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Topic: Plug building  (Read 8941 times)

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racer414

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Thanks guys! It's been fun so far. Hopefully they'll have some good action without too much trial and error. Oh and catch fish!
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racer414

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Been in kind of a holding pattern waiting on more parts, but I did get the burr I had been waiting on. It works, just not nearly as well as I thought it would. For the poppers it seemed to work decent, but trying to cut the angle on the lyman style lures was a pain. Might need to use the router instead



« Last Edit: June 11, 2017, 08:02:03 AM by racer414 »
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Eddie

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Lovin' the process... :smt006
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racer414

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I’ve been slacking a little on my new hobby but today I had a little time to work on one of the spooks and a popper. Heres the selection of parts needed to build including stainless wire, screw eyes, various hooks, swivels, weights, split rings, nose, belly, and tail grommets.


For drilling I basically just eye-balled as close to center as possible and placed the holes where I thought they would be appropriate. I used tape to mark the approximate depth needed. When using weights like these, make sure you place them where they will be flush without interfering with the thru wire. The weights will probably take some trial and error to get the correct action, but at the very least, this first couple of lures will become wall hangers…
Belly grommet – 17/64 drill bit
6 gram medium weight – 5/16 bit used on the spook
8.5 gram weight – 3/8 bit used on the popper



How its going to be put together with the thru wire, nose grommet, belly grommet, weight, and tail grommet.


Next step was to seal the lures. The spar urethane was thinned by mineral spirits to help aid being absorbed by the wood. Make sure not to add too much, otherwise your lures wont be properly sealed. I used bailing wire and put a slight bend in it to dip the lures into the sealant. According to others, it is not necessary to let it soak for a long time. I did maybe a minute, probably less. Just watch for when air bubbles stop rising and you can then brush the excess sealant off your lures and hang them for drying. You want them to dry for 24hrs + so that you wont have any issue painting.



« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:31:12 PM by racer414 »
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Eddie

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I hope they turn out perfect.  I would bet on your derby car to win the cub scout jamboree... :smt006
“I’m going fishing.”  They said, “we will go with you.” 
John 21:3

Stealth Pro Fisha 475
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racer414

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Thanks Eddie! I wonder if I can make a wood halibut lure and send it your way!?

I forgot to add that there are several ways people seal their lures besides the method I used. I picked the urethane since its one of the easier methods to work with and one of the quicker drying. You can also use linseed oil, epoxy, or even super glue etc.

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NowhereMan

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This is one of the most impressive threads I've ever seen. Wow.
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racer414

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I appreciate the kind words! I’m learning as I go and hope I’ll have a nice finished product that performs. I have to give a lot of credit to the various tutorials I’ve read/watched online.

I forgot to mention last time, but I also have a small bass popper going through the same process. It uses screw eyes like the lyman style lures will. These particular screw eyes are a smaller diameter compared to the magnum screws I’ll use in the larger plugs.

A 1/16 drill bit makes a hole slightly smaller than the screw eye. Along with a dab of epoxy on the threads and inside the hole, they shouldn’t go anywhere. These screw eyes are ¾” long







This is the 30min epoxy I’m using. So far it has been easy to work with, just make sure to have a 50/50 mixture.


After finishing the little popper my attention turned to the larger one and the spook. Before I can paint I needed to add the weights, so I put the rest of the epoxy inside the holes and on the sides of the weights. This is the point I caught my first mistake! I didn’t drill the holes quite deep enough so I had a little excess lead hanging out. Not a huge deal and was easily fixed with the Dremel and a little sanding. Then just a little more epoxy over top to fill in the imperfections and let it dry before the final sanding.




« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:32:44 PM by racer414 »
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racer414

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Been working on these three plugs the last couple days. I'll have the details tomorrow or thurs.

Teaser pic of the spook. Rainbow trout pattern

« Last Edit: June 20, 2017, 04:44:08 PM by racer414 »
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MooMoo Outdoors

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racer414

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So on to the painting process. I decided on three different patterns: spook - rainbow trout, large popper – redhead, and bass popper – frog. For starters I gave all three a base coat of white then moved on to the individual patterns. Each coat of paint was heat set with a hair dryer.


For the large popper I sprayed some pearlized silver on the top of the lure. Then I placed the scaling over top and clipped it in place (you can use a womens luffa for smaller scales or I’ve read people use orange bags for larger scales). Next was the red color for the head of the lure. I planned to spray white over the silver and see if the scaling would come through but decided not to.



I then set the popper to the side and began working on the spook. I first added pearlized copper to the sides. The next color was a mix of hot pink/pearlized white/silver and was sprayed over the middle of the copper. For the top of the lure I mixed a pearlized lime green with a drop or two of black to get the olive green I was looking for. Lastly, I added all the dots by hand with a paint brush.






This is where my first major mistake occurred. All three lures were painted and ready for epoxy so I mixed a batch and added glitter (a bit too much) to the epoxy and began brushing it on the bass popper. After finishing that one I moved to the spook and the first brush stroke immediately clumped up the epoxy. Apparently 30min epoxy is only 2min epoxy in this heat. Lesson learned. So, I mixed another batch inside and applied it to the large popper. Ideally, from what others state, after epoxy you should put the lures on a lure turning wheel to help the epoxy dry evenly. I don’t have one (yet) so I just set them out to dry. The spook was completely sanded and I just repeated the process above. I finished all three lures with two coats.
A few notes I learned from my experience and others:
1.   Don’t apply epoxy in this crazy heat
2.   Using a torch (short bursts) you can get rid of any air bubbles in the epoxy
3.   Like with paint, make sure the surface is properly prepped
4.   Get a turning wheel if you want a professional looking smooth surface

Next up was the hardware. This includes the thru-wire, nose, belly, and tail grommets. Along with one swivel, split rings and the hooks. Installation was pretty straight forward, just press in the nose grommet, lightly hammer in the belly grommet (making sure to remove any excess epoxy in the holes), and then slide the wire in through the swivel eye. Slide on your tail grommet and then you can make your tail wrap. Mine did not come out very clean, at least up to my standards, but it is tight and will hold up to some fish abuse. I used needle nose to make the loop, then a drill bit mounted in a vice to hold it while I make the tail wraps.








And I’m stoked to say after a swim test, the spooks walks like it should! I got lucky that the action is good and I believe it will catch some fish. The little bass popper works as it should, the large popper still needs its hardware.

« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 07:06:49 PM by racer414 »
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NowhereMan

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Holy cow, you should start selling those things---they look incredibly professional...
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BigJim

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BEAUTIFUL!!!

 :smt007 :smt007 :smt007

Great job and thanks for sharing the process with us!!

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

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DG

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Those look great.  If I put that much time into one I might just hang it on the wall and never use it.  But I know you are itching to give it a try.  Can't wait to see what you catch. 
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MotherLoad

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I attempted a similar project a year or two ago. I didn't invest is the tools you did, and wish I had! Your results are fantastic and I agree with everyone, they look awesome. Solid work, thanks for posting the steps. If I ever get some more AK yellow cedar, I'll follow your steps the best I can.
Thanks for posting


 

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