Best Wood For Making Lures?

[smr_hga]

I am planning to learn how to make lures soon. I've done a good bit pf research but there's one final question i have (hopefully) what wood is the best? The two main ones i've heard of are cedar and balsa. But i've also heard that cedar is expensive and that balsa wears down quicker than other woods. So what wood would you guys suggest?

[drew4779]

I use cedar and would just find it on hikes to lake.

[bassinhole]

Depends on the lure you are trying to make and the action you want it to have.

 

Cedar is much more dense than balsa. This makes it stronger, but also heavier. It will not float as high, making it a poor choice for top water popper type baits. Cedar can be great for walking baits though. or cranks with a tighter wobble. 

 

Due to it's lightness Balsa will float high, and makes great poppers. It will also wobble wider and deflect more rapidly when making crankbaits. Balsa cranks will have a marginally shallower depth than an identical cedar crank due to buoyancy. 

[Big C]

Balsa.  It is much easier to work with, it's great for people just getting into luremaking.  With balsa though, you HAVE to seal it twice, for instance.  After your blank is finished seal it with 2 part epoxy, then paint it, then epoxy it again.  I'm sure you have to do it with cedar, but it is vital with balsa.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I'd start out with bass wood or pine, as they're both easy to work with and strong enough to hold a screw eye. If you start out with balsa I'd recommend learning to do a through-wire for the hook hangers, as screw eyes will just rip out. 

 

Another thing that's difficult with balsa is that the wood is extremely porous, so sealing and painting is more complicated. With bass or pine you can just prime, paint then seal. With balsa you'll need to seal the bait somehow before priming it. 

 

Balsa baits are great for many reasons, but I'd start out with a slightly harder wood if it were me. I've been making wooden lures for a long time, but didn't have the chops to work with balsa effectively until I had been doing it for a few years. It's easy to carve, but much less forgiving.

[Big Bait Fishing]

basswood

[TackleKing]

I would probably say cedar would work the best because of its density

[tholmes]

basswood

 

Basswood, along with alder, would be good choices. Both are easy to work yet tough enough to hold a screw eye. They also have a very even and consistent grain structure and are easy to sand smooth. They also take a finish well.

 

Tom

[Rick Howard]

What kind of cedar are we talking about? Are you carving them? Most Cedar is not awesome for carving or turning on a lathe. Do able for sure, I often turn cedars, but they can be pain because of their tendency to "tear out" while carving or turning. Very sharp tools and paying attention to grain direction will minimize tear out. Sharpening your tools to the required sharpness and reading grain takes time to learn. Sharp in the carving world is beyond what most people consider sharp. Good stones and using a strop help out the needed edge on.

Western Red Cedar (actually a cypress species If I remember correctly) is a good rot resident wood that is not very dense which would make it a good choice, in my opinion. But like I said it's tougher to work.

Basswood is a good starting point for learning to carve by hand. It is soft and has tight grain, which take less pressure to carve and has less tear out making it easier to learn on.

[smr_hga]

What kind of cedar are we talking about? Are you carving them? Most Cedar is not awesome for carving or turning on a lathe. Do able for sure, I often turn cedars, but they can be pain because of their tendency to "tear out" while carving or turning. Very sharp tools and paying attention to grain direction will minimize tear out. Sharpening your tools to the required sharpness and reading grain takes time to learn. Sharp in the carving world is beyond what most people consider sharp. Good stones and using a strop help out the needed edge on.

Western Red Cedar (actually a cypress species If I remember correctly) is a good rot resident wood that is not very dense which would make it a good choice, in my opinion. But like I said it's tougher to work.

Basswood is a good starting point for learning to carve by hand. It is soft and has tight grain, which take less pressure to carve and has less tear out making it easier to learn on.

Yeah i'll be carving.

[Rick Howard]

If you have not looked already or have experience carving, there is lots of into on carving in general on the web. Info on tooling, technique, safety, and sharpening.

[Jaw1]

I use primarily balsa and have for a few years now. It's easy to work with as far as shaping and carving goes,although I don't consider it carving so much as shaping. It's easily obtainable from local hobby shops and you can seal it with runny superglue. I shape / carve my lure then seal with superglue,painting it on with a cheap craft brush. Sand the grain back down that the superglue raises then either prime or if you desire coat it with 2ton epoxy,then basecoat. Paint the lure then coat with epoxy again. Remember it's best to bucket test your lure in water once you've decided how much belly weight and hardware sizes you will require. I usually do this after sealing and before painting. I like to foil finish a lot of my baits so I add an extra coat of epoxy to hide the foil edges. This will all be trial and error for you until you have a design your happy with. I have used basswood,poplar,and cedar but prefer balsa. There are ways to add dowels to a balsa bait so you will not have to use a through wire construction but I don't use this method. You can find plenty of links to help you through the process,or go to tackleunderground very helpful people on this site. You may also want to try pvc trim board. It is waterproof,and machines like wood. My avatar is actually a bait I made out of pvc trimboard. Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun

[BobP]

x2 with Jaw1.  Balsa is easy to cut and shape....maybe too easy!  But it makes for a very lively bait due to its high buoyancy.  If you want something that is harder and more dense, I like basswood or cedar.  Of the 2, basswood sands beautifully to a buttery smooth finish while cedar can sometimes be difficult to hand sand due to its hard and soft grain structure.  Choose a material and stick with it until you get the hang of working with it.  Each wood wants different techniques to make a good bait.  For shallow running baits, balsa is hard to beat.  If you want to build deep divers, harder more dense woods are better.  Tackleunderground.com has more info on building hardbaits than you'll ever be able to read.   

[Ron McClellan]

I'm no fan of balsa for lures at all. If "easy to carve" is a primary, or even secondary concern, may as well just buy fishing lures. Cedar is okay, but generally basswood makes more sense, since if you have access to Cedar, you likely also have access to Basswood.  As for how buoyant a wood is, well . . .I've made floating chugger style baits out of everything from Basswood to Gaboon Ebony, and pretty much everything in between.  I personally use almost exlusively hardwoods. And I can make a Jitterbug style lure out of Walnut with glass eyes that actually weighs less than a plastic Arbogast Jitterbug. People seem to forget you can hollow out heavier woods selectively, and end up with a lightweight bait that will actually hold a screw securely and be prenty strong enough to withstand repeated strikes from very aggressive and well-toothed fish. 

Cherry is an underrated lure wood too. Pretty easy to carve, strong, and even if the surface coat is compromised, maintains it's integrity pretty well.

[MALTESE FALCON]

I use Red Cedar. On occasion I use Bass. I started out using scrap Pine, but I find Cedar easier to shape.

 

Falcon