New possible material

[Riverrat]

I have stumbled upon a new material for crank bait carving that might be very good. Let me be the first to tell all of you I have only made a few cranks. I am much better at my spinnerbaits. Any way the material is a resin board. I have two types they differ by density. This material is very stable, with no imperfectins. Easily carved, and can be sealed and painted. A glass smooth surface is possible. You can drill it, thread it what ever. Easily cuts on band saw ,table saw, and turns nice on a lathe. I would like to have a few people that now what they are doing try this stuff out and see what they think. I dont know how it will run in the water. I do know the stuff is weather proof the only thing that does it harm is uv and this is over many many years of direct exspoure. You will have to let me know what you would like to see for block sizes if any one is interested. I can only send out a few samples do to shipping cost. First come first serve. THe material comes 2" thick.

[hazmail]

Riverrat - sound interesting, who makes it? I am a bit far for postage, so maybe, I could source some here. Pete

[Riverrat]

pete,

The material is called modeling ren board 440 and 460. It is used for making composite layup tools for the aerospace industry. It's very very exspensive. I work in a pattern shop that makes these tools and we us alot of it. We have alot of scrap material after we make our tools. It gets thrown away. I asked the owner of the shop if I could take the scrap. Load it up he said so I have been lookig for a good thing to do with it. My father has been carving figures out of it.

Riverrat

[hazmail]

Riverrat:I allways wanted to be a "pattern maker" (now they are guys who can work wood etc), but done a trade as a moulder instead, now I am a firefighter (32 yr's), how's that for an about turn. Not much in Aerospace here (Australia) anything worth while would be secret, I will have a look on Google etc. Thanks for that anyway, eventually it will surface on the market somewhere, seems to have a heap of good properties we could take advantage of. Thanks for your reply again, Pete

[Vodkaman]

I just checked out the specs and calculated the density.

ren shape 460 - density 0.77 equivalent wood maple

ren shape 440 - density 0.55 equivalent wood sycamore or heavy pine.

These figures are compared to water which has a density of 1.0, so the figures are easy to understand.

For reference Balsa density is 0.17.

Hope this information helps.

[benton B]

That stuff will be tricky when it comes to weighting.

[Vodkaman]

Benton, in what way would it be dificult?

I can't see it being any different than weighting wood, in fact, it should be easier as the material will be constant in density. The 440 is a good average density of wood. If only it was available in a lighter density to replace balsa.

Riverrat, good find.

[SmokeyJ]

According to Huntsman Advanced Materials, who apparently is the manufacturer of this stuff, they have RenShape 5106 with a density of .08, and RenShape 5025 with a density of 0.24. I don't know about the durability of either of those, but the .24 might be close enough to balsa to wing it. I can't imagine the .08 stuff being of any use, would be way to fragile in my opinion.

[Riverrat]

According to Huntsman Advanced Materials, who apparently is the manufacturer of this stuff, they have RenShape 5106 with a density of .08, and RenShape 5025 with a density of 0.24. I don't know about the durability of either of those, but the .24 might be close enough to balsa to wing it. I can't imagine the .08 stuff being of any use, would be way to fragile in my opinion.

Smokey

You beat me to the punch. You are correct on who makes it. I found out today new shipment came into shop. The down side is cost. No way would you want to buy this stuff for lure making from them. The boards I get 440 and 460 2"x16"x60" are $300-500 a sheet. I can get the scrap cut offs cheap cheap from my shop. Before we all get excited I want you guys to try this stuff out. If it works then I can see what we can do for supply.

[benton B]

Vodkaman, if you ever try to make a bass sized crank out of maple or heavy pine you'll see what I mean about tricky. 1/64oz too much weight and you have a sinker, in my opinion that is tricky. You don't find many guys using heavy hardwoods to make bass baits.

[Vodkaman]

Benton B, point taken. I would be inclined to go for the 440 for the same reason, as it allows more flexibility for ballast. The ren shape 5025 with a specific gravity of 0.24 sounds perfect.

At the price quoted above, it is a none starter, as even making small bodies, the cost is around one dollar a bait. But the aircraft industry pays top dollar for everything. It pays for strict quality control etc. I am sure the material will be available at a lower quality spec and appropriate price that would suit the lure designers needs.