Balls

G'day Blackhawk78418/all If you do a search for Aluminium epoxy eyes & other options I submitted on the 10th of March 2011 you will see the option I included to make rattles at the end of the spiel, I sent Hazmail down some samples which he kindly posted the photos for me to make it easier to follow. The same technique can also be used & seal over the end caps with a suitable filler & sand them back if you don't want to have eyes protruding. If you want to vary the audible noise the rattles make you can use other products like plastic end caps to change the noise it makes, eg the aluminium caps will be quite loud, the plastic caps not as loud, you can also change the bearing from stainless steel to small lead pellets which will dull the sound a bit like the old Bill Norman Chug Bugs (I think thats what they were called). Plenty of options to try, you just have to trial & error until you come up with what you are trying to immitate, the wad punches & that technique are just very easy & doesn't cost much once you buy the wad punches, all the other stuff most of us have lying around the house, cheers Balls.

G’day all This is an alternative option for curved bibs on smaller lures, I use it on my smaller lures for Barra & a number of other tropical species without any concern, on larger Iures I either use Hazmail’s oil technique & or just cold bend the heavier Polycarbonate. In Australia the product is called Suntuff, it’s a Polycarbonate corrugated roof sheeting that comes in clear, opaque & a number of colours, the product is designed for use on roofing, so its designed for an extreme environment, there are a number of other brand names for the same use, just make sure it’s the product that identifies it as a polycarbonate product on the sheet you purchase, Laserlite is another one over here, hopefully a similar product is available at any of your hardware stores, building suppliers or similar outlets wherever you live. For ease of use & the particular size bib I was using I just cut 50 mm strip from across the sheet, I then just used a template to mark all of the bibs in direct line with the hills and or the hollows of the corrugations, (so your curve is across the front of the bib), I just cut the bib out with a small pair of cutters we use to cut fish at work, but any reasonable cutters will do the job, I cut in neat so didn’t have to worry about sanding, but that’s up to the individual. The end that you glue into the lure is flexible enough to push into a straight cut in the bib slot, also prep how you do normally, drill hole thru end of bib, scuff or whatever your preferred method is. Obviously the curve on the sheeting is what you end up with depending on the width of your bib, its quick & you don’t have the concern of over heating the product or injury with the hot oil, I have found I don’t require much curve to provide the action required compared to a straight bib. The minimum size sheet I saw here was 1.8 metres in length & I think it was 820 mm in width off memory & was $19.00 Aussie, which will allow for a bloody lot of bibs using both the hills & the hollows & at a pinch you could use the off cuts for small micro lures. The only thing I haven’t tried is to use the product with my bib punch, I’ll have to set it up to align the centre of the corrugations to the centre of the bib punch & give it a try when I get a chance, hope it helps someone out, cheers Balls.

G’day all Weighting lure option to utilize with previous technique Firstly, sorry I don’t have much opportunity to participate on the forum anymore, this is another addition that can be also utilised with the previous thread I posted (read previous post on aluminium epoxy eyes & other options), the addition is just another option available to weight lures using the wad punches & sheet lead, the same tools as the previous thread are all that you need. Sheet lead comes in different thicknesses/gauges, sheet lead can easily be punched out to the desired diameter with a wad punch depending on what you are trying to achieve with your lure, the thickness/gauge used will also be the main factor in what you achieve, slow, medium, fast suspending/sinking etc . EG Big eye & light gauge sheet lead or you may decide you want a small eye & use heavy gauge sheet lead for the same result, combinations used allow for lures to be weighted for any option you want to achieve. Your lure pattern/template should include a small diameter hole for your eye socket, the easiest way I find is to use your pattern/template to trace the outline of your lure on the timber/plastic board you intend to use, also marking the centre of the eye, prior to cutting your initial blank pre drill a small diameter hole in the centre of where you intend to place your eye. Basically you would now go through whatever process you follow until you have your lure shape finished, the finished shape will have the small diameter hole still visible on both sides of the lure, this gives you a method in which to accurately drill your eye weights out & make sure the balance is equally positioned. I have drilled some before painting, I have also drilled some after painting, the main thing is to have a sharp speed bore/spade bit or whatever you call them in your local area, if you are selecting a 10 mm diameter sheet lead weight 2 mm thick, use a 10 mm sharp speed bore/spade bit. Depending on what you have chosen to do will determine the depth you drill. EG If you only wanted to place a 10 mm diameter weight in the eye socket using sheet lead that was 2 mm thick, you would use a 10 mm drill & drill just deep enough to insert/say 2.5 mm & glue the lead in place so it was just below the surface before bogging the hole, allowing to dry & then sand back to the original lure shape. After finishing the paint job I place my eyes directly over that spot when I have finished, basically this one would be a flush finished lure. Another option I use is to drill slightly deeper, insert & glue the lead in place, spray the lure & then insert the epoxy eyes in place over the lead before sealing/final coating the lure. There are a lot of other options you could use this application for if you want to experiment with it. If anyone can explain an easy way to attach photos I will try & submit some, I would also include some other weight moulds I made out of alloy, method to twist wire & jig to spray lures on etc, cheers Balls.

G'day all Diemai If you know any one who works in the Hospitality trade they normally have heaps of corks, both natural & the articial cork you are using, also Champayne corks etc, most of them just throw all the corks in a display box around some of the wines they sell with their food menus. Most of them would probably be happy to give you as many as you want & or save some for you, they only chuck them away anyway. I work in a Casino & have buckets of corks from asking them to keep them for me, I use a lot probably up to 50 in a couple of teasers I use for Billfish. I use the cork for a couple of different applications to you, one application I use is to router/die grinder about two thirds of the middle out & have a thin hollow tube glued through the remainder of the middle. I mainly spray them fluro pink, fluro green, fluro pink & purple (my favourite). I rig skipping baits for Sailfish & small Black Marlin, a skirt sits over the head of the skip bait & slides into the rourtered/die grindered out cork, they are dynamite on Billfish & I don't cry when a Spanish Mackeral destroys them, they also make great teasers for Bill fish. The Champayne corks I use to make my rod grips, I router/die grinder the middle out of the cork to suit the diameter of the rod blank & then epoxy the corks together in the jig to get the desired length, rough sand, fit to the rod blank before final sand. The last application could probably be put into use for your purposes if you wanted to make bigger surface lures out of cork, the jig would just need to be made smaller. I just made mine out of scrap timber & bought a couple of lengths of threaded rod. As a result of your concept when I get a chance I will play around with a couple of new style surface lures, probably weight the rear end & have to have a solid wire set up, other wise the Barra would destroy it, good luck with the cork hunt, cheers Balls.

G'day all Here are a couple of applications I use to improve finishes on some of my lures. * The first one is when I want to improve the finish of a timber lure, once I have it sanded to a smooth finish I dip them in Methylated Spirits ( I think you call it Denatured alcohol in the forum), basically if raises the grain on the timber & you can then give it a fine finish sand before sealing, this was an old Joiner's trick we were taught when learning my trade, the Methylated Spirits dries/evaporates quickly so you can continue to work the lure soon after dipping. **Note, don't place the lure in a Microwave or similar to quicken the process or you may have a hazard concern, also Methylated Spirits should not be used to clean your Polycarbonate Bibs, a chemiacl reaction takes place over an extended period of time, you will see hairline cracks forms & or the bib will just snap. *Another cheap item to use on finishing lures, especially lures being turned on a lathe is the cheap cleaning pads used for washing dishing, in Aus they are generally dark green, about 150mm x 100mm, 6 to 8 in a pack, off memory I think they are called scotchbrite or something like that, they are chip as chips & provide a very good finish, hope the info helps someone out, cheers Balls.

G'day all Not sure if this tip will help everyone, but a number of patterns I have made overs the years I wanted to make the same lure in a bigger & or smaller version. I make all of my templates out of plastic ice cream lids. I have a side profile, top profile & a bib profile & or use one of the bibs I punch out on my bib punch. The side profile template has the bib slot cut in, eyelet placement etc. The beauty of the plastic is if you want to slightly modify the template until you get it right it is easliy sanded. Back to the subject, to reduce & or increase the version for bigger or smaller lures I just use a photocopier to reduce & or increase the templates by using the percentage menu until I achieve the desired size. I then glue the paper copy onto the plastic, cut it out & wullah, same lure either bigger or smaller & everything is in proportion. I haven't had any problems using this method, it has also worked with weighted lures. Anyway I hope it helps some one out when they are trying to increase or decrease lure sizes & still end up with the same shape & action. I also retain all of my small templates in containers with seperate compartments & use a tackle box to keep larger templates seperated to avoid mix ups with patterns & avoid losing templates, cheers Balls.

G'day all I twist a lot of wires up in various sizes & grades. Although you can use a cordless drill or an electric drill with a clutch setting or similar I prefer to use the old eggbeeter hand drills, I also made a few different sized bits to twist the size of the eyelet I require, as an example an 1/8 inch pop rivet is perfect size for twisting up small eyelets. I made a small frame/stand that attaches to the bench & fitted a pair of good quality vice grips in the frame to suit the height & angle for me to twist the wire in comfort, the vice grips & frame are all welded as a permanent set up, I also had extension handles welded to the vice grips to make it easier to open & close them. Its then just a matter of making a small jig to bend your wires around & so they are all the same length & or make up a number of jigs for the differengths lengths you require with different lures. Basically you should end up with your wire being like a U shape, place the two cut ends in the vice grip, close, use the eggbeeeter & twist bit to twist wire up with gentle pressure towards you. The wires will come out straight & identical every time. Once you get the hang of it its quick, I usually twist up more eyelets while I'm waiting for epoxy to go off & not waste time. Once in a while the wire will snap, so safety glasses should be worn as a precaution. Hazmail seen the results of the method used to twist the wire, when I get a chance I will attempt to do a tutorial with photos etc,unfortunately I always seem to be busy & don't get much time on this site & when I have I have had a lot of problems trying to post, cheers Balls.

G'day all Hazmail I do the same, I use a die grinder to cut the centre out of the champayne cork to suit the rod blank I'm making. I've just done the handles for two Samarai blanks I use for 1 & 2 kg line class comps. Piece of cake to make up the clamps with metal threads & timber, I glue them up when I have excess epoxy when gluing eyelts into lures. Best part is the rods are made to suit individual requirements, corks on tap for me working in a Casino, I also use the corks in a similar fashion for chasing Sailfish & Marlin, corks are partially routered out to allow skirt & rigged bait to fit snuggly into recessed cork, painted to what ever colour spins your wheels, cheers Balls.

G'day Pete There still hanging where they should be, I'm off to the NT Barra Classic tomorrow arvo & not back until the following Saturday (23rd), a week of tournament fishing on the Daly River chasing Barra, its hard to take but someone has to do it, ET fishes with me so you may have seen some of our previous tournaments that he filmed with us & went to air a couple of times. Anyway on the photo side of things for Sinya, I'm useless with PC's & photos, if it suits you, when I return & get a chance I could make some of the parts, blanks etc & mail them over to you to photograph & load on the PC??, no dramas either way if you can

G

G'day Jamie I've tried to submit a reply a couple of times & the 1st time majority of the reply disappeared & the two other times it come up as I wasn't logged in & the reply was lost on both occasions, is there a time limit on a reply to a post. Once I know what I'm doing wrong I'll let you know how I make the weights, cheers Balls.

G'day Jamie What

G'day fellas I use a lot of different types of epoxies, some are equal parts, some are 3:1, some are 4:1, I just buy medical syringes & mix the quantities specified on the type of epoxy you are using. The 5mm syringes are the ones I use the most & they can be purchased at most chemists for next to nothing. You can continue to use them to mix your quantities from the same epoxy supply until it runs out & or if you replace the same epoxy brand. The main thing is to ensure you use one syringe for the resin & one syringe for the hardener, I usually just tape them to the container to ensure I dont mix the syringes up accidentally. Also when I epoxy the stainless steel eyelets in my lures I also use a 5 mm syringe to insert the mixed epoxy into the predrilled & predetermined depth hole, if you know the depth of the hole you get to know exactly how much epoxy to insert in the hole & as you push the stainless steel eyelet in the epoxy covers the wire & seals the hole nicely, I usually do about 15/20 lures at a time & this allows me enough working time to ensure the eyelets are inserted & are in line. The syringe used for the mixed epoxy can be continually used, most epoxies can be cleaned by placing normal Vinegar in a small sealed container & just squirt the vinegar in & out of the used syringe a couple of times, I then leave the syringe in the vinegar & clean the syringe before I use it next time, change the vinegar occassionally. It also helps if you slightly taper the end of the syringe by sanding it with glass paper, this allows the nozzle to snuggly fit into the eyeley hole you are inserting the epoxy into. I have used epoxies that are really runny & some epoxies that were fairly thick & the method I use is effective on either, hope this assists you, cheers Balls

G'day from the Top end-Darwin-Australia Great site, interesting ideas, methods & techniques, different concepts & best of all people that are prepared to pass on their knowledge & help others fishos/lure making addicts. I'm from the Tropical end of Australia & we have a large variety of fish that munch lures (literally), so I make lures for all the different types of fish & their habitats/habits. I've acquired a lot of info from this site & applied some of the techniques to improve some of my lures. Hopefully I'll be able to put some info back in the site. I tried to send a topic once before & have no idea what happened to it. If this one goes through I can start replying to some of the topics I have read on the site. Once again, great site & great info, cheers Balls