Lure making...

Any lure maker here in the house????Just got back to lure building after a few years.....just to kill some time in the cold days....the easiest to build and balance.... top water lure


Pencil bait
Balsa wood heavily coated
4.5 inch
Near vertical floating
Weighted (not sure how many grams)

Joe,

I think you should show the guys the pictures you sent to me.......this guy is one hell of a lure maker.....I have seen some custom made lures that sell for a pretty penny, they are no better than the ones Joe makes.

C'mon Joe, let the guys see your work, I am sure they would be interested.

Tom.

Joe,

Can you make me one like this :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Very nice looking lure Joe.

Some questions...

What do you use to coat the balsa wood?

Is there a technique for coating home-made lures with the reflective/sparkly finish you see on some manufactured lures?

How do you add extra weight to the balsa wood. Or is wire+rings+hooks sufficient.

If you were making a diving lure, what would you use for the diving tongue?

Cheers,
J.

Ive tried to make a couple of lures, never been that good and have no idea what I should paint them with. Where do you get the balsa wood Ive only seen it in thin sheets for model making. Last question what do you use to attach the split rings to? Very nice work there.

Thanks Rh....nah...my lure is not that good...still learning and improving the technique....thats one hell of rapala Rh....

[quote]Some questions...

What do you use to coat the balsa wood?

Is there a technique for coating home-made lures with the reflective/sparkly finish you see on some manufactured lures?

How do you add extra weight to the balsa wood. Or is wire+rings+hooks sufficient.

If you were making a diving lure, what would you use for the diving tongue?

I use epoxy to coat my lure....most lure builder will favour Devcon 2 ton 30 minutes.I cant source that brand out....most Devcon that i found out in the shop here are a Devcon 5 minutes which is not good,too fast curing and will become yellowish when expose to sun light for sometimes.As i cant get the Devcon,i used Pacer Z-Poxy Finishing Resin as an alternative.I know of a builder that re using rod building epoxy for their lure.

Yes there is.You can use an alluminium foil.Not the thin kitchen foil...but the thick foil tape (adhesive).I got the from leinahams.Theres also a holographic adhesive paper(i think a wall paper) that i saw sold there that can be use for lure making.Other than that u can get reflextive,prism,holographic sheet from lure maker online supplier.To get a glittering effect,a glitter dust can be applied or mixed with the finishing epoxy before brushing for the final coat.

Most of my lure is wire thro construction.2 parts body which then i glue together with the wire in the middle.The body is then sealed/coat(first coat) to water proof the balsa.All the hardware(split rings,hook and lip) then fix to the body temporarily.Then a pin with a plastic head is threaded through a lead weight(i use small bullet/shot sinker) and place them to the body.The lure then tested in the bucket/tub of water to get the correct ballast point.Play around with the placement and weight(which is most of the time at the lure belly) to get your desire ballast ie,floating nose up,nose down,sinking nose up,nose down,vertical etc.REMEMBER that the next step of painting,coating,foiling and finishing coat will add weight to the lure.You dont want to end up making a sinking floater.

Theres a lots of material can be use for lip/bip.Lexan plate,polycarbonate sheet, acrylic plate,stainless steel sheet and alluminium sheet.Most of them can be found in craft and model shop.

Jack,i use balsa in the size of 1/2 x 4 inch which i got from a model store.The balsa then cut in 2 parts....same shape and size and was attached together temporarily with double side tape.The template then is use before cutting and carving them into shape.The stainless steel wire is then measured from the inside of the body and shaped.The wire/hook hanger and then placed in between the body and glued using a fast cure epoxy(devcon 5 min).A rattle can be put inside the body too.

A few nice source of tutorial and tips...

http://www.tackleunderground.com/index.php
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://minnowing.com/HM.HTML&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmaria%2Bangel%2Bkiss%2Blure%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enIE226IE226%26sa%3DN
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~keith001/link/index.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhandmade%2Blure%26start%3D180%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enIE226IE226%26sa%3DN

envirotex is a good option for finishing. like, as joe said, with devcon you can add sparkles and flash to the coat before you apply. sets rocks hard and the finish lasts really well

model shops stock it

A few pic.

Hook hanger and carved blank body.


Foiled blank and unfoiled blank.


Foiled plain and foiled scale blank.


Foiled scale blank.


Pencil bait blank.


First white paint under coat and epoxy coat.


After weight position determine,body drilled with dremel tool and weight permanently placed and epoxied with devcon 5 min.

Thanks Adam.....u build lure too Adam???Care to share any pike lures???

Joe those look very very good, you could sell them 8) 8) . Very good tips, need to get my hands on some balsa wood now and some wire. Very clever way of weighting them as well. Ive tried to do some before but never really had a clue where to start I'll deffo give it a go over the winter break.

hi

joe yeah i dabbled in making a few a while back, years back, jointed cranks mostly, made some spoons and tobies too out of polished stainless steel.

some were solid balsa, shaped and with the wires screwed and glued and some were two sided and glued like your ones with the wires inside.

only have two left and didnt take pics as i made them like you did, will try dig out the pics of the ones i have

the jointed cranks were copies, larger versions, of the yo zuri jointed floating divers.

just dont have enough time lately between tying sea rigs, pike rigs, coarse rigs, boat stuff and actual fishing ocassionally :D

pics look excellent

Good stuff..

amazing stuff joe, hate to loose one to the rocks though

Joe what model store did you get the Balsa from? Gonna try make a few this week. Nimble fingers dont have any :) .

Cheers

Hi Jack....
There are 2 shop i regularly got my balsa and bass wood recently....
One near Capel Street,not far from Grattan Bridge,most of the time i got my balsa and ss wire from there.I got my basswood strip from the other shop in Hawkin's Street,Burgh Quay,not far from trinity collage.

Cheers for that one Joe, i'll try get some tomorrow. The diving lips look very good nice one.

Joe, Was that "Mark's Models" on Hawkins Street? They used to be there but I haven't been down there in ages.

Yes Teacher...Mark's Model if not mistaken.....

Jack...good luck in your venture...start with easier stuff such as top water lure.....LC Sammy or Sum Lure is the easiest model to template and offer less possibility of frustration.....let me know if you need link or tutorial to start with.....cheeerrrsss....

Will do cheers Joe.