Vodkaman

Yes, I'd like to see the whole process, not just the rattle.

Sorry LaPala, typing with my boxing gloves on. Maybe we should get back to discussing the lure?

Don't feel too bad about it, Haven't worked it out myself yet. Hopefully, another more knowledgeable member will be able to help us out with an image of the 'prop bait'. Have a nice day!

Steady on Mr Bone! I'm so intellectually challenged, I can't think of an amusing reply. Actually, I am staring out of the window at a pea souper as I write. Hopefully, it will protect us Brits from the 'neukulor' fall out. So, how about a picture of the 'tallywhancker' then?

I top coated a balsa bait last night at room temperature. Because it was originally sealed with epoxy, I was not concerned with the possibility of craters and was anticipating another perfect finish. The chemical reaction heated air inside found a weak spot in my seal coat and burst through just before the epoxy went off. The resulting crater was 8mm dia. An Idea for balsa baits would be to deliberately introduce a fault with a pin, in a convenient place were the damage would be minimised. This could prevent damage by letting the air out sooner in the process, while the epoxy is still fluid. Just an idea I'll be testing this weekend. Does anyone have any feed back on the 'heating' method.

I tried to look the lure up on the web, to get an idea of what you were all talking about, ended up in a bunch of porn sites and got a warning from my boss! If you could be so kind, could you post a picture for us beginners. Many thank's

Mr Kickerfish. I just read the reviews. By all accounts, it is a good entry level camera. No one had anything bad to say about it, so it was a good buy. Your problem is, you want to photograph small objects from close up and the kodak C310 does not have a macro facility. Viewing your gallery pic confirmed this. The closest you are going to be able to take a sharp picture will probably be 1 metre. Check the manual, it should give you this information. If it doesn't then you are going to have to find this majic number. Mark out distant increments, take a snap at each and examine the results. This is not a huge problem as you have four million pixels to play with. You probably received some photo editing software with the camera. Use this to 'crop' the photo to fill the screen. You have to reduce the photo's before you can put them on TU anyway, or they'll shout at you. It's better to take a really sharp photo rather than trying to get the hook manufacturers name. Good luck with it and post another pic of the bait soon, it looks real neat.

We could help more if you told us what make and model camera it is and show us a photo. Their's a ton of photo experts using this site and they all will help you get the best results from your equipment no matter what it is.

Bob. I can only think of two things. 1. you are selecting 'new posts' instead of 'forum' at the top of the page. 2. your default thread cut off is set to one day (my account - edit options - third window from the bottom)

Cheesehead. Point taken. In fact, I did a test after posting, on a piece of raw balsa. I heated it in an empty jar sitting in a pan of boiling water for ten minutes. The jar lid had several holes drilled in it to prevent explosion VERY IMPORTANT. An identical second piece of balsa was coated and closely examined. The air bubbles could be seen comming from the wood, quite violently in fact. The application on the heated lure, although not totally free of bubbles, was much slower. My conclusion is that heat helps. If the lures are placed on a hot radiator or water tank etc the situation will be improved. Regular primers and sealers, I find, do not give adequate protection against the bubble syndrome. I seal all my baits with five minute epoxy, I accept the bubbles and after a suitable curing time, usually 24 hours, I attack with a dremel flap wheel to level the craters. The lure is now ready for artistic application of my half inch brush.

Interesting thoughts and ideas. But, while frowning at the moon crater texture of my lure, I noticed that my mixing lid was totally clear of bubbles. I think that, although CO2 is a product of the chemical reaction, this is dissipated long before the cure. I believe that the heat of the process is causing the air within the wood to expand and force its way out. Try heating the lures in an oven prior to application. It should reduce the volume of bubbles and the heat should allow them to break out easier. I would try it out for you, but my shoe box of an apartment does not have an oven. I would at least do a test before putting a fully painted picasso though this process.

Cheesehead. I acknowledge your tutorial on the glass rattle, Excellent job. I am also aware that some use spent 022 cartridges. I suspect that 'rattle cans' are potentially a very important method for catching fish and apart from an excelent article by Mr Sissons that I read a few weeks ago, I feel that the subject has not been given the air that it deserves. I also suspect that their are a few more construction methods going on out there that other members might like to share. Experience with cans, theories, new ideas, facts. I am hoping that this small contribution might get some knowledge sharing going on.

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If it is a shallow swimming bait, I assume that it is a steep lip angle. The steep angle will give you side to side oscillation or 'waggle'. You could move the eye further back but I doubt that it will solve the problem. I suspect that the lip is too short. Try temporarily gluing a larger lip over the existing one to see the effect, while your at it, try diferent shapes. If it is a square lip, try rounding the leading edge. It would be easier for people to help you if we had a picture of the lure, or, if you don't want to give the game away, a more detailed description of the current lip and eye geometry. Good luck with it and report back your solution, I am very interested.

You could make a simple pulley system yourself, doesn't need to be particularly accurate, at 15rpm it won't need to be balanced. I agree with Bezyb, no time for distribution.

The monthly shed

Me working, after wrestling with another TU thread. http://aolpictures.aol.co.uk/galleries/folicallychalled/1de0uAWn7u0u-R-x0SDQCJxquuo6kqsEvUEBv4xQp5Fd3Ig=/large/

You obviously are a young wipper snapper. I used to tie flies myself many moons ago. In fact, before they landed on the moon. Now I struggle to type this message, my eyes are that bad. My question, Does recording a unique idea on a web site such as TU count for anything? I doubt it. You should tell us specifically what we should do. Their are obviously many people interested. C'mon, spill it!

This thread has been a real education, Thank's to you all.

I've been designing router tables and router jigs during the last year. For anything smaller than a dinner plate they are NASTY.

I think it's mine. I lost it last spring, his name is Erik. Can you please return him.

The package was in Swedish and I dumped it, so maybe Swede can tell us next time he visits the Clas Ohlson store. Best I can do is to describe it. Diameter 1mm. Breaks down into three chords, each chord breaks dow further into about a thousand fibres, too thin to register on my digital vernier. Obviously man made. It unravels too easily, but this is solved by touching the frechly cut end with a flame. I can only hazard a guess at the breaking strain, at least 200Kg. It is extremely strong, very pliable and cheap. Because of its structure, it lends itself to fatigue applications, on the down side, glue tends to flow by capillary action along its length, even thick epoxy will travel 2 - 3mm, so it is important to keep the epoxy away from the joint, which is what led me to the sleeve idea. It holds it well,seals the wood and prevents moisture ingress at the same time. It could be terylene.

I sincerely appologise for my gross over reaction. It is due to the rough ride I got from a few members when I joined TU. When this contract is finished and I can get back to my workshop, amongst the list of things to do, is to build a simple test rig to put this steel/nylon thing to bed. To test how many cycles it will take in our application. But I'll have to start writing down the list on paper, it's well out of hand. As for your joining method, pity you don't want to share it, but I respect that. Yes, my original statement about sharing was a bold one. Not sure I could really live upto it if I came up with something really big.

Doomdart. Yes, it is possible to use sevenstrand, however I found it to be more restrictive in movement than a plastic chord type material. Also, I have read threads in the past, discussing the merits of stranded wire for hinges and it was generally agreed that fatigue was a problem. Four hours fishing will apply approximately 200,000 bending operations on the joint, ok, the bend angle is small, but I wouldn't put my life on it after twenty trips to the pond. As for chemical rection with plastics, unfortunately, my tube is written in Swedish, but I did do a web search, couldn't come up with anything negative. The point of the original thread was how to hinge the two lure segments together, keeping a minimal gap. I found your advice of 'use your imagination' unhelpful at the very least. But the point that I really don't get, is the personalised comment at the start of your thread reply.

I had a grinding wheel explode on me while grinding a chunk of stainless. The forman went bananas. I didn't realise at the time that ss severely work hardens. Not sure, but it might work if you anneal it often, as you go. Not sure of the process, it was a long time ago.