Homebrew Hangers and Line Ties

[BobP]

On hardwood crankbaits. I don't want to split the bait and install a wire frame for hardware so I make my own hook hanger and line tie "screws". I think commercial screw eyes are too large and obtrusive for small bass crankbaits. A brass line tie is easy to tune and will give the crank a chance to "hunt". But brass is not ideal for hook hangers due to its softness. I use a decent pair of Grobet wire bending pliers and start with about 5" of wire. For line ties, I use spool .0403 soft brass wire. .032 brass wire will hunt even better but is on the ragged edge of being too light, IMO. For hook hangers, I use .029 Malin Hard Wire stainless steel leader (coffee color) which comes coiled in a handy plastic envelope. The SS wire makes a very strong, low profile hook hanger. Plus, you can adjust the ring size to get exactly what you want. Method: Brass wire is easy to twist clockwise on itself (both strands) to form a tightly wound screw. For the SS hangers, it's too hard to hand twist 2 strands together so I leave one strand straight and twist the other around it, leaving some space between the wraps for added glue surface. Needlenose pliers "true up" the screw after twisting and a pair of wire cutters trims to length. A 5/64" hole drilled with a Dremel is perfect for either screw. Push epoxy in the hole with a wire and coat the screw with epoxy. The shape and constant diameter of the screw gives you plenty of glue surface. Screw them into the hole counter-clockwise. They won't ever pull out.

[Terrydabassman]

How much for 100 of those?

[redg8r]

How much for 100 of those?

good tip for sure,

one thing though, if you twist your wire counter-clockwise, you'll create threads similar to standard hardware where you can insert them by turning clockwise, or "righty-tighty"

many can attest, this makes for good custom hardware.

Thanks for sharing it.

[KingKarl]

HI BOB,

good to see someone else venturing into some quality hangers, I use something simular, by buying 309 or 316 S/S mig wire in 1.6 and 1.2mm diameters this wire is perfect to turn an use as front middle and rear hook hangers. Depending on the biat there are going into I spin up 40mm long eye hangers by cutting a pcs that is 110mm long ,bending it in the middle to form a U shape then by using a pair of vice grips, I clamp it around my eye Diameter twisting tool (homemade, which is in the cordless drill) to get the shape, then clamp the two ends together with the said grips and twist away once twisted the 1.6mm then twists to a diameter of 2.7mm and the 1.2 twists to a diameter of around 1.8mm. I have two sizes one that is about 4mm internal and the other about 6mm internal which is perfect for my larger baits, Have a look at my photos on the "photo board". Personally i can spin up to about 100+ 40mm hangers in an hour, all straight and all perfectly the same. Now by having them all the same, allows me to pre drill my holes with a 2mm drill bit at a depth of 45mm long into the bum of my lure then inject that hole with epoxy via a canular needle right up to the end of the drilled hole before screwing my hanger in.

With the long srewtail right up to center of the lure body I had a mate do a pull test with weight upto 150lbs straight pull without any problems.

but your idea is worth merit

Karl

[Terrydabassman]

I gots ta be the worst wire bender in the universe...it's always a very painful

holes in the fingers experience with less than prefered results.

I'll have to try the drill thing.

[KingKarl]

Terry,

all you have to do is make or buy a hook that is at right angles to the shaft coming out of the drill and in the diameter you want your eyes to be. if you cant buy something already made, do want i did and make your own.

By, getting a drill bit extention, welbing or by attaching a flat bit of 3mm steel, tapered at one end, where you drill a pilot hole and bang in a compression pin, the compression pins come in all sizes so I'm sure you'll have no problem in getting one to suit your needs. In the next couple of days I'll post a photo in the Homebrew sectiojn of this set up, its so simple, and if someone can tell me how to do a tutorial I'll right one up as well.

Karl

[Terrydabassman]

Your help will be very much appreciated. I'm one a these "gotta see it" guys to know what you're talking about. A picture is worth a thousand words. So to do a tutorial, just take pictures at each step and then describe what/why your doing each step of the way to the finished hook eye.

I did one a while back on Making a Bomber Make a web page adding your pictures, then the description and what you're doing, then upload it to a web site. If you don't know how to do this, I'd be glad to host it for you on my site. Just send me the photo's and a description for each one and I'll upload it for you.

Shoot me an Email, let me know, k? terry1clark@peoplepc.com

[Lure--Prof]

Terry and others, I do essentially the same thing that King Karl does with the wire and vise-grips, but I use a vice to hold my perpindicular bit or whatever that I am using to bend my wire pieces around. For my stainless line ties I use 19 gauge stainless wire I buy at Ace Hardware. This wire is not tempered like spinnerbait wire, making it much easier to with which to work. Cut a piece of wire a little more than twice the length of the hook hanger you want. Now take it and fold it so the ends touch. Put the ends in the vice grips and lock 'em down. Slip the fold over the end of the old drill bit that is sticking up upside down in vise and twist your vise-grips while pulling back slightly to form a nice and straight hook hanger. Remove and trim off the ends that were in the vise-grips to desired length. Voila! Perfect hook hanger. Once you get into the rhythm, you can do a bunch in very little time by pre-cutting all your wires.

I hope this helps, just trying to make it a bit more visual.

I don't worry about clockwise or counter, because I drill an 1/8th inch hole that I fill with epoxy. The bigger hole gives more area in the wood for the epoxy to grip. I'm essentially, anchoring the hanger with epoxy, rather than just adding holding power to my "screw-eye" with it. I design the weighting of the lure with the added epoxy in mind.

Dean

[Lure--Prof]

Let me add also that before I cut my wires, I give the wire a good wipe with alcohol to remove any residual oil :!: :!: :!:

Dean

[cheesehead]

I don't twist my wires. I make my loop by bending my wire around a nail, give it one twist then take the tails and bend about 1/4" back over themselves to look like rabbit ears. Leave them sticking out a bit, dont bend them down tight. These barbs help hold the hanger into the hole and provide quite a bit of resistance even without the epoxy.

[BobP]

I average building 10-12 cranks a month, so don't need to "get industrial with it". If I did, I wouldn't be hand twisting! It does tone the hand musculature I just like the small profile and esthetic of a thin SS hanger. Really, .29 SS wire is not hard to work by hand. Just make sure it's long enough that you aren't trying to twist anything less than a 1" long piece. That's a sure way to get punctured! After fishing a lot of commercial wood baits, I wanted some that would not crap out on me unless I and some bass really abused them. So I tend to overbuild and hangers with lots of glue surface are part of that. When I get a few cranks that are "perfect", I want them to stick around for awhile!

[BobP]

I tried your method with a drill bit clamped in a vise as the post and used visegrips to twist .029 ss leader wire. It's quick and yields uniform hangers that fit in a small 1/16" drilled hole. The hand twisted ss hangers do have more glue surface but I'm sure these glue up stronger than commercial screw eyes - and look better too. You can always count on good ideas from TU!

[Coley]

I think you can find this identical hanger in the tutorial I submitted

for "rear hook hanger in a balsa bait"

Works really well!!!!!!!!!

Coley