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What wire to use for hinges?

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I use .029" Malin 180 lb Hard Wire stainless steel leader wire. A roll of it is fairly cheap and does a BUNCH of hinges and hangers. Any stainless wire will do as long as you can work it with the tools you have. I use double eye screws formed one inside the other for hinges and haven't tried the eye/pin technique. It just seems more fussy to get right and since I'm doing it from wood, more prone to water infliltration.

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Bob,

I switched from double eye screws to hinge pins because I can remove the pins to do service to the lures if I need to. I bend the top of the pin over with 1/4" flag that I push down tight to the back of the lure. A drop of thick crazy glue holds it just fine, but makes it removable if need be. The pins fit so tightly in their holes that I don't worry about water infiltration, but, just in case, I put a drop of the runny crazy glue into the hinge holes before final assembly, and then re drill them with the same wire the pins are made from.

Thanks to all the advice I've gotten from this site, I now cut the hinge joints almost thru (so I can shape it while it's still one piece), drill for the hinge recesses, through drill for the eye location, and drill for the pins while the blank is still rectangular. Makes it sooooo much easier.

And coating the joints with D2T before I clear coat the rest of the lure with Etex so far seems to be the way to go. Really easy that way. No incompatiblility problems so far. I'm going to fish a few I did like that this Saturday, so that's the acid test.

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Stainless leader wire - I pick it up from sporting goods or hardware stores that stock saltwater stuff. Malin Hard-Wire leader comes in a plastic 8"x8" blue and red envelope. I use the coffee colored #12 180 lb test .029" dia wire because it's small enough to bend easily but strong enough for any bait. The coffee color makes a nice "stealth" hook hanger or hinge but it also comes in bright silver. I got my last envelope at Ames hardware, 42' of wire for $2.89. American Fishing Wire makes a similar product. Malin makes a wide variety of wire products. I use their soft stainless steel or soft brass wire for line ties, ordered from McMaster-Carr

Mark - Thanks for the rundown on pin hinge construction. Maybe I'll try it next time!

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I've experimented with a few types to see what works best for me and what I like the most. I've tried screw eyes, SS wire (like the others mentioned) and cotter pins. Right now the cotter pins seem to have a slight edge over the others mainly because it's already formed and I can just plop them in.

Jrhopkins seems to do quite well with his kevlar string, so with my next lure I will give braid a try. I picked up a spool of 200# PowerPro :)

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