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czar

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  1. Perfect symmetrical hand made lures are almost impossible to make unless you are molding them and that depends on the master , I only make Muskie lures so they are quite large but it seem that the slight imperfections each copy of the original design will normally make little or no difference to the lures action in the water, in my opinion tow eye position & weighting are key to the lures performance, for example if the tow eye is on the lexan beak/lip quite large differences in symmetry will have no effect , even if the lip is not at 90 degrees to the body the action is not effected very much the lure will not swim perfectly upright in the water , also in nature live fish are often not symmetrical due to growth and day to day damage. while we all strive to make "perfect" lures I have yet to see any for sale in the stores. I purchased $200 of lures at the fishing show in Toronto and only one of the five lures has the lip mounted squarely to the body but whatever level of perfection you have set yourself the finish is the only thing protecting the time you invested into the lure the paint will not protect very long in the water this is the job of the topcoat but I will not venture down that path
  2. I Tried to through hole drill a number of lure blanks and failed badly, An 1/8 drill going through 9 inches of hard wood just is not practical unless you are going to turn the bait using the holes as centers, I tend to cut blank blocks of wood and then draw the pattern on one side, decide where the front eye and the tail eye will be and mark themThen i clamp the lure blank to a squared block and use the table saw to cut a groove to the right depth, my saw cuts a slot of approx .130 of an inch, then I continue with the band saw to cut the blank to shape, I also cut all scrap pieces of wood with the table saw to 1/8 (.125) .When the lure is nearing completion I make the wire spine & hangers all in one piece insert with epoxy into the slot and then before the epoxy sets epoxy in the 1/8 strips so they sit proud of the finished shape when all is set remove the excess wood and the job is complete (during this process I also install most of the weight required)
  3. czar

    Weighting trick

    After Bobp supplied the updates on the lure that failed to work out mathematically, I recalculated from the info he supplied and arrived at .37oz not .33 (assuming that the bass wood was average at .256gms/cm3) while this .04 oz would not mean much to others it changes our world , now his calculations will work out to what he had guesstimated (.11) whilst this estimation method is a good helping tool it all works on averages so can go slightly wrong on occasion , the fact that we hand work our projects will always direct our choices more than maths after all our works of art are singular in nature ,individually created to a conceptual idea in our minds
  4. czar

    Lathe question.

    Nerdy The distance between centers gives the longest bait you could turn with this machine (4inches), this would not be big enough for most users, I use a Canadian tire mini lathe ($150CDN) and it turns to 14inches long and 5 diameter whilst I never reach the max in either dimension I often turn 12 inch muskie blanks
  5. czar

    Weighting trick

    This may a silly question but is this not a simple math question If you know the average density of the wood you are using cannot everything else be calculated from there. For example the average density for Poplar is rated at .5gms/cm cubed if the finished lure body without any additions (finished blank only) comes out at 60 gms the sum would be 60 /.5 = 120 this represents the cubic capacity of the bait , if you multiply this number by the density of water (1) then you arrive with 120 if you then take the 120 and subtract the original weight the bait (60) you arrive at 60 this is the maximum weight you should add to the lure. screws eyes bill and even epoxy should be included taken away from the 60gms to calculate the lead to be added
  6. czar

    Devcon 2T

    Thanks to all , I Obviously did not allow for such a large ammount of differance between the two coating formulations, I normally mix around 50gms of e-tex to coat 8 muskie baits (7-8 inch), with the devcon I did go on the safe side and only mix 16 gms amd managed to coat one 7 inch bait and 2 @ 5inches before the mix gelled too far for use , that is the downside the upside was that the lure finish it turned out just as good as the e-tex but maybe a little thicker and was finished in 3 hours against 24 with the e-tex, without extensive field testing both systems look equally good , If nothing else I have a method to "fast track" a lure if ever required
  7. czar

    Devcon 2T

    Help Normally an Envirotex user purchased some Devcon 2T at the local model shop to try, Mixed by weight to 50/50 as per instructions, turnd to gel after 5-8 mins so cannot paint onto lures, Is there any way to slow the setting of the mixture so I can finish more than 3 lures before the setting takes place ??
  8. Sorry I was not very clear how to thicken the resulting solution, Just leave the lid off the container for half an hour stir and test the thickness again carry on untill you have reached the thickness required if you go too thick just add some more solvent and try again
  9. An alternative to SOLO cups would be almost every kind of polystyrene packing beans, the white beans give a slightly milky sealer but does not seem to colour the baits the only down side fo the beans is that they are not "food grade plastic" so there can be debris inside of the mix, I normally test the beans for complete melting in the solvent. then if they melt correctly I pour approx 1.25 pints or 500 mls of solvent into a glass jar with a metal lid and add approx 3 cubic feet of beans, sounds like mission impossible I know but it will go in !! Leave it to stand (covered with the lid) for about 1 week and then pour off the good material off the solid debris you will get approx 1 pint of solution that you can further thin with solvent to suit your application method (thinner for dipping slightly thicker for brushing)
  10. Createx sell an aitbrush restorer solution for about $6 cdn that will clean just about any water based paint from your air brushes, just soak the whole thing (if metal) for a couple of hours and then blow it out with the compressor, it cleaned 4 nozzles from my aztec in about 10 mins
  11. czar

    Lures

    I obviously did not explain my self very well, the lures are sealed with a polystyrene based sealer described in an earlier post , then primed and painted with Createx paints and the finally sealed with envirotex lite epoxy. I have also noted a number of posts on the availablity of devcon epoxys. In canada we can buy 5 oz bottles of resin & hardener at most Radio control model stores for approx $20cdn
  12. czar

    Lures

    Here is a selection of lures I have made using the sealing process described in an earlier post. 50% of them have had their swimming lessons in the field so to speak ,but all have been water tested. sorry for the glare on the 12inch ruler, there is a mix of screw eyed and through wired , sealed & painted with Createx and then epoxied.
  13. czar

    Sealing Baits

    I have been making Musky lures for a short period of time and have come up with a method of sealing the wood that seems to work well I mix 1/2 a pint of Lacquer Thinners with about 1/2 lb of white polystyrene chips (free packing material) the final mix should be the thickness of Maple syrup (thick milk) it will dry in under 10 mins and if the thickness is correct it will soak into the wood approx 1/32. a light sand with 400 grit and then a second coat followed with a light rub with 000 wire wool will seal and key the lure for painting with createx paints
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