jointed swimbait hardware?

[mainbutter]

I'm currently in the process of trying my hand at building jointed swimbaits.

I currently have .051'' diameter wire I am using as my through wire hardware. My current process is to carve the main body from two halves, split down the middle of the lure, carve out a cavity for the wire hardware, and epoxy the two sides together around hardware.

I'm just wondering, is .051 diameter wire strong enough to handle the stress put on joints, and eventually (hopefully) by big fish? or will it bend/pull out?

.051'' diameter wire seems to be very thick and tough to twist, and I'm having difficulty trying to install it in joints smaller than 3'' long. If I want to make small swimbaits, or many-jointed swimbaits with short joints, what do you suggest for wire? What kind of stress will thinner wire sustain? Of course the obvious goal is eventually catching BIG fish, but I'd hate for one to pull a lure in half and get away.

opinions?

[BobP]

.051" hard stainless is plenty strong. I do joints on bass baits with .031" wire because it's easy to twist into screw eyes with hand tools. Fish can do "funny things" to lures but all said and done, if the joint wire is several times stronger than than the line you tie on the lure, you're probably OK. .029" stainless leader wire is rated at 180 lbs. The guides on a freshwater rod begin to tear off the blank at less than 15 lbs dead weight lift. The only concern I have with a wire joint is that it might be deformed if torqued, not that it will break.

[spoopa]

Fish can do "funny things" to lures

Ive had a small wiper completely deform a 30lb split ring, its weird how those things work:huh:

[jrhopkins]

you carving the lures out of wood or pvc? pvc is pretty easy to work with and you don't have the sealing issues like with wood.

[mark poulson]

I make some 4 piece, 4" lures, with very small sst cotter pins and spinnerbait wire for the hinges.

I only have a treble hook attached to the first section, so the only strain on the hinges is from the swimming action, not the fish pulling.

I use PVC AZEK decking for my swimbaits, and just drill small holes, double over the ends of the cotter pins, and set them in the thicker crazy glue. They hold fine.

You can put two of them close together, to keep the joints from twisting, and they still hold fine.

If you use PVC decking, you can use sst screw eyes on larger lures, and they hold fine. That reduces construction time a ton. And, like John Hopkins said, PVC is totally waterproof, so that eliminates another step, and keeps you paint scheme and top coat from failing if there is a puncture of any like, which can let water penetrate a wood lure.

No, I don't own AZEK stock and I'm not sponsored by them.

I just value my time and energy, so I'm constantly trying to simplify the lure building process, and, at the same time, make it more foolproof, so I don't have people constantly returning lures because of failures.

Since I switched to AZEK, I have had no returns.

If you're carving your lures, and not casting them in some kind of resin, it's "the only way to fly".

John Hopkins, thanks again for turning me on to PVC.

Edited September 27, 2009 by mark poulson