S/S Wire Hook Eyes

[Polecat]

I am using .032 wire to make my hook eyes. I generally measure out about 4" of wire - bend over half, put both ends in a vice and pull up with a round screw driver blade and twist. Pulling and twisting makes a pretty even screw. I bend one of the ends back towards to the screw eye to make a small barb. I have been setting the 1 1/2" screw in Balsa. I drill out a hole 1/32" and fill with Devcon (2500lb). Now, I'm reading that some luremakers are running the wire through the Balsa. Will the Devcon hold the wire or should I be changing the way I do the eyes? Any opinions on this?

[Terrydabassman]

I make and use These and never had a failure in basswood or Balsa.

[cheesehead]

you don't need to exacto knife though. just use a cup hook of the sized for the loop you want and chuck that into your drill. then just grab both ends of the wire with a pair of pliers and run your drill at a slow speed until the wire is twisted.

[Polecat]

Thanks for your help.

[BobP]

Polecat, your method's fine for bass lures. A thru-wire is even more fail proof but if you're epoxying the screws in, if they're sufficiently long, and if you also clearcoat/undercoat your bait with epoxy - I'd bet it ain't gonna fail during a bait's typical life cycle.

[Muskiefool]

Run a test piece Polecat and see what it takes to pull it out that's the best way to find out