surfk9 Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Gentleman..have a question about balsa bodies...i've made my own bodies (pine, basswood,redwood,poplar & oak) but am considering purchasing pre-shaped balsa bodies.....can i use screw eyes or do I need to split them in half and thru wire them...seems like it would be kind of sketchy cutting a pre shaped body in half ...any suggestions???Thanks surfk9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 I have epoxied eye screws straight into balsa and they have held up just fine on fish in the 2-3lb class..you'd be surprized how strong balsa/epoxy can be....Now would I trust that on a fish of a life time,probably not. I have no Idea how big these baits are you've bought and trying to split a pre-shaped bait down the middle could prove to be difficult..You may want to try counter sinking and epoxing a small piece of a hard wood dowle in your baits then screw your eye screws into the dowles..that will give you more than enough holding power..Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 twist your own screw eyes from ss wire and pre drill the holes just slightly larger than screw eye. Use a good epoxy and it will hold, I've built a couple thousand baits this way without a failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfk9 Posted April 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Thanks for the replies.....the bodies (which i've yet to purchase) are approximately 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 inches in a bluegill shape. Believe I'll have a go at both methods..see which works to my satisfaction...thanks again, surfk9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Like Benton, I twist my own screw eyes. In pre-shaped balsa bodies, I make them long to get extra glue surface, poke epoxy in the holes, plus butter the screws with epoxy. That's plenty strong for bass baits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 If you're going to epoxy in twist wires, you can make the wood around the hole stronger, once it's drilled, by dripping some crazy glue in and letting it set up. Balsa sucks up crazy glue, and the fibers around the hole will be stronger, for a good bond with the epoxy when you set your hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
