bathtubbaits38 Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I am fairly new to making swimbaits. The only ones that I have done is with basswood, which is strong enough that I can use screw eyes for hangers and joints. The only promblem is that I dont like how heavy the bait has to be in order for it to sink. Does anyone know the strongest way, if any, to do a through wire on a balsa swimbait? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I am fairly new to making swimbaits. The only ones that I have done is with basswood, which is strong enough that I can use screw eyes for hangers and joints. The only promblem is that I dont like how heavy the bait has to be in order for it to sink. Does anyone know the strongest way, if any, to do a through wire on a balsa swimbait? Thanks The only way I can envision doing a true thru-wire in a segmented balsa bait is to run stainless wire from the nose to the tail with the joints formed into interlocking hand wound eyes. It would be a royal pain to get proper spacing for the joint eyes, but not impossible. In reality, I'd opt for a lighter wood like cedar or paulownia. Or I would do it in balsa but use hand wound screw eye joints (they have much greater glue area) glued with epoxy into a split bait segments. A continuous epoxy backbone strengthens a balsa bait considerably. Enough that a bass will never tear one apart. Now, if you're talking musky baits, that's a different kettle of fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I am fairly new to making swimbaits. The only ones that I have done is with basswood, which is strong enough that I can use screw eyes for hangers and joints. The only promblem is that I dont like how heavy the bait has to be in order for it to sink. Does anyone know the strongest way, if any, to do a through wire on a balsa swimbait? You actually don't have a problem and you can stay with the heavier wood. If you build a balsa lure and a heavy oak lure, both identical in shape etc. Ballast them both until they are neutral buoyancy with lead. If you weigh them, they will be exactly the same weight as each other. If you add an extra half ounce to each of them, they will both sink at the same rate. It is all to do with Archimedes principal, which states states : Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. I could discuss this further, but some members will become irritated and we don't want that. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bathtubbaits38 Posted April 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 The only way I can envision doing a true thru-wire in a segmented balsa bait is to run stainless wire from the nose to the tail with the joints formed into interlocking hand wound eyes. It would be a royal pain to get proper spacing for the joint eyes, but not impossible. In reality, I'd opt for a lighter wood like cedar or paulownia. Or I would do it in balsa but use hand wound screw eye joints (they have much greater glue area) glued with epoxy into a split bait segments. A continuous epoxy backbone strengthens a balsa bait considerably. Enough that a bass will never tear one apart. Now, if you're talking musky baits, that's a different kettle of fish. I tried doing this and it did take a while, especially because the swimbait was a total length of about 2.5 inches so I didnt have very much room to play with, but it did work. Then i carved the exact same body and cut it in half and just carved out the whole inside of the body and filled it with epoxy, and then placed the screw eyes in it and it feels really solid. Thanks i didnt realize how strong that could be until i finished it and started pulling on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangerboats1 Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Nice use of wiki Dave. its true though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahawai Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 i've done something similiar to this on balsa swimbaits. a bit finicky for smaller lures though. http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~f-sense/build2.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhopkins Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 here you go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
