Router For Shaping Lures

[jonister]

I get it now. I don't think I want that thing now that I know the danger. Thanks guys.

[mark poulson]

I've used routers for 50 years, and the best place for your hand is on the handle of the router, not on the work piece.

Either find a way to safely clamp your work piece, make a jig to hold it so you can use an undertable mounted router, or don't do it.  I've seen shapers, which are just more powerful table routers, through pieces of wood through concrete block walls.  

It's not worth the time savings you envision, if you wind up losing a finger, or worse.

[aydensdad82]

I remember the first time I experienced the vibration using my scroll saw. I was stupidly trying to take off small amounts that could have just been sanded. Felt vibration, heard scary noise, and my piece of wood went flying and my saw blade snapped....That was a "might need to change my pants moment". 

[mwh624]

Anyone use the rubber mats to hold baits when routing? How well do they work?

[mark poulson]

I've used them for some routing, but they don't hold small pieces like lures.  

There isn't enough lure surface, at least on smaller lures like cranks, to allow the router's body to push down and hold the work piece.  The lure body tips into the opening between the router base and the cutter.

[Musky Glenn]

Times 2 with Kajay. If the lure will have flat sides you can "double sided tape" it to the work bench and use both hands of the router. I have used the rubber mats and they work nicely, if you keep dust and chips from between the work piece and the mat. For a router to work as intended, the lure would need a rather large percent to be flat sided. When you get into the small sizes of baits, look for a router base where the center hole is very close to the size of the bit you will be using.  Another problem with routers is the length of the bearing area. On thin lures the screw that holds the bit on the shaft will hit the work bench. The ideal situation is to make a string of lures attached, then run all four sides, then seperate the individual lures and finish shaping the cut ends as needed, not always practical. I don't believe they are practical for lures with no flat side, unless you improvise a duplicator. Musky Glenn

[Paul Adams]

I have used router to cut out and shape 4" and 5" pine wobblers with mostly flat sides. I made a template out of pvc for a router bush guide and fixed it to base with a space underneath to slide and clamp a strip of 2" x 1". This meant the work piece was clamped and the router had a flat surface to ride on, so no hand hazards. To get the round over i left the lure attached to the 2 x 1 buy the tail and then clamped it down to a bench with a couple of other pieces  of 2 x 1 so the router wouldn't tilt  and used a bearing guided round over bit rounded the edges.

 

The reason for this long winded approach was because i came very close to losing a bit finger trying to round over small lures on a router table, lets just say i added a few new words to the english langauge that afternoon. What suprises me people have have used the this methods for years and never had any problems, so it is just me.

 

I found this set up worked well for producing large amounts of baits in short time, but then i discovered i am not really into making large amounts of baits as i tend to give them away. I was planning to make a video about this process.

 

 

 

The larger lure was made using the router template a couple of years ago

[aydensdad82]

Paul those are great looking

[Paul Adams]

Thanks aydensdad82  it has been i a while since i have made wooden lures, hopefully i will be doing some more soon.

[gee]

I use the router table a great deal in lure building and woodworking. The rubber mat idea is the best but you want to get 1 or 2 rubber floats- the ones you use to put grout in tile. They have a nice handle to keep your hands well away from the cutter. I have been making some glide baits about 4" long and that is what I used to round the edges.

Gee

[DaveG]

It can be done as pointed out you need a small aperture for the bit to pass through this stops the lure being routed from dipping in the hole, Iv routed lures as small as 3.5 inches, you really need to keep your fingers away from the bit here`s how I do it..

 

I cut the head off a 3" screw so its flat and screw the usual pointy end into the end of the lure, having cut the head off the screw you can grip it with a pair of mole grips, now you can feed the lure past the router bit with your fingers well away from danger, any ugly holes made in the lure to do this can easily be filled, hope this is explained ok

 

Dave

[mark poulson]

I realize there are lots of people using routers successfully, but, unless you're going into production and are practiced with routers, I think the risk far outweighs the advantages.

Carving and hand sanding work really well, and give you a much safer method.

If you're making lures as a hobby, you'll be able to hand shape them just fine, and they will catch as many fish as machined lures, maybe even more because they aren't "perfect".

Have faith in your abilities, which will develop as you make more lures, use centerlines to help you keep them symmetrical, and you'll be fine.

It's not rocket science.

Edited March 15, 2014 by mark poulson

[Paul Adams]

I think you are probabaly right  Mark, making lures with a router felt like work to me, were as sitting down with a bit of wood, knife and sandpaper just feels good. But i still think routers offer a few interesting possibiltites that i might get round to exploring one of these days.

[DaveG]

Couldn't agree more about the dangers of using routers, it still worries me after making literally hundreds of lures and im very careful, just keep your fingers well away and stay safe.

[VanderLaan]

If I was going to use a router, I would put it in a table and construct a jig to hold the lure. That way, is thing go south, you will still have all of your fingers. Here a jig along tbe lines of what I would build. Should cost you less than $15 and a few hours in the shop building it.

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/jigcontest/brownA1.jpg

Edited March 16, 2014 by VanderLaan

[mark poulson]

Nice setup.

[aydensdad82]

Vander that is very impressive

[VermontPhisher]

 I use router bits on my poppers and gliders and find it time saving. You can lay out several lures on a single board and leave them connected like a chain ,this helps to keep your 10 fingers away from the bit. When you are done you can cut the lures apart with a band saw and finish the hard edges with sand paper. I hope this helps. One more thing a bit with four cutters leaves a cleaner look than the old two cutter bit.

Good Luck,

   Brett

[Don-Art]

I believe that Mark had mentioned "U" profile sanding blocks. I just picked some up today. They look like they should work well. The name on the package is Tadpole II.

They appear to be a extruded rubber product. You wrap your sandpaper around them. The package has 4 sizes,1/4" through 5/8". They retail somewhere in the range of $5-$6 per package. A nice item to have regardless if you use a router or not.

Don

[Tbar]

Hi from Ireland. I make furniture for a living and some time ago I picked up a jig (I think from a company called Veritas in Canada) that allows you to hold pieces of wood as small as 1" securely for routing. I use it for anything small, narrow or thin that I'd rather not be holding close to a cutter spinning at 15,000 revs. Works fine on the pike plugs that I make here.

Tony.

[SLT785]

Take a look at this guys work, and his version of the copy carver under the section "building cranks". http://www.pondbuster.come

[SLT785]

Sorry, bad copy and paste. http://www.pondbuster.com

[mark poulson]

That's a neat setup, for sure.  He must have a heck of a dust collector system.

I can't help but wonder why he doesn't smooth his master more, so he has less hand sanding to do after the initial machine shaping.

His idea of a poplar dowel down the center is slick.

[FrogAddict]

Why not screw down your blank from the underside onto a larger piece of plywood, clamp the plywood to your bench and then use a router with a bearing to work around the blank? Yes you would have a couple holes to fill on the blank but you'd be safer.

[gone2long]

If you just cut your profile with a scroll saw or band saw on the end of the piece of wood leaving the tail end still attached to the board you can route 90% of the bait then just cut it off the board and hand finish the small tail section by hand. There is a youtube video of this in action on a router table and is as safe as any other piece of work.