Cutting out the Reef Hawg mouth

[justwannafish]

Does anybody know a good way to cut out the mouth on a Reef Hawg? It looks like it should be as simple as cutting a slot with a table saw before I shape it and filling in the "mouth" once I have the shape but I haven't tried. I think I would have trouble with symmetry if I try to freehand it after it's been shaped. Right now I'm at my desk thinking about it and hoped to hear someone had some success they could share. If not I'll just wing it and see what happens. I'll probably learn more that way anyway.

I searched the forum and surprisingly didn't find anything about reef hawgs.

Dave

[diemai]

@ justwannafish

Years ago I tried my hand on one "Reef Hawg" knock-off , just because I was curious about how to do that mouth and how the lure would act !

Well , I have a wood lathe and a small hobby routing machine with a crosswise moving table and a machine vise on it .

That machine is quite inaccurate in its measurement and angles settings , so what I did is to fix the readily shaped blank in that vise(had to use wooden wedges due to the body taper for firm sit) with its head pointing slightly upward to make up for the angle of the mouth cut-out in reference of the length axis of lure(vieved from the side of lure) .

The vise edges and the lure were in set in alignment(parallel) to the routers table .

Since the mouth cut-out of the "Reef Hawg" is somewhat "V"-shaped as well(viewed from top or belly) , I had to unscrew the vise with the lure in it and set it at a certain angle in reference to the axis of the routing machines table .

I have used an angle gauge , refering it to the edge of the table and the base edge of the vise .

After now fixing the vise again onto the machines table I utilized a special disc router bit , that can cut slots approx. 1/5" X 3/5" deep , and cut the mouth on one side of the lure , bit by bit , refering to marked pencil lines at center and circumferrence of lure .

A sawblade on a shaft fixed in the chuck would certainly do as well , but requires multiple passes always placed a little lower , since it's too thin to cut out the entire height of the groove at once .

After I was done with one side , I losened the vise again from the table and swung it to the opposite direction , using the angle gauge again to set it correctly .

Off course the workpiece must NOT be moved from its sit in the vise , nor the depth setting of the router bit must NOT be altered !

Now I could cut the other side of the mouth slot in the same manner as the first one .

It was an interesting challenge for me , but still kinda PITA:huh: .

I guess with only handtools , you could not go as accurate at all , its even difficult to clamb the tapered blank for saw cuts without causing blemishes in the wood .

I think , a freehanded "Dremel" with cutting discs , saw blade and routers would be the only second option(plus files , sandpaper and stuff) , but requires extremly accurate pencil marking and cutting , also high grade eyeballing .

good luck:yay: , diemai

PS: hope , my stats are a bit understandable , since I lack approbiate knowledge in technical English:( !

[hazmail]

I think you done pretty well there Diemai, you would not want to see my 'pidgeon' German explanation.

I just googled up a 'reef hog', as I had no idea what it was. I think if I were making one I would, before even starting to shape the lure, when your blank is 'SQUARE' - As Diemai done, place it in a machine vise and clamp it to the bed of a drop saw (marking the angles), set the saw height and run a saw cut through, flip it over (reverse angles) and do another cut. If you want to do multiples, I would be setting everything up with angles and depth etc, and make a jig to hold each blank at the correct angles, you should be able to bang them out by the 100's, after spending a bit of time on a jig. It is obvious this is how the original is cut, with either a saw, or router pass. Good luck and keep us informed.pete

[fatfingers]

I actually bought a radial arm saw at a garage sale just for that cut on that particular style bait.

That was 2 years ago...haven't touched the saw or tried the bait.

But I like your concept Pete. That's pretty much what I had in mind.

[diemai]

@ hazmail

Certainly with any kind of jigs working processes like that become easier , faster and more accurate , no doubt about it .

I don't use them a lot , since any kind of mass production is too boring to me , have enough of that at my work:huh: !

I just always like to try out and design new and different lures , that's what excites me most about it , so I have never bothered about making a lot of jigs .

greetz , diemai

[mark poulson]

I agree with Pete. The only way to do this accurately is to cut the slot while the blank is rectangular.

You can make a "sled" for doing it on a table saw by taking a piece of 1/2" plywood that's large enough to cover both mitre gauge slots at the same time and twice as deep as the lure body blank, and mounting two wood runners on it's underside to follow the mitre gauge slots.

Then raise the blade, set in a vertical position, up slowly to cut a center slot, and then glue guide blocks on either side of the blade slot, angled like you want the groove in the bait, with a stop at the ends to keep the lure blank positioned. The two block should be mirror images of each other.

Then you can hold the blank safely by hand, and advance the blank from each side into the blade until the slot is what you want. You can raise or lower the blade to elongate the slot. You can clap a stop block onto the saw table from the back side to limit the travel of the sled, and make the cuts identical from each side.

Wax the sled with parafin to make it slide easily, and err on the side of too big with the plywood, not too small. A deeper piece of plywood leaves more wood in front of the saw slot(the side between you and the blade) which will keep the sled rigid and not wanting to pinch when you slide it.

I try to make mine at least as deep as it is wide, or deeper, if the piece I'm cutting is longer. If you mount a 1X4 vertically at the leading and trailing edges of the sled it will lend some more rigidity and let you make your saw sled not as deep. It also allows you to make the saw slot the length of the sled, if you want, so you can use the sled for other stuff, like miters, or as a cutoff saw.

A table saw used this way is much safer than a radial arm saw.

Edited January 16, 2009 by mark poulson

[justwannafish]

deimai

Your English was perfect. Unfortunately, I don't have a reliable router and table to use. I believe I can fix my dremel to my bench and use a similar method to your router method. Or possibly use the table saw idea Mark mentioned.

Pete

You're probably right about using a jig to mass produce these but I only make one or two of anything so that would make creating a jig not very practical.

Thanks to all for the help. I will give this a whirl when I get back into the shop. I had a rough idea that I would have to do something similar to what was described but I just wasn't sure. It helps when someone else suggests the same thing.

Santa Claus brought a new band saw and disk/belt sander. I promised Santa I wouldn't use them until a couple other projects are done around the house, though. I should be able to get started next week.

[mark poulson]

Santa Claus brought a new band saw and disk/belt sander. I promised Santa I wouldn't use them until a couple other projects are done around the house, though. I should be able to get started next week.

Ha, ha, ha. The old carrot and stick!

[hazmail]

diamai- I agree, jigs are really time consuming, and if you will only ever build a couple of lures of a certain shape etc, it is a waste of time. I have a heap of jigs for all the mundane steps in lure making though, these can generally be used on most of the limited shapes I make.

There is something about jigs though (for me), it is a real challenge, to repeat something exactly. I have been working nights for the past week, trying to make a tool to bend wire hinges, it's been a bit frustrating at times but I think I am just about there - placing them in a lure and having them 'swing' freely is the next challenge as they are small (1 per joint @ 2.7mm thick) very rigid, have very little end play, so they will probably squeak like a garden gate!!. Now three is an idea who needs rattles? pete

Edited January 16, 2009 by hazmail

[diemai]

@ hazmail

I really don't like spending time on making jigs , but I remember many years ago I have made just a handful of knock-offs of an obviously short-lived "Mann's" lure named "Dancer" .

It is a vibrating lure with a leadweight on on it's nose(but unlike a "Cicada" the blade sits crosswise the retrieve direction) , so I cut out a jig , in fact a mold , from solid aluminium , that would accomodate the sheer blade firmly and same time I could cast the lead weight onto it , held by two holes through the blade filled up with lead , too .

I used three days or so for that jig alone , only made maybe eight lures , by now lost all but two or three and haven't caught a single fish on them , maybe except one little perch , mut have been during the mid 90's !

But if I can't avoid it and no other chance , I would make jigs , no way , lol:lol: !

good luck with your hinges:yay: , diemai