ScottT

Thanks LaPala, excellent website. The Rapala in my pic is the floating minnow version, about 6inch long.

Im fairly new here and there is some excellent information to take in, thank you to everyone for sharing your secrets. My main interest is building balsa crankbaits, thats what I like to use and thats what I've caught most of my fish on. My way of thinking is that its perhaps easier to understand how to make something by taking apart an allready finished item, with that thought in mind I took the tools to an old Rapala lure that I had. I realise that this might be a bit old hat for the experienced guys here but it might help some of us new boys. My first impression is that I was a bit dissapointed when I took it apart, not at all what I was expecting to find, it seems to me to be a bit thrown together. From what my limited abilities found out was that the body seems to be shaped then a hole is cut for the lead weight, this seems to be done with a round saw (circular spinning blade?) the weight is inserted then the pre formed wire is wrapped around it, the 2 loose ends of the wire have been shapened and seem to have just been pushed into the body. The vane is then put in place before the whole thing is wrapped in silver foil (does'nt seem to be any treatment of the wood). It is then coated in some resin (epoxy?) and then finished off with the top painted blue and the bottom white, a touch of red on the throat section and a painted eye. This method sems to work well and produce a very sucessfull lure. Can anyone that fastens the wire in different ways comment on this? How does this way compare? If the wood is covered will it need treating first? Does anyone here build in this way? Is this a better (or easier) method than building in 2 halfs and putting the wire through the middle? There were many gaps between the wire and wood, but not noticable due to the foil and resin, do you have to be that accurate when building your lures of is this just a quicker way? Lots of questions but like I said its a big learning curve. The picture shows both sides of the lure. Scott.

Thanks for your kind words Jack, I'm really enjoying this forum. I havent done much in the way of lure building but have made many things that will help me as I start, plus of course I have this wonderfull source of knowledge here to help me. I was talking to a friend today that has tried what I suggested, his method was to put a sheet of lexan (or similar) over his mould then place it in the grill (not sure if the USA meaning is the same, Grill is the bit in the oven that has the element at the top and cooks the food below it) to heat it up, as he saw it melting he would quickly remove it then force the top part on quickly, done this way he could do a full A4 sheet worth at a time. Depending on the shape you wanted I'm sure you could fashion a mould out of a couple of spoons and dont forget by altering the shape you can have a tapered finish. Please let me (and everyone) else know how you get on. Scott.

JR, I've come across this sort of thing before, what you need is a mould of sorts to get 2 lips the same. If you can make a metal (or even plaster) mould of both sides of the lip shape you need then you can get them all the same. Think of a 2-piece mould and instead of pouring into it you heat the lexan place it on 1 part of your mould then quickly place the other part on top then using some force (a vice perhaps) force the 2 parts together, when cooled it should be the shape you want. Then every lip should be exactly the same. Ive seen this tecnique used in model building before using plastic card, there is no reason why it shouldnt work with lexan or polycarbonate. My 1st post, Ive been lurking around for the last week or so, so much info i'll be staying a long time. Scott.