[articwolf]

what would be the best wood to make a crankbait out of ive seen where some people use pine but ive talked to others who beleive something harder like oak or hickory would be best

[out2llunge]

It really depends on what you want the lure to do. Softer woods like pine, cedar, basswood, etc. have faster actions and higher buoyancy's. denser woods like maple, oak, ash, hickory, etc. have slower actions and are more (yet not) neutrally buoyant.

It also depends on what you're fishing for, muskie and pike would destroy balsa baits, but some hardwoods might not be appropriate for smaller panfish.

Think of your application, target species and method of use before you decide on a type of wood.

Cheers,

o2l

[Skeeter]

If you want to use hardwood I would suggest pine, poplar, or cedar. Balsa would probably be what I would at least start with. It is very easy to work with. It is also very forgiving when learning to weight the bait. Hardwoods have a lesser + - tollerance for weighting. After you get down how to make the bait then I would try the hardwood if you want to. I made crankbaits out of poplar for years. It worked well. You can go to Lowes and they have a section where the wood is cut in 2ft. lenghts and is 1/2 inch thick that is already squared and planed. Trace your lure, cut it out and do your thing. It is cheap too.
Skeeter

[Soupysayso]

I started with some of red's composite planks until I got the hang of carving, sanding, using my dremel features correctly, using a caliper for symmetry, weighing, etc. Then I went to basswood because I found it to be similarly easy to work with. I've only been doing this for about a year now, mostly winter months. My first 5-10 baits didn't work out the way I planned and I broke many more trying to get them just so. The most difficult part for me was devising internal hardware such as ballast and hook hangers because my baits were very thin. I tried to make my first wood bait exactly like one I could look at that was clear plastic to save time on hook placement, weight, etc. For me at least, this made some of the learning process go faster as I could go through all of the steps before I messed around with a customized bait and all the field testing that goes with it. I'm certainly not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but my frustrations can be your gains and the best advice I could give is to start extremely simple and gradually work your way to more difficult styles and harder woods. Just a guess, but symmetry may be your first challenge as it was for me and you might not want a "hard" wood to start with, for just that reason; as each bait has a mind of its own that require very delicate modifications. You may read posts about a "duplik8tr" that may interest you later. Once you get a prototype set up from any kind of wood, you can produce many more from a wood type of your choosing.