Pikopath

I use thinner and polystyrene (cd covers, white and clear cups) with great success. When you buy the cups look for the recycling symbol on the cups and it should have PS inside. Sometimes the wrapping, if its made of plastic will have other letters, so you have to look at the cups themselves. I have 2 jars with my mix, one thinner one for the soaking of the bait, and one a bit thicker to build/smooth. I dont use virgin thinner tho... Michael

I find naming my baits and colors very fun. There are a few famous Norwegian that really suck in english, and when the dont know the word, they just anglify (hehe is that a word?) the norwegian word. Ive adopted that to some of my names, I say the Norwegian name in norwenglish, ie; Kruckle, In norwegian the name is Krøkle and is actually pronounced pretty much as the english writing. Other names for baits (more just funny/cool words): Strap on Sally. StiffBeaver (this one actually has a meaning, and are named after 2 buddies in Wisconsin. One nicknamed Beaver, and the other is called Steve, the way you pronounce the name Steve is the same way you say the norwegian word for stiff (stiv)) PrancingTit (the bait is darting around, just like a prancing tit and it makes for a cool t-shirt) PrismBreak (when I use prism tape) CarpVader and on and on Michael

A friend here made, in 3d, some kitchen magnet models, small ones, and sent them to several companies for both price and quality comparison. And to me even those small, not to much detailed models seemed kinda exspenive, I could just imagine what a 8-10" pike lure model would cost, maybe Ill send a model for a price estimate. And what I would have done to make the master to live longer is to make a rtv mold and made up more masters in resin. Michael

Hi Yes Ive been looking into this, but when I did, it was to exspensive. I dont make lures to sell them en mass, so the price doesnt justify rapid prototyping for me. But its a very nice way of making masters, thats for sure. And btw, I also like to make lures "by hand" more, but I dont have a woodshop at all, so when I get the chance I make blanks on the cnc, and then I have blanks to paint, and when Ive visited the cnc I usually have blanks to last a couple of years . Michael

Hi Im not the owner and operator of the CNC (Im just lucky to know someone with the machinery), but you program everything, the spacing etc. That was actually what took most of the time, cutting out 90-100 blanks or so.. Im not sure if you can use a roundover bit in the machine, but the cutter can move in the Y axis aswell (up and down), so you can actually have it round your baits, BUT then I have to make 2 piece lures, because it cant router on the underside. But I think its faster to round them over the old fashioned way anyway. But we've had a project going to make a lure in 3d (again 2 part) and use the cnc to sculpt it, or use it for a master/prototype for moldmaking. But with both of us having kids, and he has a busy tour schedule with his rockband, its hard to find time to all these projects Michael

I will second this statement. The customer service is bar none! They even apologized for the cost of shipping to Europe. I ended up with FastCast from Axson, which you also can get in different shore hardness. The one Im experimenting with now is 72a and is very hard. In my 2 part mold I got a few nasty bubbles, but I just added another vent hole and I tapped the mold alittle bit, and they were gone. I had another dimple to sand away, but rather that, than my bait looking like cheese. Michael

Earlier when I used to do modeling for games etc. I loved a free sub div modeler called Wings3d. Its a VERY powerfull sub div modeller, and still is. You can export to many known formats. So next time Im at the CNC I will bring with me a 3d model, exported to the right format, so that the cnc operator can import it to his software, to test out 3d cnc'ing. How accurate it will be, we'll see But musky/pike baits arent exactly computer parts.. It can obviously not router on the underside, so I guess the lures has to be 2 part, and glued together. But my regular models will still just be cut out on the cnc and I will use a regular router to round of the edges. Ill post updates here when I have them. Michael

I do, but have just made flatsided baits, yet. So I use a CNC instead of a tablesaw. I made the baits in Adobe Illustrator, exported the outline to correct format, and press play on tape, 80 blanks was cut out, a couple of hours later, I rounded them over. I used to be a 3d modeller, and have just recently picked up old programs, and want to try the CNC router in all axis'. Heres a video from a session: Egg Solution: An evening in the woodshop... Michael

I caught my personal best pike on a homemade this spring: Picasa Web Albums - Michael - Fish of 09 My first 50"er The bait in action is now retired and framed, made a new one in the same colors, for usage.. Michael

Here in Europe, many have had this problem. And someone got an answer from etex, and they said that they had a problem batch. Here, a swedish lurebuilder, introduced his own lureepoxy, which solved the problem for many of us over here. Its very similar to etex. Both etex and this new epoxy, I usually stir for 7-9minutes. I dont use syringes (I used to) but my finish always seemed a little stickier when I did. This was medical syringes and could have had something in them contaminating the mixture. The C&W epoxy also has the weight ratio instruction, and weighing is soo much easier than mixing by volume, IMO. My last etex lures are pretty well hardened now, 3-4 months after they were finished... Michael

Hi When I started to make baits(mainly gliders), many people recomended using Maple, which I also use.. But I was wondering which type of maple do you prefer to use. Black maple, Red Maple, White maple or Sugar maple? I see they have different densities, and probably different charateristics somehow Michael