JawjaBoy Posted October 2, 2017 Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 How y'all are? Figured I would post a hello here since hard baits are my area of interest and what brought me here to begin with. I started making my own lures as a teenager some 30 years ago by sawing and sanding pieces of broomstick into poppers. I eventually graduated to hand carving poppers, torpedoes, darters and spooks from cedar limbs out of my yard. I painted them by dipping them in a base color and using rattle cans for the top colors. I did receive a Paasche H airbrush as a gift and used it a bit with enamel paints, but while it produced great results the cleaning was a pain. Then marriage, work, and other interests took most of my lure making time away and I only cranked out a couple of lures a year, mostly as gifts for friends. Now I've decided to get back into lure making with an eye towards producing better lures in general and possibly making enough to sell at local festivals and craft markets. Not as a full time business, but maybe enough to help support my hobby! I've been lurking around and the amount of info here is staggering! My poor lures look positively primitive compared to many I've seen here! And seeing how involved the process of sealing/painting/clearcoating can be makes me wonder how my lures ever lasted for a single fishing trip. I'll definitely be doing some more research on paints and procedures, but I'm leaning hard towards using Minwax Wood Hardener to seal and I'm looking hard at KBS for the topcoat. For the bodies I'm going to start with my old faithful homegrown cedar. I've got a good stack that's been drying under my shed for years and just found a 36+ inch standing dead cedar tree on the backside of my property. If I can turn lures from my cedar without too much tearout, I'll have to drop that big boy and bring it home! So, thank y'all for having me! I'll do my best not to ask too many redundant or annoying questions and hopefully I'll be able to add something useful once in a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted October 2, 2017 Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 Welcome and ask away. Everything I know about lure making I learned here on TU, from members who shared with me. It's only fair to repay them by sharing, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW Lures Posted October 2, 2017 Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 Ditto to what Mark has said. Welcome. Reading your post seem that I was writing your post except for that 30 years. I was a tab bit further back in time. We didn't have a lot so we made ours to fish local ponds. This has started another hobby for me lately. I'm collecting "folk art lures" with some quality. I guess those days of my childhood has made me start that collecting and this hobby now. Ask away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawjaBoy Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 Figured I'd post a pic of some of the lures I've turned out over the years. Nothing fancy. All hand carved and sanded, and painted with either a rattle can or well thinned enamel in my airbrush. Except for the Spook copy in the middle which was just dipped. The little moss green torpedo type lure at middle left is the oldest. It was actually one of the first lures I made. No wood sealer or topcoat and yet it's still in good condition and still catches fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawjaBoy Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 5 hours ago, SW Lures said: Ditto to what Mark has said. Welcome. Reading your post seem that I was writing your post except for that 30 years. I was a tab bit further back in time. We didn't have a lot so we made ours to fish local ponds. This has started another hobby for me lately. I'm collecting "folk art lures" with some quality. I guess those days of my childhood has made me start that collecting and this hobby now. Ask away! 11 hours ago, mark poulson said: Welcome and ask away. Everything I know about lure making I learned here on TU, from members who shared with me. It's only fair to repay them by sharing, too. Thank y'all both! Right now I'm just digging around and constantly uncovering new information about rigging, paints, clearcoats, etc. Things have definitely changed since I was last REALLY serious about lure making which was about 20-25 years ago. What with living in a VERY rural area and not having the internet like today, components and information in general were HARD to come by. Jann's Netcraft was the only place I came across for components back then and I believe it was because of an ad in either Field and Stream or Georgia Sportsman. Lawd a' mercy, how times has a changed!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basscatlildave Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 Welcome. By the way your baits look awesome and not primitive to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglinarcher Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 I will join the crowd here, Welcome to the addiction. Some of the worlds best are on this site and they have taught a lot about their craft. To add to the encyclopedia of knowledge available, hover over the word ACTIVITY at the top right. You will see SEARCH come up at the bottom of the list. Click on that and type in your search string and hold on, the world is at your finger tips. Our site owner, Lurepartsonline.com, has some awesome parts for the lure builder as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saugerman Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 Welcome to the forum. There's a great bunch of guys on this site. They are very willing to share information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawjaBoy Posted October 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 12 hours ago, basscatlildave said: Welcome. By the way your baits look awesome and not primitive to me. Thank you! And I appreciate that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawjaBoy Posted October 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 12 hours ago, Anglinarcher said: I will join the crowd here, Welcome to the addiction. Some of the worlds best are on this site and they have taught a lot about their craft. To add to the encyclopedia of knowledge available, hover over the word ACTIVITY at the top right. You will see SEARCH come up at the bottom of the list. Click on that and type in your search string and hold on, the world is at your finger tips. Our site owner, Lurepartsonline.com, has some awesome parts for the lure builder as well. Thank you! Yes, the "Search" function is not as easy to locate on this board as on others! And yes. Lurepartsonline and Stamina before that have been my go-to parts stop for many years now. I do find it helpful to have other catalogs handy as not everyone stocks the same parts or in all sizes. But I'm definitely grateful to Lurepartsonline for this site! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawjaBoy Posted October 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 11 hours ago, Saugerman said: Welcome to the forum. There's a great bunch of guys on this site. They are very willing to share information. I know, and that is so great! I've dealt with some forums and sites where folks treated knowledge like it was classified, top secret, I'd-tell-you-but-then-I'd-have-to-kill-you information!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saugerman Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 I know what you mean, I have done the same. They sometimes act like they don't want you to be able to learn what they know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW Lures Posted October 5, 2017 Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 So many here helped me to understand about wooden lures and how to build them. It's only fitting that I pass on what I have found that works for me. I don't get on every day anymore, but I get on as much as I have time to, always willing to help. My best advice is to be open minded! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitaker201 Posted October 5, 2017 Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 Welcome. The lures you posted looked great. I didn't know LPO was the site owner. I just received my order from them 2 days ago. Learn something new everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawjaBoy Posted October 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 Thank y'all! I'm quickly finding out that, while I've had success with the lures I've made, I've got a lot to learn just yet! Especially when it comes to finishing and weighting. I'm fairly certain now that the few diving lures I attempted in the past didn't work due to improper weighting. Definitely gonna look into trying some more divers in the future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly voodoo Posted October 6, 2017 Report Share Posted October 6, 2017 Welcome new here myself Still perfecting my hard baits as well but have some knowledge. I have made a lot of lipless wooden baits all designed to dive. I screwed up lots to figuring things out. Weighting is huge but body shape and paying attention to how water resists makes them move. It's crazy the different actions you can get from slight adjustments PS your baits look good and if they catch fish that's the main thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
