carving cork poppers

[bluesfish]

does anyone know how to carve a poppers out of cork without chunks breaking off.

[bassrecord]

The best way to carve cork poppers is NOT carve. Buy them already carved for you. Problem with this approach is that it is really getting hard to buy quality cork carved the way most of us want poppers. Machine turned, slanted, cupped bodies often have pits, gaps and missing parts that are time consuming, hard to do and difficult to repair without changing the bug's center of gravity.

The second best way is to carve as little as possible. Find good grade, 3 or better, Portugal cork stoppers, net floats or off the shelf shapes close to what you need and want.

The third best way is not to carve but to shape one piece, non-amalgamated, not soaked in wine or salt water cork body. By shaping, Dremel tools and accessories provide wide capability with a shop vacuum for dust management.

The fourth best way is to use a hobby lathe, dowel maker, or router to create cork dowels, then work as described above to create the desired shape.

IMHO free hand cork cutting is very problematic today with the continuing decline of the world cork quality.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

John

[Camo Clad Warrior]

I have carved some popper bodies out of cork that turned out pretty good. My advice would be to use a very fine grit sand paper.

[AtticaFish]

I have carved from cork as well and had some luck, definatley depends on the quality. I used 2 different files, 1 coarse, 1 fine, if one don't work try the other.

I have switched up to balsa wood. Much much easier to carve and deal with, but gets mashed up pretty easy with bass.

[thill]

Use a Dremel with a big and then a small sanding drum.

For the cup, use a round stone.

With a little practice, you can do some NICE work.

Don't worry too much about the natural imperfections in the cork. They will catch fine!

-TH

[rev. taz]

I carve a lot from wine corks..... dremel tool with sanding barrell for the body, and I use a stone for the cup... I also use a "straight through" wire design for my hooks... works great.... once I figure out how to post pics from my phone, I will do so....

[Chuck Young]

Have you ever tried Tiparilo or other small cigar plastic tips. Use your left over cork or foam to stuff them. Use the whole tip or cut some off. Epoxy hook and / or through wire. Makes a great, consistent, and durable popper body. You can pick these up by the dozens on golf course tees, if anyone needs an excuse for another expensive hobby.

[JimP]

I make lots of poppers and the ones made of cork look like they are made of cork.  No attempt is made to smooth or cover any natural imperfections. The fish don't care one bit. You might try EVA foam I you insist on a smooth finish or the cast bodies from Rainy's or Wapsi.