wisconeye Posted November 25, 2003 Report Share Posted November 25, 2003 Does anybody else have trouble finding less conventional bodies for Muskie In-Line Spinner Baits? I had finally resorted to casting my own. I used to take a piece of wood and carve it like I wanted the body to look but always had trouble drilling it for the wire. Hard to center. I like to make a body that has some texture and also I like to be able to make a bucktail skirt right on the body and then dress my treble as well. A conventional body doesn't have a good way to tie to without it being too bulky. I have grooved conventional bodies and tied that way but what a bunch of work! Anyway- wanted to share what I am trying now --waiting for the Durham Water Putty to dry on the first half. I made a body out of Gulf Wax and ran a heated shaft through the body. Did a little carving to get the ball to tie hair to and also cut some grooves and tapered the front. Making the body was a lot easier than wood. A lighter and a hot knife let me make the wax pliable but not melted and it dried hard. I just hope it is durable enough to get out of the mold- I put a real good coat of vaseline on the wax. Hope it comes out when I need to make the top half of the mold. The weight of the body in my estimation should be around 1 1/2 oz. What are others doing for custom bodies for spinner baits- inline ones that is. I'll post how my wax body worked for mold making. Thanks for any ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Splash Posted November 25, 2003 Report Share Posted November 25, 2003 I make several in-line spinner bodies. I have been carving the two piece mold from wood with a dremell tool. You can see the results in the gallery (my avatar pic is made this way). One of the advantages is you can use the same mold to make a variety of lures with different wire placement. The molds are OK for your own use, or really small production runs, cause they do burn out eventually, and there is a lot of flash after a few dozen castings. You can also make a prototype this way, then make a more permenent mold from some other medium. Oh yeah.. you mentioned tying collars on your spinner body. I've recently been working on a set of spinners using a lead body made in a Do-It bucktail H jig mold. No mold modifications are needed, mine makes 1/2 oz. - 1 oz. and it has a ball collar. I made up a pull out wire which fits in the hook groove of the mold, then out the sprue hole. It pulls out right after casting, and makes the center hole for the spinner wire. Looks good too. I was thinking of tying some marabou - bou-tails for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlebear Posted November 25, 2003 Report Share Posted November 25, 2003 This is a interesting post.. I make a lot of different kinds of in-line spinners..more Muskie size than any other.. just wondering do you think your wax bodies will melt in the hot sun? bodies can be made from a lot of material..I use brass but this is very costly.. I use a lathe to turn them.. I have made some wood bodies.. have to say I don't care for them much..I am playing now with buying a blank mold from Do_It and machining a body cavity for a lead body.. much the same as the one they have for smaller bodies.. when I get it done I will post the results.. I also looking for a good source of coil material.. I am buying coil weights now but want to make my own.. Littlebear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Splash Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 Little Bear; you may find some previous posts about coils...use search. I think several guys are using flexable metal choke cable sleeve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redg8r Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 Quote just wondering do you think your wax bodies will melt in the hot sun? I think hes using the wax for the one time molding process, he'll probably be pouring lead for the actual lure body. Just a tip, if your using wax as the master in a water putty mold, vaseline or any other mold release isnt necessary. Wax releases well from most materials. Actually, many mold release sprays are made from a diluted wax mixture. Good luck, but you should be fine doin what your doin. thanks for sharin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlebear Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 I have used a lost wax method in metal casting.. in a industral setting but never for fishing bait molds.. that would be interesting to see.. if it turns out you should take a few pictures and let us see what you did.. after thing about it.. that seem like a really dumb question :oops: LOL would hate to buy one and watch it melt..LOL.. sorry the humor just took me over Littlebear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Splash Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 Quote I used to take a piece of wood and carve it like I wanted the body to look but always had trouble drilling it for the wire. Hard to center.Always drill first, then carve, unless you want a pile of culls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisconeye Posted November 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 I guess I never thought about using the wax body as the actual lure body Yes, I'm using it to make the mold the final ones will be lead. The prototype wax body worked GREAT for making the mold. Compared to the dremel and the wood body it was much simpler and faster too! I cannot find my digital camera but as soon as I do, I'll take some pics and post them here. The spinners I make are much like the Mepps Giant Killer but I vary the hooks, hair and blade and I've wanted to try some different body styles. If I find one I really like I'll have a blank do-it mold built by the local place for durability but I'm beginning to really wonder if I like the spinner making and trying them out more than the actual fishing-- A friend of mine uses more of my spinners than I do- he's a Hayward Wisconsin native and fishes there a lot! I guess the ultimate flattery is when he takes my spinners and uses them first over his collection of Buchertails, Ghosttails and other premium baits. I'm not in this for any business purpose, just plain old hobby so if a mold will get me a dozen bodies that is probably all I'll make unless it is really a hot item. Tying hair to the body gives the spinner a bit more lift on the aft and seems to work pretty well. This gives the spinner more of a weight-forward action but maintains the slender front end and forward blade attachment. I'll post some pictures when I find that darn camera. With a 16 and 12 year old who knows where that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisconeye Posted November 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 So Big Splash- are you making your mold out of wood? I use the Water Putty to make a mold around my prototype and have never tried, or even thought of making the actual mold out of wood. Does the lead scorch the wood and what kind of wood are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Splash Posted November 27, 2003 Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 The lead does scorch the wood. This type of mold is good for 25-100 pours. As the mold gets chared it starts to leave more flashing on the casting. The harder woods like birch, or maple would no doubt last longer. I have been using pine, because it is easy to get. I can carve the mold and get a casting within an hour. YOU MUST USE DRY WOOD! Use caution the first few times you pour, as steam will cause a volcano effect if the wood is not dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
