BrownPigs Posted October 13, 2010 Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 Has anyone used white ash for cranks and topwaters? If so what was your experience. I know it is a hard wood and it is used in baseball bats a lot. I came across a bunch of good looking ash for free and was wondering some of the finer details of working with this wood. Thanks in advance for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
out2llunge Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Has anyone used white ash for cranks and topwaters? If so what was your experience. I know it is a hard wood and it is used in baseball bats a lot. I came across a bunch of good looking ash for free and was wondering some of the finer details of working with this wood. Thanks in advance for your help. I used some ash many years ago when I made several 6" grandmas. It can hard on tools and isn't particularly easy to work with, but boy is it solid. 'Ole esox is gonna lose a tooth when he bites into those babies. The action is very slow, at least compared to the WRC that I normally use in ost baits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airbrushextreme Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 I was thinking the same thing on white ash it is very hard to work with smaller benchtop tools I made a few pencil poppers and a couple of LC gunfish Knock offs out of it I like the wood because it is very heavy and bouyant and makes small baits fly alot farther than standard basswood or fir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 White ash has a nominal density of 41.8 lbs/cu ft, which is quite high compared to most woods used for crankbaits (most popular crankbait woods are in the low 20's or lower). The raw materials used in a crankbait are dirt cheap versus the value of the finished bait - most of the value is the work the builder puts into it. I think it's a wise investment to buy the best stuff you can find, certainly including the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownPigs Posted October 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 (edited) Thanks for the feedback. I got the stuff for free. So I guess I will try it out on a few baits. I normally make my baits out of basswood. Edited October 14, 2010 by BrownPigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownPigs Posted October 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 The topwater baits didn't come out that great performance wise but the cranks I made actually came out decent with the white ash. Just thought I would give an update on my results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred27 Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 What type of topwater baits did you make? I would have thought those would have been ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownPigs Posted October 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 What type of topwater baits did you make? I would have thought those would have been ok. I made some prop baits. They weren't bad but I really liked the ones I make out of basswood better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...