T-Bone

Custom Tallywhacker blades made from 5052 .064 aluminum. easy to bend but they hold their shape very well . two styles , one solid and the other with 2- 3/8 holes for a more subtle but distinctive plop. .70 apiece

Thanks for all the info, I do beleive it's a seepage issue but i like others opinion, I just hate when these cracked baits come back to me. and I feel like a frick'in door knob when i can't explain for sure what happened except for to say "yep it's cracked"

Thanks for the replies, although I am not real fond of the epoxied over eyes look that may be a solution. I was thinking it may have had something to do with the wood or pp. If wet wood is the issue ,what is the ideal moisture content of wood and are there any tips on getting/keeping the wood dry? Palmetto Bass- I do like the pp for sealing but for a topcoat I have problems with hazing and find it difficult to get the humidity down in the garage.

I have had a few issues this year with topcoats cracking and the only thing that I can think of is that moisture is seeping in thru a screw eye, The blanks are mahogany sealed with propionate,painted with Createx and topped off with 5 coats of E-tex The screw eyes are epoxied in after the topcoat is dry. Whats your opinion?

WOW thats some fantastic artwork. Was all of the paint brushed? Very nice!

Minwax 2 part wood filler has worked well for me so far. I started using it this year to fill in ballast holes on some topwaters prototypes and it has held up well.

Just an idea, and maybe someone out there has tried it, what about soaking or applying liberal amounts of thinned out etex to the blank?

So far so good, I made one prop bait from the Fir and it functions well, and seems like it could take a lickin, hopefully we'll find out in about 3 months

I do the same as BEZYB with the oiled filled heater and also have the dehumidifer turned on, most of the time I can stop turning in 2 hours and recoat in 8 hours. I have not tried Devcon for the mere fact that I am used to Etex.

I have sealed it with thinned Etex and will probably paint this weekend. I'll keep you informed, thanks for the info.

Thanks Mark. I was going to attempt to make a prop bait or two with the fir. We'll see how things go.

Hi-- I have some Fir that I would like to use for topwaters. Anyone have any experience using this. It seems to turn ok on the lathe . Thanks for any info you can share. T

Hi my name is Tom, but my friends (yes I pay them) call me T-Bone. I live west of the Twin Cities just minutes away from beautiful Lk. Minnetonka. I have been married for 17 years and have one daughter. I have been making lures for 3 years and love it. I create top water muskie baits that have performed well for me and others. I have sold a few in local bait shops but more than anything I enjoy donating them to benefits/silent auctions . I was fortunate enough to be employed by a millwork company who allowed me to purchase their blemished material for next to nothing so my costs are low. Yes I am more of a taker than a giver on TU, and I have recieved some awesome advice, Thank you TU!!

As for glow paint I found some acrylic glow at the local Michaels store. It mixes well with other colors and retains its glow pretty well.

I started out with what looks to be the same motor as Keram and it worked well for the first year and then burned up. I do tend to load my wheel up with lures so I'm sure that was a factor. At 1 rpm I also just put light coats of e-tex and that worked well. Keram I like your wheel also, it's kind of what I had in mind but on a little larger scale. How are you securing the lures between the plates?

I make Muskie baits up to 6oz and 8" long. Right now I am making 3 differant style topwaters and I am starting to putz with cranks and gliders. My current setup is powered with a rotesserie motor but I recieved a couple of HD motors from a friend and they should work better and last longer.

Hi--- I know this is an oldie, but I'm not having much luck searching the TU archives. I am looking to construct a new drying wheel and am looking for some new ideas, pics. I currently have a vertical turn with a capacity of 20 lures. i am considering going w/ a horizontal turn, bench top style. Ideas, pics, pros and cons of differant styles are appreciated. Thanks in advance for any input.

Being a newbie I had a hard time measuring etex resin and hardner equally in seperate cups and I always had resin left over in my bottle and my hardner bottle would be empty so---I started measuring with a digital food scale, I pour 40 grams of hardner and 40 grams of resin, no mixing using 3 cups etc. seems to work pretty slick, no waste and I get a great finish every time.

I don't know about any one else but I'm not offended in the least.

Hi Vodka, So what type of bait is that?

Wow, this threads really going down. My wife and I were in the Mall of America a few weeks ago and I was telling her about my new Tallywhacker bait that I'm trying to perfect and the next thing you know I'm getting cuffed and stuffed by mall security,now I have to wear a funny collar on my ankle, I can't go within 1 mile of any schools and I have to give a DNA sample. I just don't get it!

sorry Vodkaman, i don't have the knowledge to post a picture. I do prefer to call that style of lure a prop bait, just sounds better.

Up here in the northland, a TALLYWHACKER is a segmented lure with a prop blade on one or both segments that spins and creates a commotion in the water as it is retrieved. Now I know you southern boys and British are known to come up a little on the short side in certain areas but I didn't think it was intellectually also. JK:lol: