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Carved Bills

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I have been wondering for a while if it would be practical for small bill shallow diver to carve the bill with the blank.  I am sure it would be hard to get the grain right so it wouldn't break off, but with a little planning it might be ok.  I was thinking that maybe a thru wire construction and epoxy soaked into the grain you could get away with it. 

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Even if you made it out of oak or something harder it wouldnt last long. First cast into a dock or rock i think the lip would likely break. Not to mention it would be a pia to make. Plus what would the advantage be besides being able to paint it? But then the finish on the lip wouldnt last long. It would look cool if you left the wood grain showing and put it on a mantle! Just my thoughts...

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The advantage is I could throw a piece of wood on the little CNC router and crank out (pun intended) a batch of hardwood baits that are ready for paint and hardware.  Or with less machine time, light sanding, paint, and hardware.  Of course slotting them for a bill would be nearly as easy, but you still have to cut and fit the bill then.  

Edited by Bob La Londe
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I'm not sure it's practical.  The bill takes a lot of abuse and unless you completely permeated it with some kind of resin to make it completely waterproof, the crank would be destroyed as soon as the finish on the bill wore off.  And I don't think you'd want the entire crank body filled with resin due to buoyancy concerns, so that would put you in a quandary about how to do just the bill and not the body. 

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Here is one of my current builds.

 

Cedar body sealed with e-tex.  Notched Lexan lip sandwiched in slot with West System epoxy.  Screw eyes anchored in maple dowels.  Dowels glued in with WS as well. 

 

 

s56

I've done similar before , but used a narrow strip of 1,0 mm stainless steel sheet instead :

 

http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/7810-latest-handcarved-lures/

 

Greetz , diemai :yay:

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As described , I actually set in that stainless steel strip to act like some kinda "bumper" , ......hard to be seen on the picture , but it also protrudes to either side of the lure for about 1/10" , ends fully rounded .

 

Greetz , diemai :yay:

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Ah, heck.  I figured I would design it from Scratch in CAD.  Thanks for the encouragement Mark.  I figured to use the Flat A and the Storm Thin Fin as inspiration, but design it with a long fillet / brace structure behind the bill.  

 

I was thinking marine epoxy, but I'll look into Solarez.  

 

What do you think would be a stable wood?  I was thinking of using poplar for the first test tries since its the cheapest hardwood I can get ahold of locally, but oak is available as well.  

 

Or were you think stabilized by being kiln dried?  

Edited by Bob La Londe
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I would definitely use kiln dried lumber.  It will be much more stable, and have less moisture that can be affected by changing temperatures and which causes wood to expand when it gets hot.

Oily woods, like teak or mahogany, are also more stable, but they are heavy, and the oils in them present another set of issues when it comes to sealing and finishing.

You're kind of on the horns of a dilemma.  The best finish for an expansive material is a decoupage epoxy, which is designed to move with the large wood surfaces it is used on, but a wooden bill needs a hard finish to protect it.

If I were going to try it,  I'd use kiln dried pine, because it's available and cheap, but strong enough for a crank lure.  I'd scan a known bait and copy it a few times.  

I'd pick a lure that has a thicker bill, preferably one with a reinforcing ridge on the back side, and then experiment with different sealing and finishing systems to see what will work, before I put in the time and effort to design my own.  

If I did all that work and then it failed, it would really piss me off, and I'd mostly be mad at myself! 

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My first crankbaits all had wooden bills.I used redwood to build them.

The two shallow divers in the picture are one solid piece of wood the deep divers are two.

I used CS coatings vinyl lure and jig finish on them.The paint wore off the bills of the deep divers pretty

fast but the shallow divers held up well. You should give it a try,with a epoxy top coat the shallow divers should last forever.The lure without a bill spent the summer on the bottom of the lake.

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