Lure eye placement

[Mr.Stone]

Good day people.

My 1st post here so go gentle on me.

How do you ensure that the eye placement of you hand made lures are level? Meaning, how do you mark where to drill a hole for the eye or place the eye?

I dont really draw a nice proper laid out plan like the craftsman of marling baits or the handmade fisherman, I'd just draw the basic shape and then cut that out and work the wood until I get something im happy with. Then I would proceed to mark and then drill a hole for the eyes to fit in, I would do this by taking an appropriately sized rubber band and then making two marks on the rubber band with a marker I would then place the rubber band over the lure and fiddle with it until  the placement of the two dots on the rubber band looks equal on both sides and then I would mark it on the lure itself, giving me the location of where I should drill. I hope this makes sense.

Is there a better way to do this? This method works OK, but it takes a while.

I have never completed a lure build, im now up to the point of painting but that would probably only happen in a week or two as im trying to source transparent base and some metal flakes, im also really keen on foiling some lures but after reading about the foil lifting and causing the finish to peel I might get over it for a while...

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Mr.Stone

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by Mr.Stone

[Travis]

Some will pick up the knack of eyeballing it almost dead on after building a few baits.  Even then easy enough to really be sure by using other methods as not much slower.

An easy way to do it, that I use frequently, is use a forstner bit to create my eye socket.  Then I will take  small drill bit and drill through the centering point left by the bit through the bait.  Flip the bait then drill your other eye socket recess.     Depending on the size drill bit you use you can insert a rattle, a few lead shot, copper BB, or glue a toothpick or skewer in it to fill the hole.

You can also modify a compass to get repeatable points.   Place on end of the compass in the lip slot and "index" it against the top or bottom of the lip slot wall.  Then adjust the second arm of the compass until you like the area.  Press to leave a drill point then.  Remove flip bait and mark the second side indexing in the same fashion as distance will be set from you initial marking.

Third if you start using patterns you can make templates to lay everything out but many enjoy just building one offs. 

Edited April 21, 2018 by Travis

[mark poulson]

After I draw my bait's outline on a rectangular blank, including the eye location, I drill a small pilot hole for the eye all the way through on my drill press.

That way, no matter how much material I take off in the shaping, the eye locations on both side of the bait are the same.

Edited April 21, 2018 by mark poulson

[FishCandy]

I don't hand carve baits, but also use a small drill bit to drill a locating hole in the blank. After it's turned, I go back and use the pre drilled hole to center a forstner bit and make the recess for the eye. I then use a large round burr bit to bevel out the recess for a smooth transition to the eye. 

[Mr.Stone]

Travis, Mark and Fishcandy,  thank you for the advice, I can implement most of this in to my building process.

I would cut out the shapes, then glue the two halves together ( I think its called split body lures ) then I would shape the lure until im happy with the way it looks. I would then take the two pieces apart and then make a wire shape that would hold the hooks and glue the two parts together. I would then seal the lure and test it. If im happy with the way it swims I would mark the eyes and drill them with a normal wood drill bit.

I could of course drill a small pilot when I glue the two shapes together before shaping them, which if I think about it properly beforehand should be the best method.

I also thought of modifying a compass to mark the eye location but have not had the time to get to that.

I dont have a lathe, but I did modify my drill press to act as a lathe and I would drill the stock wood beforehand to fit a through wire after, but I have never thought of drilling the eyes on a popper before shaping it.

I still have a lot to learn

[FishCandy]

Hey Mr Stone, 

I remembered you saying you don't have a lathe, and I just received an email from Instructables on turning without a lathe. The method uses a band saw: http://www.instructables.com/id/Woodturning-With-a-Bandsaw/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email  There's also this from Izzy Swan on how to use a table saw as a lathe: 

 

[Mr.Stone]

Thank you for the tips Fishcandy, these are quite clever, and the table saw strips the wood real fast!

Unfortunately I do not have a table saw or a band saw (really want one of these). The drill press lathe works pretty good, only limit is that I can turn a popper up to only about 20 cm/ 8 inch long, and if I had proper lathe chisels it would make life easier and a lot safer. At the moment I would use normal woodworking chisels, which get grabbed by the wood and it also takes ages to get the square stock round.

I did 3 poppers this way , but it is time consuming and I cant find a rotary burr big enough (about the size of a golf ball) to make the hollow / mouth of the popper so im sticking to stickbait and subsurface lures for now.

[FishCandy]

This should take care of the lathe tools: https://www.harborfreight.com/wood-lathe-turning-tool-kit-8-pc-62674.html   

This is where I found my ball burrs:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006KVG8FO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006KVFBJ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I paid $36 and $23 at the time, they are now $31 and $12. Looks like I'm ordering a spare set!

[FishCandy]

Don't know what your set up is but check this out:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Drill-Press-Lathe/

 

[FishCandy]

More traditional setup:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Lathe-for-Drill-Press/