My crankbait tutorial

[Keithscatch]

Ok I am not a pro and I am not trying to sell these. I fancy myself as an artist so sometimes I get a wild hair and do something like this.

Here is a tutorial of how I made this crankbait. I am sure I did something wrong as like I said this is not how I make a living.

Here it is enjoy:

First picture is of the supplies I used to make this crankbait.

Second picture is the block of wood after I drew the image I liked on it I then began the process of widdling away what is not the crankbait

The next picture is of the bait all cut to shape and sanded down to the final shape.

This next picture is showing the final belly weight that was expoxied into the lure. I did mess up on this as I used too heavy of a weight. Bait suspends now instead of floats But what I did was take a egg shaped weight and bought a small cotter pin in 1/8 wire. Put the cotter pin through the weigh from the bottom and bend the wire out and clip off the tags. Then drill the hole for the egg sinker and put in to make sure it is flush with the bait then epoxy it in. What sticks out is the head of the cotter pin which becomes the part your hook attaches to. Also, you are looking at a sealed wood bait using plastic dissolved in Lacquer Thinner. To do this melt 10-13 small 3 ounce sized plastic white cups from SoLo into a jar big enough to dunk your crank in. Once all cups are dissolved dip the crank in and let dry. Do this 5 times or more to get a solid coverage on your bait. Learned all this from Tackle underground.

Using the glitter shown in the supplies picture I glued it on using the elmers glue. I would put some glue on a paper plate then with my finger I would rub it onto the lure where I wanted that particular color. Then I would add glitter to it and dust it off. Then redo it again as needed. To make the stripes I would use a the glitter glue and blob it onto the plate and dip a pencil into it and apply it to the bait.

I also made the eyes by using the hole punch, red paper and a blacj sharpie and epoxy. I glued the red eye in place using elmer glue. I then made the black circle using a black sharpie. I then put a drop or two of epoxy on the eye. I would turn it upside down in order to make it form a bubble. When it dried I made the other one.

This is with the bill all epoxied in. I didn't have an extra bill laying around so I dug around and found a hard plastic case that held CD's. It has a roll cover so to speak so I drew the coffin bill design I wanted on it and with my exacto knife I slowly scored the plastic until I was able to break it out. Then I epoxied it into the bait with the Loctite 5 minute epoxy. I then used the same Epoxy to create the clear coat on the bait. I used 5 minute epoxy and painted it on using a brush. I painted 2 coats on and it was fairly heavy.

Here is the final lure with the hooks on and all sealed. Bait runs perfect except for not floating. ..DOH! oh well, when I cast it out I will just have to retrieve it as soon as it lands. It will sink slowly. But that might be a good thing too.

Now after all that work I hope to catch a fish on it. It is pretty big as far as crankbaits go. But I figured a big bass would love to eat it. From nose of the body to the tail is 3 1/4 inches long. From Bill to tail is just under 4 1/2 inches long. Not sure how deep it dives as the pond I tried it in is murky and it dug the bottom. But when it didn't it ran in nice and straight with a nice wobble to it.

[flechero]

Nice work!  I don't make lures but it's neat to read/see the process.  Thanks for posting it.

[jasone]

Nice lure.  The paint scheme is right on and I like your use of glitter.  It is surprising what can be made from normal household objects.

FYI--Next time you run out of bills try an old CD.  I know you have some old AOL trial disks laying around.  Just cut them out like normal.  They are made from polycarbonate lexan which is what most lips are made of.  The aluminum coating will flake off (mostly) or you can lightly buff it off.

Hope that helps.

J

[Siebert Outdoors]

thats awsome nice job.

[Keithscatch]

Jasone,

Funny you should say that. I actually tried a DVD that I knew was bad. But it would crack as I was trying to cut it. So I used the plastic case that holds CD. Haha.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. As soon as I catch a fish on it I will post it up. I can't wait to catch a fish on it.

[Other.]

Nice crankbait there. I wish they sold stuff that looked as fine as that! What did you use to carv the wood? I have been trying to carve my own crankbaits with kneifs but it just does not work. Eh my dad has a sand drill but i look at that like cheating.

[Keithscatch]

Any power tools I would have access to I would use. No cheating. Just plain sense I used an exacto knife pictured. I wish I had access to power tools as it would make making these baits a breeze. So I had to widdle away with a exacto knife. But Balsa wood is soft so it wasn't that hard to do. If no power tools are available for you then just go buy a retractable blade exacto knife and have at it. Then use sand paper to do the fine shaping.

Show it off when you are finished.

[jasone]

Jasone,

Funny you should say that. I actually tried a DVD that I knew was bad. But it would crack as I was trying to cut it. So I used the plastic case that holds CD. Haha.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. As soon as I catch a fish on it I will post it up. I can't wait to catch a fish on it.

Not to hijack this thread as that is some great work, but...

I wonder what the difference is between a DVD and CD.  I can bend a CD almost in half and cut out about 10 bills a month or two back with a hacksaw.  

J

[Keithscatch]

Not sure what the difference is. I will try the CD trick someday when I get around to making another one.

I do have a question though. The 5 minute epoxy I used for the top coat is sort of soft. When I push on it with my finger naill it gives and I can see it bending in or denting if you will. It isn't that real hard coat like I see on other baits. Any reason for that?

[jasone]

Hey Keith,

I've never used the 5 min. stuff.  I always use the 30 minute/2 ton.  It gives you a little more time to get the coating down.  I paint them all with a straight shot of this epoxy and then put them on the drying wheel for as long as it take.  I usually get a glass hard, smooth, clear surface no problem.  

I have had instances where I didn't mix the epoxy well enough and got these soft spots like you are talking about.  I hate to say it, but I couldn't get the soft spots to go away, even with subsequent coats.  

J

[Keithscatch]

Thanks Jasone. I guess live and learn. I will try the longer drying kind next time I fittle with this. Don't have a drying wheel so I may have to improvise a little haha.

[jasone]

Yeah, I use to clamp the lure in a pair of needle nose pliers and swing it around for about 10 minutes.  I don't think it helped dry the lure but at least I looked silly doing it.

J

[tipptruck1]

well dvds are made of a double layer so the disk come in two layers I belive. The only reason they do that is so they can get more data on the disk. A aol cd is a single layer. The data on a regular cd Like a music cd or a data cd is a lot smaller then movie data.

[jasone]

well dvds are made of a double layer so the disk come in two layers I belive. The only reason they do that is so they can get more data on the disk. A aol cd is a single layer. The data on a regular cd Like a music cd or a data cd is a lot smaller then movie data.

That makes sense why one would crack and the other wouldnt.

J