Trust Your Eye

[mark poulson]

I am a hobby builder, and a retired carpenter, so this applies to people making lures one at a time, not for production work.

I build my hard baits with PVC trimboard.

I start with a rectangular blank, trace the profile, mark the hardware locations and bill slot, and then cut that out on the band saw.

I smooth the profile with an oscillating belt sander with an 80 grit belt, and then I mark a centerline all the way around the cut out blank.

I remark the hardware and line tie hole locations, and use an awl to make dents that will still be there after I do my shaping.

Then I go back to the belt sander, and rough shape the lure, starting first with the body shape from nose to tail, on each side.  I get it close, and then I begin final shaping.

I round over the bait on the sander, using the centerline as my gauge for symmetry, and I keep rounding until the shape looks right to me.  I sight down the bait from the back or front to see if my curves are equal, more or less.  It's pretty easy to see when one side isn't as round as the other.

Once I've got it close, I use a vibrating palm sander with 100 grit paper to finish sand/shape the lure.

My baits swim and catch fish, and it's certainly not because of my painting skills!

There is something the human eye notices when we look at anything, and that is symmetry.

If you look at what makes someone's face attractive, the first thing your eye picks up is if it's symmetrical.  It's unconscious, but it's there.  It's call "classic beauty".

So trust your eye when you're shaping a lure.  You don't have to be exact, as long as you're close, and your eye will tell you, because it will look right.

Edited October 30, 2015 by mark poulson

[Nathan]

I couldn't agree with you more Mark..Plus that fraction we may be off is what gives a handmade bait that little something extra that makes them deadly..Nathan

[RayburnGuy]

I used to trust my eyes, but since I've started walking into stuff and stepping on the dog..............not so much.

 

Ben

[BobP]

I think you can eyeball a lure shape pretty well if you're working in PVC trim board but if you work in a wood that has any visible grain structure, that's asking for trouble.  I painstakingly measure the contours and rounding curves on my wood baits to keep them symmetrical.  It's the only sure way to get them straight.

[JRammit]

Ive noticed that the masters i make for soft plastics look alot better than my crank baits

I do the masters by eye, and use stencils for every side of the cranks

Could be that my eyes are more accurate than my tracing skills.... Or could be that im more patient and taking more time making 1 master vs making 3 or 4 cranks at a time

[mark poulson]

I think you can eyeball a lure shape pretty well if you're working in PVC trim board but if you work in a wood that has any visible grain structure, that's asking for trouble.  I painstakingly measure the contours and rounding curves on my wood baits to keep them symmetrical.  It's the only sure way to get them straight.

 

Bob, 

Once I've gotten the shape close to the profile I want, I hold the blank so I can sight down it from the back or front, in front of a bright light (usually the sunlit driveway) so all I see it the dark cross section perimeter as I move it back and forth.  The bright light shows the blank in silhouette, and the entire back of the lure gets looked at, one part at a time.  

I do the same with the belly. 

I can tell pretty quickly if I need to adjust the shape for symmetry.

I used to do this with my wood baits, when I made wood baits, and it worked.  I never saw the grain, because the light behind the bait was too bright.

But I can see where balsa might require a higher degree of symmetry, because it is so light and lively.

[Vodkaman]

I have always trusted my eye plus a centre line. If I wanted to go for more accuracy, i would cut a few different U-shape female templates out of Lexan. The tempates would not have to match the lure section, but they would magnify any difference errors.

 

Dave

[JRammit]

I just wonder how accurate the eye can be when duplicating baits??

When i get one that runs how i want, i "try" to build more identical to it... The stencils get me pretty close

[SW Lures]

I notice this today and made a message about it in "what on your mind". Coincidental I assure you, but funny. I agree with Mark about a line and the human eye. I work with different woods that have hard grain lines, BobP I also find myself losing the symmetry of the bait at times. However as long as I keep my mind on the balance of the bait, all is good.

Even with a duplicator (home made, but a pretty good one) I can't make them exact, when I use it. For what Nathan wrote, that's what makes this craft fun. Each bait is like a human, some are great and some.......not so. I agree.

Dale

[BobP]

Well, maybe I'm thinking in more idealistic than practical terms.  Even a lure duplicator can't really make a wood bait that is a perfect symmetrical copy in both shape and density.  But to me, trying to get baits as symmetrical as humanly possible is a key to building better baits.  It's difficult if you hand shape baits but it's really part of the craft you need to concentrate on.  The closer I get to symmetry, the better the baits look and perform.  So I have a hard time agreeing with any proposition that implies that hobbyists need not pay attention to that and that their baits will somehow be magic fish catchers no matter how much (or little) effort they put into it.  Yeah, occasionally it may happen, but more often I think not.    

[Vodkaman]

A well made, home designed and built duplicator will faithfully reproduce the master. Of course, you have to get the master pattern right, but as it is possibly going to be responsible for thousands of bodies, it is worth spending the time to get it perfect, no matter how much time or how many attempts it takes.

 

In future, all my duplicator masters will be printed 3D on a rapid prototype machine, symmetry guaranteed.

 

Dave

[BobP]

No argument there Dave.  But note I said both shape AND DENSITY, the latter of which varies in any piece of wood.

[SW Lures]

I get what you are stating BobP. It's just that I normally see the error or not, then measure. I cut out 18 baits yesterday, carved them all and made a first sanding on most. I know most are not exactly alike. I know there is a small chance that one is the perfect "One". As the old saying goes; it's not the sight seeing at the middle of a trip, it's the total adventure.

V-Man with that, you can cut out the middle man. Just design, program and let them fly, little weighting, a lip, some paint........perfect world for us.

Wait.......then what would I have to chat about? I got to find something else to chat and learn about, as soon as I come up with 10K buck's for that bad boy.

Seriously people, I'll take the adventure. We all have such different thinking, which is ok. That's what makes the world such as interesting place....the adventure.

Just having fun with it.

Dale

[SW Lures]

Got to thinking about what we have said. If we could duplicate the baits at will, doesn't this make us manufacturers instead of craftsman of custom baits?

Hmmmmmm......

Dale

[Travis]

Got to thinking about what we have said. If we could duplicate the baits at will, doesn't this make us manufacturers instead of craftsman of custom baits?

Hmmmmmm......

Dale

 

Craftsman.....becomes a difficult one to nail down.  I don't view a lot of what we make as being produced by a craftsman.

 

For some it becomes a necessity as they don't have the time to make the numbers they need.  If dependent up on or needing the income it becomes the clearest way forward to make the demands. Just the progression of things for some.   I find that a lot of guys that end up going production end up losing that something special that made their baits sought after to begin with.  They still sell based on the name but all so often if you have a few of the pre production baits you find those are the gems and the new ones are nothing more than the "poor man's" version of big box baits.  Others do it just because that is what drives them.  For some I don't think making a decent bait has anything to do with it for them purely more of a look what I did, some sort of verification they are "legit".  I think I see this a lot more in soft plastics as the barriers ($$$$) to do so are lower.

 

I think it becomes difficult as many can't differentiate the qualities of a crank bait.  A mass produced $2.00 crank off the Wal Mart shelf, a well done mass produced crank, a hand made crank from the average guy, and then a hand made crank from a group of "special makers".  They all will likely catch fish but......  Bottom line a hand made bait made by a guy that understands (performance, how to fish, etc...) that is hand tuned will almost undoubtedly outperform a mass produced product.  

Edited November 1, 2015 by Travis

[mark poulson]

I used to make and sell jointed swimbaits.

I soon realized that having to make something was a job, and that took the fun out of it.  I already had a job that actually paid.

So I quit selling, and began having fun again.

I still make the occasional jointed swimbait for a friend who fishes competitively, but he's the exception.

[JRammit]

I like the term "origional" over "custom"

Even if you can make all your baits identical, they are still different from any other bait in the world!

As for performance.. They may be better, they may be worse, or they may just be...... But in the end, my baits are one of a kind, and thats whats in it for me!

[SW Lures]

JR that's what got me started creating the baits I have so far. I could not find what body type, nor the true color scheme I wanted. This include blanks. I only have one that is a copy of a mass produced bait. I'm stuck now, I'm having way to much fun building these baits.

Travis in my opinion, anyone that can make a crank that tracks the way they want it to, understand the dynamics of the design needed and the imagination to create the design (original), not mentioning painting that is a work of art.......ok we will call them a "special maker".

Definition of craftsman is a "skilled person in a certain craft". Y'all special makers are craftsman to me. In the definition it said nothing of making a profit, nor about having fun doing it. I'll still call y'all craftsman, at this time I'm a up and coming "wantta-be". All my baits run true (6 originals, 1 copy), I had a short cut tho. I read for months before I joined TU. I read everything that I could that y'all wrote. I enjoy reading people's opinions on different subjects. I learn from this to.

Dale

[JRammit]

I love your enthusiasm Dale! Reminds me of myself

[SW Lures]

Ditto......JR.

[joetheplumber]

Has anyone used PVC trim board to make a suspending jerkbait/twitch bait? I plan on trying to replicate a Rapala Twitching Rap this winter out of balsa and I also want to try and make some from this trim board you guys are using if it will work for those types of lures? Leave it to me to try and start my lure building with one of the toughest lures to build.... I hear making suspending lipless lures is quite annoying...LOL

[Vodkaman]

WOW! this thread has exploded into lots of deep conversations and subjects, all fascinating and interesting to me.

 

BobP - yes indeed, density variations are an issue. I get around this by weighing the blanks and grading them. Each grade of blanks has a slightly different ballast, so that the final lure density is always the same, or if I was producing lures for sale, this is how I would do it. I gave this issue a lot of thought when I was producing hundreds of lures on my duplicator machines.

 

Custom - I wrote a lengthy article on this most abused word, but I am fairly sure that I never posted it. At the time I was in trouble for upsetting all the sellers of cheap Chinese blanks and I chose to back away from that discussion. Maybe it will be time to invoke the 'Custom' discussion soon.

 

Craftsmen - We have some amazing craftsmen in our midst. There is no need for a definition, we just remember to tip our cap when we pass one in the street.

 

There are different types of lure builders, note I do not say levels or standards, merely different agendas and craftsmen are just one such agenda. I don't need to list the agendas, as this could be broken down to individual. My personal agenda is lure engineering. I rarely take my lures to the paint stage, once swam and learning information noted, I move on.

 

Dave

[mark poulson]

Has anyone used PVC trim board to make a suspending jerkbait/twitch bait? I plan on trying to replicate a Rapala Twitching Rap this winter out of balsa and I also want to try and make some from this trim board you guys are using if it will work for those types of lures? Leave it to me to try and start my lure building with one of the toughest lures to build.... I hear making suspending lipless lures is quite annoying...LOL

 

Joe,

I have built suspending baits out of PVC trimboard.  The challenge is to get the ballast just right, and to get the bait to "hang" at the angle you want on the pause.  

One of the things I learned the hard way is to allow for the weight of your paint and topcoat when you're ballasting, and subtract that weight from the ballast you install.

I used the largest trebles and split rings on my initial float testing, so that, if I wound up with a bait that sank once it was finished, I could make it lighter by using smaller hooks and hardware, and by using mono instead of fluoro.

I found it is almost impossible to get a bait that truly suspends.  They all rise or sink slowly, depending on water temps.  

So I carry Suspend Dots, so I can add weight if I need to.

But you can get close, if you use a bucket of water near the lake temps for your float testing.

Another thing I found is that smaller suspending lures don't have a lot of physical room for ballast, so I used screw eyes for the hook hangers and line tie, since they are heavier than twist wires, and also removable, if the bait winds up too heavy.

Here's a link to a smaller jerkbait-shaped lure I made.  It is slow sink, but could easily+- be made to suspend by playing with the ballast:

 

http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/13886-20141217-070125-resized/ 

[RayburnGuy]

I actually find PVC to be more user friendly when trying for a suspending bait Joe. When building a suspending lure I first calculate the ballast needed by using the Archimedes theory of water displacement. This gets me close enough to start. I also like to go ahead and drill ballast holes and install the ballast instead of trying to hang weights on hook hangers or tape it to the bait. Both ways will work, but drilling ballast holes removes materials that I haven't found an accurate way to account for so that's why I go ahead and install the ballast. The great thing about PVC is that your not having to reseal the bait every time you make small changes.

 

I like for my suspenders to be a slow sink at first. This way I can remove small amounts of ballast to get what will ultimately be a slow floater instead of a true suspending bait. Like Mark said it's pretty much impossible to get a bait to truly suspend so I opt for a slow float. All your really wanting the bait to do is hang in the face of a fish until it pushes them over the edge. Just remember that when you get the bait close to what your wanting that it takes a remarkably small amount of ballast to have a dramatic effect so remove, or add, ballast accordingly.

 

good luck,

 

Ben

[Travis]

 

I rarely take my lures to the paint stage, once swam and learning information noted, I move on.

 

Dave

 

So a lure actually catching fish never comes into play in regards to determination if it is a good lure or not?