A Swimbait in the Making

[.dsaavedra.]

okay guys, follow along here...

i am gonna make a lipless swimbait and document my progress here.

whether it works or not i do not know.

but here goes...

i started out with a piece of 5"x7"x3/8" basswood plywood. i cut it in half and sketched out the shape of my swimbait on one half.

then i roughed out that shape and then did some refining to get it how i wanted it. i then traced it on the other half, roughed it out with a hand saw and used rubber cement to temporarily attatch it to the other half. then i went in with a dremel and refined both halves so they were exactly equal.

here are the two halves, glued together, and refined (still pretty rough):

leaving them together, i rounded off all the corners, tapered the head and tail with the dremel, and then did some hand sanding with 80 grit paper. i also marked where i will cut the joints.

side view:

head on:

tail view:

later tonight or tomorrow morning i will cut the joints and shape them.

to be continued...

[diemai]

@ DSV

Nice documenting pics , that you have made there , I am eager to see your procceed on that lure:wink: .

Have you made lures out of plywood before ?

I haven't , in fact I do not trust it's glue , wether it is waterproof , since I know , that over here there is ordinary plywood around and a different kind bonded with a special waterproof glue , so that it can also be used for building boats !

Greetz , diemai

[JBlaze]

Nice shape, I am looking forward to seeing you progress with this lure. Please keep us posted.

John

[.dsaavedra.]

nope i have never made a lure from plywood before.

this was just there so i grabbed it. i figured it would be real good for making a swimbait because each half is real thin, and when i put them together it makes a nice, 3/4" thick body. also, it eliminates me having to cut the bait down the middle which i am terrible at doing.

[diemai]

@ DSV

I would have preferred as well to take two thinner halves of wood , rather than separating a thicker piece in its center .

And your plywood pieces look quite sturdy to me , so "Good Luck " furtheron !

greetz , diemai

[LaPala]

I notice you are using a sanding sleeve to shape you bait. Try searching for "Kutzall" or "Saburr", you won't regret investing in a few pieces of those.

[.dsaavedra.]

I notice you are using a sanding sleeve to shape you bait. Try searching for "Kutzall" or "Saburr", you won't regret investing in a few pieces of those.

those look vicious! are they any better than the dremel brand tungsten carbide power carver bits? i noticed they are a few dollars more than the dremel brand.

[boomah21]

Osha would not be very happy with you right now DSV!....sandles in the workshop tisk tisk lol jk. Great looking bait so far and cant wait to see where you take this.

[LaPala]

DSV, not idea what bit you are talking about, got a pic? (or model no.)

[.dsaavedra.]

well i got too impatient so i just went a head and bought one of the bits without your approval first

havent tried it out yet, but it feels like it will be pretty good.

got a little work done on the bait this morning.

i drew in the gill detail last night and went a head and carved it out with the dremel this morning.

here is what i have done:

under the chin:

head on:

[.dsaavedra.]

got some fins put on:

[.dsaavedra.]

well after i figured out how to change the blade on my new coping saw (that made me feel like a retard) i cut the joints on the bait.

to my suprise it worked out EXTREMELY well. i really couldnt ask for better considering this was my first time with a coping saw (besides a few practice cuts on scrap wood). i found it was VERY easy to cut in a straight, vertical line, and if i did get off track i would notice it quick and just get back in line.

anyway, here is the butchered bait

after that i ran into problem numero uno. the way i planned on shaping the joints was two V', like this << so that the point of one end fits in the open part of the other end, making the "recieving" side wider than the other end.

the reason this didnt work out is beacause i made the fins and gills too close to where i was going to cut the bait to make joints. if i continued with what i had in mind, i would have cut into the fins and gills.

so i made a very quick change of plans, and left the inside of the joints flat and made the edges very round.

this wasnt a big problem. all it means is that now i have to make my joints spaced out just a little bit more.

anyway, here are the sanded, rounded joints:

its starting to look like a swimbait now

[diemai]

@ DSV

Nice carving job done.........and almost "live" reported.... great:yay: !

Never came across this particular router bit , have to check the tool shop again , but maybe this one is not in the local "Dremel" line ?

I want it , seems to be very useful:wink: !

Keep on carving , Dieter

[.dsaavedra.]

its a great bit. its pretty expensive though. cost me 18 US dollars.

it does take off a considerable amount of wood pretty fast. good for rough shaping. it scrapes the wood up pretty bad when it carves it though. requires a good amount of sanding.

[.dsaavedra.]

here is my plan for the inside of the bait. the two lines are where the chain will run, the blocky thingies at the front and back are gonna be where the wires for hook hangers will go. and the weights will be placed where they are. they are steel bearings by the way. i dont know how much they weigh but they seem sufficient.

[mark poulson]

That's a good looking lure. Laminating two pieces is a good way to go if you're doing any kind of through wire fabrication.

I like that the joint gives you a full time center line, and you can read the contours of the plywood laminations as you shape to keep things symetrical. Clever.

Is the plywood waterproof?

One more thing.

Could you post a pic of your hinges?

[.dsaavedra.]

Mark, i never really paid attention to the contours of the plywood. i mean, i noticed it and thought it looked cool but i never used it to keep things symmetrical.

what i liked most about plywood was that using two thin sheets eliminated the step of splitting the bait down the center which is the step where i would totally destroy the whole project. plus, this plywood is really cheap! i dont know if its waterproof, but im not worried about it because im gonna be epoxying over the whole thing.

here is a link to the exact plywood i used: A.C. Moore - Rectangle Basswood Thin Plaque-5"X7"X.312" 2/Pkg

as for the hinges, well, they arent quite hinges. its actually a chain that runs thru the entire length of the bait. the reason you havent seen them yet is because i hadn't made them. but in the next few pics, you will see the chain-joints starting to take shape.

i changed my plans a little bit from the last pic to make it easier for me.

here is what i ended up with (i havent put the weights in yet):

with the other side of the head attached:

[boomah21]

Never seen that done before....looks interesting. I would love to see how well it holds up as well as swims. Is that "chain" stainless?

[mark poulson]

DSV,

I'm impressed.

Where'd you find the chain? That looks really slick.

Can't wait to see it finished, and hear about how it fishes.

[diemai]

@ DSV

I have thought about joining a swimbait with a chain as well before , but somehow I can't trust such tiny chains for bigger pike(in case , that I should catch one once more in my lifetime , presently fishing's so slow over here:() .

This chain pictured is the kind used to hold the closure plugs in sinks and bath tubes , I assume .

If it is , it would be of plated brass , I never came accross this type of chain made of SST(but that doesn't mean , that such might not exist !) .

Have you pull-tested that chain before:? ?

There are so called chain swivels available(most likely 3 swivels connected) in tackle shops , I have also considered to try these ones , but it is always headache to find what I want in local tackle shops , and I didn't want to drive around Hamburg city just for them !

These would need to be pin-secured into the lure sections , not just epoxied .

In fact those tungsten carbide cutters are expensive , over here I'd have to pay 10

[.dsaavedra.]

the chain is indeed stainless steel. i made very sure of that before i bought it. i bought it at true value hardware store for 99 cents a foot. it is very strong, i cant break it with my hands.

only thing im worried about is it's durability in the lure. im afraid that it might pull out of the slots.

i plan on using 2-ton epoxy in the grooves and to glue the halves back together, do you think this will be strong enough to keep the chain in its place or is there something else i should use to secure the chain?

now that i look back at the picture, i have a lot of room to make the slots for the chain longer. i think i can add at least 2 more beads per chain. i will make the slots as long as i can so that they are more secure.

thanks for the comments guys

PS: diemai, i did not use the tungsten carbide bit at all on this lure. i bought the bit after i was done shaping the lure. i carved the gill and fin detail using one of these: High Speed Cutter 1/8"

by using the "corner" of that bit, i was able to make some very defined lines.

[mark poulson]

I think there will be no point in burying too much of the chain in the lure. 1 1/2" should be plenty. With D2T, the epoxy will not pull out of the wood, and the chain will break before it pulls out.

Make a test with some scrap wood and a piece of chain before you decide how much to bury.

Be sure and let the epoxy set for a day, to be sure it's at max. strength.

[.dsaavedra.]

i completed the chain slots, and added weights. i also made the grooves for the chains a little bit longer.

i then soaked them in polyurethane and hung them up to dry:

i might give it a run in the bath tub tonight and possibly in a swimming pool tomorrow.

[diemai]

@ DSV

Your work is just great , I am so eager about the results !

I assume , that you just located the weight positions by estimation , did you ?

Good to hear , that such chains are also available in SST , even better to hear , that they are rigid enough for fishing purposes !

And thank you for having taken the effort about that router bit link , I already have such a bit , even one of tungsten carbide , but with a longer cutting portion .

I guess , that it is just that I never have thought of using these bits for sculpturing gills , eyes , fins and stuff !

Seems that I think more in technical issues rather than in a sense for art:huh: !

But still I am going to look for the first one pictured here , I like it's slim conical shape .

One more thing :

I like those T-shaped twisted eyes , very good input to me , never used such or even thought about such an eye design .

One day I might surely get back to it for a new lure !

Good luck and success , Dieter

[.dsaavedra.]

die mai,

i kinda just placed the weights where it looked like they should go. no real rhyme and reason to it.

im gonna stick the halves together with rubber cement and give it a run in the bath tub! will report later.