scale material. I got a roll of tule from hobby lobby and it seems like it'll work ok but having another option is always good.

Sorry for the bump but I gotta know... How'd the Skil work out for you? I'm now in the market myself and have it narrowed down to either a Rigid, Skil or Black & Decker... Leaning towards spending the extra $$$ for the B&D but I kinda like the Skil also. The Delta seems like another good saw for the money...

I can't post a pic from my iPhone and for some reason I can't log on to the site on my laptop. I can get to the site front page but it won't let me log on... I tried signing out on my phone thinking you couldn't be signed on from two different devices but that didn't work....

Glad to help. There also a great thread on color schemes for sunfish I dredged up on the search function.

Possibly in the hard bait cookbook thread? There seemed to be a lot of recipes for various paint schemes there.

Me too Chief. I have spent way more time in the archives than I have on the main Hard Bait page for sure. Another page I've really gleaned some jewels from is the home brew tools page. I know I have a ways to go before I get to where I want to be but I'll never get there if I don't get going and the path has been shortened CONSIDERABLY thanks to all the folks here at TU. the best thing I've learned so far is that (unlike many "hobbies"...) making lures doesn't have to be a frustrating pain in the neck.... Even though this lure isn't going to load my live well I have had an absolute blast making it. I expect every lure I make from here on out will provide that same thrill in different ways and I look forward to the challenges! I can only imagine what I'll feel like the first time that line jumps from a lure that I took from a block of wood, some wire and a piece of lexan and turned into a creation that a fish thought enough of to take a bite!

I'm no expert by any means but if you are going to try the hot water I wouldn't make it any hotter than say... 110 degrees or so. No lake you're ever going to fish will be that warm (hopefully not, anyway!!). I would imagine you've heard hot water because it should open any "pores" that might be in the lure enough to let air escape. Keep us posted on how it works out! BTH

That's the first thing I tried. It helped just a little but one of this lures fatal flaws is that the line tie is a full 1/8" away from the bill. Next lure I build will (among several other things!!) have the line tie right up on top of the bill. On a through wire bait does anyone find it necessary to cut a slot in the bill to clear the through wire or do you design the bait to where the bill won't contact it anyway? I cut my bill slot fairly deep into this first lure and maybe that was a bad idea. I thought that having greater surface area would make for better "purchase"... Not only for the wood to lexan contact but for bill to water contact also. Maybe I just overdid it??!