How Important Is Quartersawn Wood For A Carved Lure?

[Topwater plugs]

How important is quartersawn wood for a carved lure? After sealing how much danger is there of warping?

[crankpaint]

i dont have any prob. with warping but most of my plugs/poppers are smaller then 7 inchs long i soak them in sealer and the wood takes what it can and i wipe off the extra

when i pull them out and let it dry a few days

[Topwater plugs]

What kind of wood do you use?

And I don't think I stated my question properly; Ishould have asked about grain orientation instead of quartersawn wood.

[mark poulson]

For me, there are two different questions with regard to grain orientation, strength and density.

For strength, you just want to avoid the part of the tree that's really close to the center, because that is sap wood, with wide growth rings, and not as strong. And orient the grain front to back, because cross grain is weak.

If the wood you use has dramatic changes in grain pattern, then use the part with tighter grain, and it will be stronger.

For density, unless you're making a suspending lure, I doubt it will make much difference. Whatever difference in weight a denser part of the wood has will probably be balanced out by the additional sealer the less dense wood can absorb.

When I made bigger (8") surface plugs from douglas fir, I would look at the grain, but I doubt it made a difference. Just a carpenter being compulsive.

For smaller plugs, out of pine or balsa, I don't worry about it, other than to make the grain run front to back.

[Musky Glenn]

I second what Mark Poulson said. I have split a lot of pieces of wood with screws, by not predrilling a hole of the correct size. Place a drill bit over the screw shank and the threads of the screw should show on each side of the drill bit, but not the shank of the screw. That way, the only pressure, trying to split the wood is the screw threads, and that should be max. holding power. Those of you, twisting wire for screws, are on your own. Mark is right in running grain front to back, but if you look at it from the front you still have grain that goes horizontally or vertically. I would run it horizontally, that way, screws will be going through more different grains of the wood. The darker wood grains hold screws better than the softer lighter grain.

Sometimes when hand sanding a tapered lure you can notice that the lighter grain will sand easier and actually create a low spot on the lure.

Ever get one lure out of a bunch of identical lures that catch more fish than some of the other lures. I believe it has to do with the wood grain of that particular piece of wood, but can't prove that.

[Topwater plugs]

What I am most concerned about is flat grain on the sides of the bait. I realize some spiecies of wood tend to warp, shrink, twist, etc. less than others, i.e., many times a SPF 2X4 will be seen warped on the flat grain but less often on the edge grain.

[Musky Glenn]

Wood warps because moisture content changes inside of the wood. If you start with a dry piece of wood and seal it so moisture can't enter or exit, it will stay in the same shape. (Not counting putting external force on the wood, like trying to bend it with a vise) Lay a wet piece of wood on the ground and let the sun dry it. The sun will dry the top side and cause it to shrink and curl up, regardless of which way the grain runs. Musky Glenn