# Anyone make thir own wood crankbaits?



## gmoney

I've been looking into making some lures and was wondering if anyone on here makes their own?

Any tips or advice?


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## Jim

I have not, but I have been thinking about getting a decent cheap airbrush to start playing around. I see some neat reel paints and lure paints I would love to try, just for hobby though.


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## gmoney

I've been looking into it as a hobby as well. I have the woodworking tools so just a small compressor and a cheap airbrush is all I should need. I looked at some Badger airbrushed today, $180 for a cheap dual action :shock: . That's not happening, looks like eBay it is! 

Found this guys blog on the baits he makes and he has a bunch of how to videos. This guy does an amazing job! 

https://solarfallbaits.blogspot.ca/


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## Captain Ahab

Jim said:


> I have not, but I have been thinking about getting a decent cheap airbrush to start playing around. I see some neat reel paints and lure paints I would love to try, just for hobby though.





With all that spare time :roll:


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## arkansasnative

gmoney said:


> I've been looking into it as a hobby as well. I have the woodworking tools so just a small compressor and a cheap airbrush is all I should need. I looked at some Badger airbrushed today, $180 for a cheap dual action :shock: . That's not happening, looks like eBay it is!
> 
> Found this guys blog on the baits he makes and he has a bunch of how to videos. This guy does an amazing job!
> 
> https://solarfallbaits.blogspot.ca/




If you're looking for a cheap airbrush to just play around with and get used to painting i would recommend looking at Harbor Freight (harborfreight.com). I had an expensive airbrush that eventually broke so i bought one here and it does the job just fine at a fraction of the cost! I actually went all out and bought a lathe so i could do baits and rod grips if i wanted to start building rods but i never used it and it took up space so i sold it. Really you can go a long way with just a stationary belt sander and a dremel tool.


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## richg99

My BIL wanted to use up some of the many wine corks that he has...( Hee hee)...

He wanted some small, lightweight poppers made out of the corks.

I took a two inch long coarse threaded wall-board screw; cut off the Phillips head; chucked the new "tool" into my electric drill. I jammed the screw into a cork; then held the spinning cork up against my belt sander and ...Viola!... a shaped cork. By bending the drill-driver you can shape the cork ( or other soft wood, like cedar) into pretty much any tapered shape that you want. 

He doesn't have a belt sander, so I suggested he simply glue some 60 grit sandpaper onto a flat board and just hold the spinning cork up against that. Slower, but should work well enough.

Run some wire through the cork, attach some hooks.... paint and there you go.

Of course, you could also start out with just a pine dowel (heavier) and work from there, too. 
regards, Rich


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## gmoney

I took some scrap would and cut out a couple of shad rap bodies on my scroll saw and went to work with the dremel and a bit of sandpaper. Here is the result:












I ordered an airbrush off ebay and some lure parts from lurepartsonline.com, now I just have to play the waiting game for everything to get here and for a compressor to go on sale!


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## fool4fish1226

Your off to a great start, be sure to post pitcures of the final product and lets us know how they fish.


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## richg99

Look'in good. That is a tough form to start out with, I'd guess. Let's see more..... from other guys, too. R


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## fender66

Gmoney....I'm impressed. Looking forward to seeing the finishing stages! =D> =D>


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## arkansasnative

before you paint you might want to seal the wood and then run them in water (bathtub, pool, small pond, etc...) to see how they act. You might need to add weight in places to keep it balanced and it would suck to have to drill thru a nice new paint job!


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## gmoney

Thanks for the tips guys.

I bought some epoxy sealer and I'm going to seal them up and test them out. I drilled the holes in the bottom to add a 1/8 oz. egg sinker so that the bait will sit right side up. If they suck, I'll just make more lol. I bought enough parts to make way more lures than I currently have.

@richg, What's a better shape to start out with?


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## fender66

What kind of wood did you use? I don't know which are the better ones, but I've read that it does make a difference.


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## richg99

re Shape....Oh, what you've done is excellent. It is simply more complicated than one that is symmetrical. I am impressed!

I just thought it would be easiest to make a simple pencil shape, tapered on each end for one's first attempt at shaping a lure. You are, obviously, a very good carver. 

If I were going to do make a symmetrical body.....I'd use the 
"put a headless wood-screw in your drill"; 
"chuck the pointy end of the screw into a piece of wood/cork/etc. " and 
"spin the wood against a sanding drum/belt/board" process that I described in a message above. 

Below is a quick example, using a wine bottle cork. I cranked it out in a few minutes after seeing this post.


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## gmoney

Thanks rich!

I think the big help in carving is my knock off dremel came with a snake arm so that you have way more flexibility and you are basically holding a pen in your hand instead of the whole dremel. Makes it a lot easier to work with. I cut out the basic shape of both the side and top profiles that I had traced from the lure and then sanded the crap out of it with the dremel to get a more rounded shape and then switched to a palm sander to smooth everything out and then finished off with some hand sanding. 

All my ordered stuff has been shipped out so it should be here in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully airbrushing isn't too hard. All the guys on youtube make it look easy, but they have probably been painting forever!


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## richg99

I'm certain that you will do a great job with the airbrush. 

However, I'd guess the 50 or so older wooden lures that I have hanging on my lure collection were NOT painted with an airbrush. Shucks, way back when.... we used a plain old "camel's hair" brush for anything small. 

I guess we killed all of the hairy camels because all I see now are synthetic brushes at the local stores. Ha Ha...

I am anxiously awaiting the next chapter in your story here. regards, Rich


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## gmoney

A quick update on my lure making adventure: 

I have made a couple more lure blanks so far. My latest one I'm working on is the Storm Kickin' Stick. It caught my eye at the store so I took a couple pictures and scaled the measurements to make a proportional lure blank. Here's what I ended up with:
















It's a work in progress, it still needs some sanding and shaping.

I also started a blog to track my progress on lure making and to provide some tutorials so that people can also learn how to make some lure if they want. Follow along at https://geclures.blogspot.ca/


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## Jim

richg99 said:


> I guess we killed all of the hairy camels because all I see now are synthetic brushes at the local stores. Ha Ha...



:LOL2:


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## Jim

Nice work so far!

Im feeding your blog to my reader! :beer:


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## richg99

Great job. I love your choices for the shapes. Should be a scaled up killer when done.

Now, if I could just get the blades on my mini-bandsaw to stay on the tires...I could try one like that. Well done. Rich


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## fender66

Still....I'm impressed. =D>


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## gmoney

Thanks guys. I wish my shipment would show up so that I could actually finish some lures. No huge rush though because our fishing season is closed until May 11th or 12th in order to protect the fish spawn.


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## gmoney

Received my airbrush in the mail today! Now I just have to find a compressor and I should be good to go!


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## gmoney

Finally finished off some lures this week. What do you guys think?
















My epoxy finish needs a bit of work on some of them in order to get a completely smooth, glass finish. Maybe a second coat of epoxy will help. I'll be testing them out this weekend, so we will see how it goes.

I also cut out a whole bunch more blanks that are ready to be shaped and sanded. More nw lures to come!


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## Dragonman

Very Very Awesome!! You my friend are quite talented. These baits look store bought due to the detail and colors. Keep up the excellent work and look forward to seeing some more of your creations.


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## richg99

Great looking...hope the fish agree!

What wood are you using...and how did you get that neat cross-hatch pattern on there? 

As far as smoothing out the epoxy...I know that rod builders rig up a verrryyyy slow moving lathe type device to keep the rods turning and turning until the epoxy dries..maybe something like that would help?? I've seen where some of them used a rotisserie from a cooking grill to power the device.

regards, rich


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## fender66

Very nice. I'm so impressed with the talent we have on TinBoats.

Don't forget to add hooks before you throw them to the fish. :LOL2:


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## richg99

"add hooks"?.....mean, cruel person!!!! You will confuse and possibly hurt the little fishies....Ha Ha Go get 'em.......!!! Rich


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## gmoney

Thanks a lot guys! I need to go pick up some hooks today



richg99 said:


> Great looking...hope the fish agree!
> 
> What wood are you using...and how did you get that neat cross-hatch pattern on there?
> 
> As far as smoothing out the epoxy...I know that rod builders rig up a verrryyyy slow moving lathe type device to keep the rods turning and turning until the epoxy dries..maybe something like that would help?? I've seen where some of them used a rotisserie from a cooking grill to power the device.
> 
> regards, rich



Rich, I build a lure dryer using an old microwave turn table motor. It's 6 rpm and seems to do the trick. I used some pine and poplar on this batch of lures and the next batch is all cedar. To make the cross-hatch pattern I took a piece of screen from a window and wrapped it tightly around the lure and then just airbrushed over it and it makes a sweet scale pattern.


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## richg99

Way ahead of me, as usual...Well done. Rich


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## aeviaanah

This is interesting, seems like a new hobby Im ready to jump into. 

Can anyone provide me with some resources on how to get started? I have a scroll saw, band saw, belt sander etc. Id like to work with wood over the casting for now. I took a look at the blogs and you guys are making some nice stuff!


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## Hanr3

Excellent job so far. Very nice work. :mrgreen: 

I too have thought about making my own as well. However I don't have any small wood working power tools. My shop is geared towards furniture, cabinets, and such. 

Not sure if you got a compressor yet or not. However, take a look at a used pancake compressor at your local Pawn shop. It'll kick out more than enough air, plus it should be realatively inexpensive. Lots of guys in the construction business have dumped excess gear for cash.


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## gmoney

aeviaanah said:


> This is interesting, seems like a new hobby Im ready to jump into.
> 
> Can anyone provide me with some resources on how to get started? I have a scroll saw, band saw, belt sander etc. Id like to work with wood over the casting for now. I took a look at the blogs and you guys are making some nice stuff!


Where to start...

There are a ton of resources on the internet and youtube. I spent weeks looking on how to make lures instead of studying for exams lol.

The easiest way to start is to trace out an existing lure that you already have and go from there. Basically anything that looks kind of like a fish or any other lure will work as long as it is even on both sides. 

I found a lot of information on these sites https://www.tacklemaking.com/default.php?pageID=39 and https://www.bassfishin.com/article27.htm

and this guys tutorials on youtube are also really good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA6Jpe4ZpcA&feature=relmfu. He has multiple parts to both lure making and painting. 

This guy also has a decent lure painting tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-GePvdmp0U&feature=related&noredirect=1

Here is a huge lure building forum https://www.stripersonline.com/f/169/lure-building/

I bought all my lure parts from https://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Plug-Hardware/
I couldn't find any screw eyes small enough locally so I had to buy them online. 

For tools, I just use a scroll saw, drill, dremel with a snake arm, palm sander and an airbrush. 

I have made lures from both tracing old patterns and just drawing a shape onto a piece of wood. I put up a short tutorial on my blog that can get you started (link in signature)

I'm open to questions if you guys have any. Let me know and I can see what I can do.

@Hanr3, I ended up picking up a little 2 gallon compressor on sale for $50 and it came with a hose, thought it was a pretty good deal.

I went fishing this weekend and tried out the new lures. They all work! They swim beautifully, but are heavier than plastic crankbaits. I may need to lessen the weight that I added to the body. I am so excited to fish for some walleye and pike this weekend to see if they will catch some fish! The trout didn't seem too interested in the lures lol


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## gmoney

I got one of the new jerkbaits ready to be sealed and painted.


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## richg99

Neat...keep it up. You'll get me involved one of these days. 

Just bought a replacement bandsaw. I needed it for other projects, but....!!!

Rich


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## fender66

I'm looking forward to seeing one of these snagged in a fish mouth.


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## gmoney

fender66 said:


> I'm looking forward to seeing one of these snagged in a fish mouth.



SOON! I will be so pumped when I catch a fish on one. It will be totally different than catching a fish n a crank that I didn't make. We will soon see! Heading out saturday, our season finally opens then!


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## baldrob

Those are really impressive! You definitely have a knack for building baits.


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## dj722000

This is a lipless crank I did a year or so ago, right ater I applied the epoxy. I know the picture isnt the greatest, did it from a cell phone. It has 2 ton epoxy non yellowing on it and have crashed this thing into rocks to see how it would hold up. Turned out better then I expected. But to be a little more different with mine, I cut the shape out on a bandsaw, then I carve with a knife, which goes a lot faster then one would think, get close to my final shape then sand with 100 grit, 200 and finally 500. Soak it in Thompson's water sealer for 1/2 hour then let dry for 48 hours, test for balance, place weights, test for balance, paint, add hook eyes and eye tie then epoxy. (Eye tie on these is very impolrtant to get it placed in the right spot or no action! Dont ask how I know this. LOL) Its not the greatest looking paint job, but I just slapped it together. To finish, I used #4 Eagle Claw color RED Treble Hooks on it.

Oh just so you know, the lipless crank I have found, is one of the hardest to make because of balance and action as there is no extended lip to do the work. The action all comes from the front half, top and bottom and the stream lininig of the sides and tapper off of tail. It all plays a role in its action. It took me about a week and half of playing with this to get it's action right. What a pain, but fun and satifying. LOL


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## richg99

Looks good, Nice Paint job. Yea, lip-less cranks must be a problem because the front-flat part is all there is to impart the tail wag.

re the cell phone shot...most cell phones take a bit of time to focus. On mine, I have to wait until the little box in the center turns GREEN ...after.. I snap the shutter. 

I have a tendency to be moving away from the pix subject too soon because....I have no patience....Ha Ha Rich


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## dj722000

The hardest part I found before I did a "look at and see what I can figure out study in my bathtub with clear water" was when they sink to the bottom, they nose down and tail up. Giving to the reason of the flat portion on the bottom in the front. A very good indication of where the eye tie must go comes from this little clue. To far up and it will lay to its side when retrieving. To far forward and it will nose up too sharp and too fast and be gone before the fish can figure out where it went. You have about an 1/8" to work with, if that, in this 1/8" you can make a tight wiggle or a loose wiggle. And that is a preference of whatever they want. I really wanted to make more of these but it takes time and a lot of testing to get things right. But once there, you can whip them out pretty fast even by hand. I still play with them once in a while trying two different lures and making one. Some came out looking pretty cool. Some not so very nice. lol Its all a learning experience.


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## gmoney

Nice looking bait 722000!

I finally got out bass fishing this weekend and a nice lunker had to have a taste!


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## richg99

Nice smallie. Rich


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## earlcus

I have made some. It is fun, but you have to make some and before you paint I would recommend that you test them after you glue everything up. I have some I painted and epoxied and then swam them and they are a tight wobble. If you are grinding you from a block I suggest that you use a shape marker and get the center line and drill spots for weights and hangers before you start cutting and grinding. It is easier to make sure they are centered before you start carving.


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## richg99

Beautiful work. Great suggestions about centering things before cutting to rounded shape. I have found this to be true in a number of woodworking projects.

Keep 'em coming. Rich


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## earlcus

Yeah after a couple of times trying to get drill a carved lure and centering it in a funny way and then ruining the hole isn't fun. Especially after you did the sanding.


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## Rjennings

Theres a place in Florida called https://granddadslures.com/ they make some hand crafted wooden lures that look great! I ordered a couple of them just to collect..they are too pretty to throw in the lake..lol


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## Jim

Those poppers look awesome!


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## gmoney

Hey guys. I started a shop over on etsy. Currently I only have one listed, but I will be adding more when I finish them up. Let me know what you think. 

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GECLures


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## nrgeek

Yes I do .. have been since 2006


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## Jim

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=339117#p339117 said:


> nrgeek » 19 Jan 2014 11:18 pm[/url]"]Yes I do .. have been since 2006



More pics or website link?


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## nrgeek

Don't sell any .. and don't have a web site .. just make em for my own use.. but I do trade now and then .. baits for baits, have even traded for a custom rod or two.


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## fender66

Good looking stuff!


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## nrgeek

Been a couple years since I posted on this topic.. I just started buying knock offs from china for a few baits I liked .. here is a recent paint job on deep diver before and after.
Guy my wife works with saw and wanted to buy 2 of them lol .. I figured what the heck.. hope he caught some good ones on them this weekend


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## bobberboy

I started a couple of winters ago to make various lures/flies and like most things I do, let it go for a while. Just yesterday I picked up a benchtop wood lathe to replace the homemade one I had been using. Here's the link to my former attempts:

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=36796&hilit=lures

I fish topwater so that's the kind of baits I make. The lathe obviously makes symmetrical lures (although they can be altered post-lathe work) but for top water that is mostly an asset. Poppers and torpedos are easily turned on even the most basic lathe. In fact you can make a simple lathe with an electric drill. Anyway here's my new lathe...





Many lures require an epoxy coating that needs to be kept turning while it cures. I had a 1RPM motor and made this dryer that will accommodate both light weight flies as well as heavier lures.





Here are a few simple shapes I made on my sewing machine lathe...





There are lots of Youtube lessons on lure making. Here is a link to one of a particularly good series by Paul Adams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZBJLt1Rm0Y :

Finally, If I ever manage to see any of these through to the finish I might want to send some along to anyone out there willing to give them a try. My fishing season is over for the year but it would be good to know if any really catch fish before making more. I'll be back in touch if/when I have some to share.


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## bobberboy

I finally finished a few lures. It's taken me months to get all the stuff together including a place to work. I've got some problems with the finish but this is some of what I have to show for my first batch. I haven't tested them out fishing but have floated them and the balance seems good. I'm not sure I'm very proud of them but it's a start. 

Sorry about the image quality. I am so sick of Photobucket. It is so bloated with ads that it's getting impossible to use and to fix up these six pics would have been hours at the rate the pages load. 







 

















For any interested in making/painting baits there are two particularly good YouTube channels that I got a lot of good info from:

One is Paul Adams at The Handmade Fisher at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHsVmxfbTN79r80FC9qeOYQ

The other is Lure Me in Custom Painted Crankbaits at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYhLtEMVKsfrUj8wc9qUtbA


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## Jim

Nice job man! My favorite is the second one from the bottom! :beer:


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## gnappi

When my dad was in his 60's I gifted him a dremel tool and he said, "that's like giving a flashlight to a blind man" and told me to keep it. 

Since I already had one I insisted he keep it. A couple of years later I come to find that he started making (on the sly not telling me how much he used that blind man's tool) "rapala" type lures without diving lips and he was KILLING the bass and walleye in the upstate N.Y. reservoir system. He just sprayed them with grey paint.


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