Trace the pattern onto a piece of cardboard
and use this as your template for tracing onto
your wood block. Use a piece of wood that's
clean, free of knots and for this lure you'll
need it to be 5/8" thick. Lay your template
onto the wood and trace your lure shape.
The Craft
Now this is where
it starts to get tricky, depending on your
woodworking skills.
If you own or have access
to a scroll saw (about $100 in store), it'll
make this job much easier, if not, the good old
fashioned coping saw (about $10) always worked
for me.
Note: Always wear safety
glasses when working wood.
If
you're using a coping saw, place your wood block
in a vice in a way that you're most comfortable
with. If you don't have a vice use a
clamp.
Now you want to make sure that you cut
as evenly as possible and try to stay just on
the outside of your line.
After your shape is
cut, check to make sure that it's even on both
sides (especially if you cut by hand).
Wood
is cheap and if you're not satisfied write it
off as practice and try again.
So far you've
warmed up your wood working skills. If you've
never done this before then you've just
experienced what it must have been like for the
first MAN on earth who wanted to fool a fish
into eating his hand made decoy, just as you're
doing now. The wonderful feeling he had when he
succeeded you'll soon experience also!
You must also cut the slot for the
"lip" to slide into. This should be
done before any carving so that the lure can lay
flat on it's side if you're using the scroll saw
or it will sit level in a vice if you use the
coping saw. Either way you MUST be sure that the
slot is perfectly perpendicular to the lure
body. The slot in the pattern included shows the
slot with 3/32" thickness. I have found
this ideal for the our lure body. You can adjust
the thickness to suit the plastic you may have
available, however I would not go any thinner
than
1/8".
See "Attaching Lip" for
details.
Your lure
should look just like this:
Your next step is going to help
you know where the center is at all times while
you carve.
Using a ruler mark the center
along the top and bottom of you're lure shape
and draw a line that runs the distance from end
to end on bottom and top.
Draw another line
that runs down the same axis midway between your
centerline and the edge on both the top and
bottom. Use your middle finger as a chock to
guide your line.
Now you should have 4
equally spaced sections on the top and bottom of
your shape.
Again using your middle finger as
a chock, run a line equal in width to your
sections along the curved edge on both sides of
your shape.
Your lure should look just like
this:
The side view should look
like
this:
The bottom should look like
this:
Now you'll need a carving
knife and I don't mean the one that grandma used
to carve the turkey.
There are plenty of good
carving knives you can buy in a wood working
store and I use them exclusively. They're great
for the job and you can even carve details into
your lure for a more realistic looking 3D effect
(I think this impresses your friends more than
the fish).
However all you really need to get
the job done is a box cutting razor or something
similar as long as it has a sharp
blade.
Note: Most accidents are
caused by a blade that's not sharp enough or
trying to take off too much wood in one
pass.
Now it's
time to start carving so put your safety
glasses on!
First, get a good grip on the
lure with one end on the table you're going to
work on.
Carefully and
slowly begin to carve out all your
edges using the lines you made as a
guide.
Don't try to take it all out in one
pass, as it is important not to go beyond the
lines.
Obviously the general idea here is to
carve the wood in the shape of a fish. However,
there are also some design specifications that
have to be maintained in order to attain the
action that the lure is intended to have.
One
of these variables that affect the action is the
shape.
I've done a lot of experimenting with
lure shapes over the years and have found that
sometimes even a small divergence from the
intended design will change the action
dramatically.
So try and stick to the pattern
and you should be just fine.
Once you've
carved out the edges satisfactorily, it's time
to taper the sides.
The idea here is to carve
a shape that gradually tapers back to a
3/16".
Stand the lure on the tail side
and from almost 1/2 way up the lure, make one
pass with the knife removing wood diagonally.
Make another pass starting from about 1/4 of the
way up
the lure. Your final cut should meet
your top guideline.
Repeat this process for
the opposite side.
Now from the top and
bottom view you can see how you've done. Have
you taken equal amounts off both sides? The left
and right side should be a mirror of one
another.
You can go ahead and carefully touch
it up so they're smooth and even.
Now let's
move on to the head of the lure. Again stand the
lure on the end we're going to carve and hold
securely. Remember to always carve away from
your fingers, trust me this won't be much fun
anymore if you hurt yourself.
Basically you
want to bring the nose to a taper like you did
with the tail only this time you'll begin from
about 1/4 of the way up the side of the lure.
Make a smooth taper towards the nose until the
carve meets with the top guideline.
Your lure should look just like
this:
Continue to remove edge
tapering and narrowing the overall body.
It
is important to the balance of the lure that you
remove equal weight on both sides so whatever
you remove on one side try to mirror it on the
other.
You should end up with a relatively
smooth oval shape that gradually tapers from end
to end leaving a flat circular surface on both
ends for which to screw into later.
You should end
up with a shape that looks like
this:
Now it's time to sand your
lure. Alwayssand in the direction of the
grain.
You'll begin with coarse paper, around
100 grit and work your way to 400 grit paper
until you have a very smooth surface.
Using
the 100 grit paper, begin by smoothing any
imperfections on the surface. This stage of the
sanding also helps to shape the lure so make
sure you have an oval shaped lure where the
right half is a mirror of the left.
Use a
200-grit paper to remove scratches and the
400-grit paper to give it a smooth-as-glass
feel.
Attaching Lip
You can use various
plastics but I have found that the clearest and
most durable is a product from Dupont called
Lexan. This or other "plexiglass"
products can be bought at any home improvement
store at various thicknesses which can be cut to
the desired shape (trapezoidal with rounded edge
about 1/2 inch long) using your scroll or coping
saw and then smoothing the edges with sandpaper.
The 5-Minute Process
The defacto standard in epoxy
for luremaking is of the 5-minute variety. This
is not to say that 5-minute epoxy cures in 5
minutes. It is to say, however, that 5-minute
epoxy sets and takes a hard-fast shape in 5
minutes.
Attaching Screws. IMPORTANT:
Proper alignment of eyescrews is crucial to the
action of lure. The screws must all be aligned
in the center of the lure.
Mark the center of
the front of the lure using a fine point pen.
Make a starter hole using a pin or small nail;
this is just to start the screw in the right
position. Start your eye-screw slowly, making
sure to keep center as you are turning and
paying attention to any sign of splitting. 
Turn the screw in until the
"eye" of the screw starts to dig into
the lure body. Check the alignment of all screws
by viewing the lure from the front and back. The
front and middle screw should line up when
viewing from the front and the rear and middle
should line up when viewing from the rear. Make
sure that the eye-screw is centered and
perpendicular to lure body like this: --------------------->
Now comes the paint
job.
The key to any paint being used is
adhesion. The paint has to bond
to the surface. The wood should be primed or
sealed before any paint is applied. Use an oil
based sealer/primer.
There are two basic
kinds of paints available on the market today,
oil base and water base. Water-base paint or
acrylic, as it's also known has the obvious
convenience of ease of use and easy clean up.
Normally, the drawback to acrylic and wood is it
raises the grain of the wood due to it's water
base. But as long as the wood is sealed (primed)
there is no need to be concerned.
The second
drawback is that it doesn't adhere to the primer
as well as the second paint option, oil base
paint. There are many different kinds of
oil-base paints out on the market today so stick
with an enamel that has a hi-solid content and
dries
quickly.
The
main drawback of oil-base enamel is that
clean-up is difficult. Everything has to be
cleaned with a solvent like turpentine. If you
have an airbrush you can work with that, if not
rest assured that the greatest pieces of art
were made with paint and a brush. A good Sable
or Camelhair brush will should give you smooth
even strokes.
Colors
For bass fishing, it's best to stick
to basic colors. Crankbaits should match in a
general way, the most dominant forage in the
lake. Thus, popular crankbait colors that should
be included in your tacklebox include: silver
and black(shad), green and silver (Tennessee
shad), chrome (open water baitfish), orange and
brown(crawfish), etc. If golden shiners occur in
your waters, "match the hatch" by
using gold crankbaits. Fluorescent colors are
effective on crankbaits in many conditions. A
popular combination is fluorescent
green(chartreuse)/black spots/orange belly in
stained water and/or cloudy days. Red works well
around grass beds in clear and stained water.
But always keep in mind that 80 percent of the
strikes you get are due to your retrieve, not
color. Choose the design
for your lure such as "Perch",
"Trout", "Shad" or any other
popular finish or be creative and use your
imagination, you never know what crazy color
combo can land you that lunker. Paint your
primary color using smooth even strokes trying
to avoid any drips and runs.
After your first coat
is dry, if your base coat looks a little
translucent apply a second base coat. Next you
can start adding your detailing colors, gills,
lateral lines eyes and mouth are some of the
details you may want to add to your crankbait to
make it look very realistic. I prefer using
plastic molded eyes but the painted eyes look
just as good. If you allow the paint to dry too
long after a prior coating or if you are using a
gloss paint, give it a light sanding with a 400
grit sandpaper. Also, give the lure a light
sanding before applying a clear coat.
Protective clear
coat
After your lure has been painted and you
are satisfied with the look, then it's time to
apply a protective, durable clear coat. There
are many to choose from on the market today but
the strongest and the most durable is the
two-part clear epoxy kind. This is basically the
same stuff that cars are painted with. Purchase
a can of this stuff at your local hardware store
or home improvement superstores and follow the
directions. You can apply 2 or more coats of
this for a glass like finish on your
creation.
Hardware: Hooks and Split
Rings
The proper size hook and split
ring is also an important factor in your
creation. For this size lure, I recommend size
"6" Treble Hook and size "2"
split ring. Adding the split rings is probably
most tedious part of this endeavor, especially
without a good pair of split ring pliers. Use a
good quality split ring (Stainless Steel) and
pry it open with a small screwdriver and slip it
on to the center and rear screws. Then just slip
your trebles onto the
ring.
Important:
Tuning
crankbaits:
Crankbaits (especially homemade ones)
have to be "tuned" so that they run
true. Start by always using a loop knot or split
ring to tie your lure on. This is to allow the
lure the action it was intended to have. Now
check how it's swimming. You can do some
prelimiminary checks in a full tub if needed
butit's best to go lakeside for this. Most
discrepancies in the placement of the
"lip" and "eye-screws" can
be compensated to make your crankbait run true.
With needle-nose pliers bend the
"line" eye in small increments, in the
opposite direction the lure favors. If it runs
left bend slightly right etc..
Sometimes fisherman will intentionally mistune a
crankbait to get it to swim in a certain
direction, such as along a weedline or
log.
Now you're ready to fish
with something you've made yourself that you can
take pride in when you LAND THAT
LUNKER!
To the readership: If you have additional
secrets, methods or tricks, please feel free to
e-mail. I'll add your comments to the article.
That's the beauty of the web! Information can be
dynamic and is never dated by becoming printed
material for the ages!
article on crankbait
making was borne of my own trials and
frustrations of not having enough available
tutoring at hand, either in print or in person.
Of the hundreds of books I own, which encompass
almost every fact-minutae of lures, tackle and
fishing only a few touch upon the topic of
making your own wooden crankbaits. In my
research for this article, it was even difficult
to locate periodical articles on the subject. Is
it because of the myth that crankbait making is
difficult? Is it because lures on the market are
thought to be better? It is my hopes that this
brief article will clearly explain steps to
success in making crankbaits that catch BIG
FISH. I consider myself a life-long
"student of crankbait making" as there
is always something new to try and another fish
to fool. 