I bought this reel for the express purpose of stalking medium size game from the shores of Northwest Florida. It cost me less than $13 off of the big auction site. They had it advertised as a decoration, but I asked if it was free turning before purchasing. They said that it was, so I bought it not knowing what I'd find inside. Here is my experience with this reel.
This is the reel completely unopened. The old line is still on the spool.
This is the reel freshly opened, and beginning to access the fasteners on the back side of the cover plate.
I ran into my first issue here when I was attempting to remove the reel handle so that I could access the simple controls under the gear on the side plate. The years of inattention had frozen several fasteners in place, but this was the only one that I was unable to remove.
I didn't let that obstacle stop me, so I just moved on and kept disassembling and cleaning. Here is the top of the spool, and the view with the drag control removed.
I've removed the spool here and you can see the rotting leather washer that sits above the plastic washer on the rotor. The next shot is of the reel's internals, greased up with some gnarly old grease that luckily hadn't hardened. The reel had sawdust inside the body, of all things.
Beginning disassembly of the internals. Cast parts, but definitely robustly made.
The sideplate, which I cannot disassemble at this time because of the frozen fastener. Also, the body of the reel with the rotor removed. The rotor is supported very strongly by a brass tube that runs the full length of the internal cavity.
Removing the rotor nut to expose a bearing surface underneath.
Here is the stripped body and the sideplate broken down as far as I can get it at this point.
The spool broken down, and then reassembled after cleaning.
Taking apart the bail. Notice that the gear does not detach from this assembly.
The horribly corroded rotor, and then it cleaned and reinserted into the body of the reel.
The reel cleaned and ready for lubrication. All that's left for the main body is putting back together.
Here is the internal spring loaded bail closing mechanism. I elected to omit it from my final setup, because it impedes the free spool feature of the reel after being installed. I can show pictures of the chamfering that I did to the edge of the lever in order to try to make it work. However, it did not change anything and the lever continues to impede the functioning of the reel. I am only an amateur and the proper calibration of this part is beyond my knowledge, without having any manuals to reference.
The completed reel with the automatic bail close disconnected. I prefer a manual bail for hard casts. The internals of this reel are incredibly robust and I am confident that the simplicity of this reel will make disassembly and cleaning a breeze.
I apologize for using so many posts. I could only load two pictures per post before my browser would time out. If I made any faux pas with the thread please let me know and I will correct them to the best of my ability. I hope this helps someone down the line.
Very nice breakdown FlipFlopRepairShoppe, thanks.
My only comment is, have you thought of upgrading the drag washers with carbon fiber and drag grease?
Hope to hear how it fishes.
Steve
I don't know the first thing about drag upgrades, sir. This whole project is something that I'm doing very inexpensively, and very low tech. I'm pairing this reel with a 10 foot Sea Striker SS1000, with 25 lb monofilament. I am also making all of my own topwater lures to fish with this rig. When all is said and done, I might have $100 in a complete rod and reel with half a dozen or eight different plugs and poppers. How much would drag upgrades like the ones that you mentioned run?
Probably less than ten bucks. Measure what you have and let us know; someone will know what the equivalent modern part would be. This would let you get smooth easy performance and maximize that solid reel.
Nothing better than catching on stuff you built.
FlipFlop - The drag washers - measure the o.d. and i.d. and thickness. Let me know how many you need - I'll cut them for you foc. Chris.
Gentleman, thank you so much for your help.
Tiddlerbasher, I will take measurements now and post them here, as well as PM them to you. Thank you incredibly sir! Please let me know if there is a way that I can repay the favor.
Tiddlerbasher,
The O.D. is 21mm. The I.D. is 7mm. The thickness is 1mm. I measured these with my calipers, but they're a very inexpensive model. Please let me know if you think these are off. When I measured the O.D. it actually hit at 20.5 mm but there's clearance for up to 21mm. I don't know what normal clearance would be.
After I get better at making topwater lures I will send one of your choice to you. I'm just now getting into the art of making them, and love it as much as fishing!
You're doing great FFRS.
Another way I check the drag stack is measure the thickness of the entire stack together then just the metal washers together. Just subtract the metal from the total then you get a total for all the carbon fiber washers.
Flattening and then polishing the metal washers with very fine grits on flat glass can only help. I use 800 , 1500, 2000, because that's what I have. Others may chime in. I'm an amateur like you.
I like your plan to keep your costs down. Save the money to go fishing!
Steve
Quote from: swill88 on June 18, 2017, 08:26:18 PMI use 800 , 1500, 2000, because that's what I have.
Depending on how flat the washers start out, I wouldn't hesitate to start at 320 grit on a flat piece of glass and move my way up - 800 is pretty fine and doesn't take much off. The flatter and shinier you can make those drag washers, the smoother the drag will be.
Sid
The learning is beginning.....I had no idea that a drag was so sensitive. It shows my amateur status. I thought that you just cranked that puppy down and it compressed. I now see that I have zero idea of what makes a good drag.
So, I should take the metal washers out of the drag and sand them down on a flat piece of glass, starting at 320 or higher grit? I have grits up to 1000 in the workshop. Is my end goal as close to a mirror finish as I can get them?
I just took the drag stack out of the spool and it measures at 6mm with washers and then 4mm without washers. So a total of two washers, each at 1mm.
Tiddlerbasher, I tried sending you a PM but I'm not certain if it went through.
Send a pic of your poppers. I may have something for you.
Very nice clean and service --
Great job!
Best,
Fred
Thorhammer, here are pictures of the plugs that I spent yesterday working on. I'm happy with the shaping, especially considering that these are some of the first lures that I've ever made.
The paint job however..........horrible. It's my fault entirely. I'm horrible with a brush. I'm also limited to the paints that I have at home, all of which are soft acrylic paints. They were finished with a simple polyurethane dip. The polyurethane came out well, but the soft paint underneath picked up all kinds of transfer from everything in my work area. A total rush job, from start to finish, because I need the paint to bleed as much of it's scent out before my trip later this week. I would never send anything this rough to anyone, ever. Once I have my paints locked down, I'm confident that the shapes will attract fish. I grew up using similar lures.
As I progress in this craft I will pick up better paints, but I like to keep things simple. My budget is limited, and I pride myself on being an average joe. My motto is "If I can do it, so can you. Probably with things you have lying around."
I have faith that these will catch fish, and I can only improve from here.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_19_06_17_7_59_54_17185753.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_19_06_17_7_59_33_171841495.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_19_06_17_8_00_37_171861011.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_19_06_17_8_01_23_171872224.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_19_06_17_8_01_26_17188813.jpeg)
Here's a picture of the Ocean Star on my 10' Sea Striker. I love the retro look of the reel paired with the old school yellow and blue on white wrap on the rod. My plugs are also purposely old school. I want to get back to how my grandfather was catching fish in the 1960s. He fished the world while he was in the Air Force as a radar tech.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_19_06_17_8_01_52_17189837.jpeg)
This is a great post.
Thanks for taking us along.
You will be surprised the difference that just two carbon fiber drag discs make.
I want to see a fish on those plugs. ;)
Yes, a mirror finish on your metal drag disks will provide the smoothest drag, along with the proper teflon-based lube (everyone here uses Cal's drag grease), just like your car's brake discs may need to be resurfaced for proper braking. When drag skips and catches, stops and starts, that's when you're most likely to have a breakoff from a defective drag, and that's what a smooth drag will avoid for you!
Sid
Thank you for educating me, sir! The teflon lubricant will go on my "needs for fishing" list. Where can I purchase the smallest amount available?
Also, today I'm going to try my hand making some rough imitations of the famous Yozuri Pencil Popper. Now that I have a few lures made up and curing for my excursion, I can sit back and try to make some more proper gear. My version will be tail weighted so that it has proper ballast. Mainly for casting, but also to make up for my amateur level woodworking skills. Hopefully this will make it swim better than a rough-carved non-dimensional non-ballasted version. While I'm sad that they discontinued them years ago, they'd be out of my price range brand new right now, anyway. Also, mine will be single hook versions with the barbs crimped. I like a long fight, and a quick release with as little damage to the fish as possible.
You have my attention here, buddy! I love this thread and the whole idea of going throw-back on the rig. I've done similar. Back about 20 years ago I was in a specialized niche fishery and wanted some poppers that would launch past stock Cordell Pencil Poppers. I started hand carving and sanding out of stock pine dowels from Lowe's....lemme tell you, your's will catch (where are you fishing and for what?)
I rear-weighted the popper in a bowling pin shape (like the Cordell) and added appx.3/4 oz of lead in the rear. I poured into a drilled hole but you can also achieve by epoxying in split shot weights or whatever. They will flat-out launch. I cupped the faces with a dremel sanding drum, and sprayed with dollar spray paint whatever color I wanted. the whole show was done in the same spirit: hand made, budget, low-tech.
Can you illustrate how you did your through-wire?
I have a bunch of screw-eyes, flashabou for the rear hooks, hooks, small diving bills, etc. left from these projects. PM me your address and I'll shoot you a care package in a couple of weeks when I get back from vacay. Anything else you can imagine, just ask and I'll see what I have. I'll never use all of what I built, plus commercial poppers, so any parts I have I'm ceretainly willing to share.
Carbontex washers certainly work dry (as they are stock in Penn reels) but MysticParts.com has Cal's and you
can get on ebay. I think a 2 oz is about $8 and will do a lot of reels.
One last point...not sure how you lined or what you're after but I threw mine on 12 or 14 lb mono with a 30lb shock leader, and caught stripers in the teens with that setup.
"Edited as per Moderators to correct Scott's Bait & Tackle over to their new store name Mystic Reel Parts / www.mysticparts.com"
Thorhammer, I appreciate your support, both moral and with whatever spare lure parts that you can spare. I was afraid that I was going to be laughed off the forum for my first rough attempts.
I'm in Niceville, but work and fish in Destin, FL. I stalk redfish, pompano, permit (when available), smallish sharks, Jack Crevalle, and basically whatever is cruising the sandbars here. I don't like using fish finder rigs with live bait because I catch way too many catfish and stingrays. Plus, bait is expensive.
The beaches are super flat and sandy, so topwater action catches alot of attention. The waves are rarely over 3 feet, so there's some minor surf slush, but nothing like on the east coast. I grew up in West Palm, so I've fished offshore and inshore, both Atlantic, Intercoastal, and Gulf. Down in South Florida I stalk Snook. It's an addiction. But up here the game is so varied that I have to keep a variety of approaches on hand. Making my own rigs is the only cost effective way for me to get back into the fishing addiction. I left it for about ten years, and only kept my grandfather's reels. So, I'm basically starting over. I used to be strictly artificials, all day. For me, it's more sporting, and it keeps it challenging. My arsenal used to include something like 30 different lures, kept in a binder, that I'd tote out with my rod and some repair tackle. I will be back there in a couple of months.
I was actually in the workshop preparing some blanks for through rigging when you sent your reply. I'll upload some photos. I've tried the bottom-inletting that some folks love, but I personally am more of a fan of through-drilling. It's harder for me to get the wire passage perfectly aligned, but that's half the fun. It gives me a greater chance to make a more unique lure because I carve on belt sanders. So I can stand there and shape to whatever flowing organic image that I can feel in the wood. Sounds mystic, but I'm sure that anyone who putters around in their workshop knows the feeling when the project takes over, and you take a back seat. It's half the reason why I like rolling my own, instead of hunting down cheap lures.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_20_06_17_8_25_16_171921245.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_20_06_17_8_25_00_171912261.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_20_06_17_8_24_40_17190576.jpeg)
Naw, you'll never get laughed at on this site for resurrecting anything and/or doing things old-skool by hand. It's the DNA of it. Suggest you read latest post by MHC (Mike) on what he's doing with hand tools and stainless to make frame for a Penn 60, that was just yesterday. Guys are using 80 YO reels on homebuilt Calcutta, because of the same reason you are doing this.
Agree entirely about the zen of it...I started with making jigs and spoons. Then poppers. Then building the rods. Now building the reels, from this site. I was literally whittling with a Queen pocket knife and then sanding by hand, then using the eye screws because I didn't have a good way to through-bore.
I got a belt sander a few months back and trying to get a window to run out a few plug blanks on it.
You need some trebles or are strictly J-hook? I have tons of this stuff that needs to get wet, shelved for over a decade.
PM address.
I tried hunting down MHC's posts but couldn't find it using the search function. Could you please link me? I love reading about people tackling problems with what they have on hand. Working with top of the line power tools is wonderful, but.......I want to know the guy who can do a similar job with hand tools or home built equipment.
Case in point, this bad boy pictured down here. Probably the ugliest, wonkiest 2x72 belt grinder ever made. My buddy and I made this, while completely sloshed. Getting it to track is impossible without the use of vice grips. I work with steel, so I've got mostly metal working tools, but if it'll cut 1075 high carbon steel, it'll cut pine. I use this to do the major shaping on my blanks, then use a super cheap harbor freight 1x30 for the final smoothing. I love using hand saws, and I even drill the through channel with a hand drill, but hand sanding beats the crap out of my wrists.
Sir, what is a homemade Calcutta? Like the bait company?
Also, rod building is where I want to get to, but the initial outlay for the blanks and epoxies is cost prohibitive. I will get there, down the line. I want to make a a full setup of super retro surf gear. Anyone can catch fish with the latest and greatest. The guy in the surf with the big Penn 70whatever series spinner, on an old fiberglass stick is the guy I want to fish with. No super braid, no graphite, nothing made after 1989. I want to be known as the guy who catches fish with thrift store gear.
Ok dude you're in the right place...I built most of my collection out of pawn shops, yard sales, flea market refurbishment. I've been meaning to do a thread on rebuilding a flea market rod for the cheapest possible, including the turning gear, so I'll get on that.
Calcutta is the prized grade of bamboo cane, used for fly rods to tuna rods 60 years ago or earlier before fibreglas.
One of my plugs, and some of the rods I use for them: Mitchell 488's and 486, on honey gold Lamiglas and Fenwick glas staffs that I rewrapped. Minimum 30 years old and likely 40 in some cases.
Please do the thread on the cheapest way to do the rods!!! I need this information. Before I bought that Sea Striker, I hunted around for surf rod blanks because I know I can find the spine on a rod blank and tie on rod guides. I posted the pictures in this post because I forgot to include them in the above post.
I have nothing but respect for fly fisherman, and ever more respect for people who make their own flies and fly tackle. That level of hand dexterity is beyond me.
Here is my homebuilt and low-tech equipment. The belt grinder is made out of scrap square tube, an old 110/220 fan motor, new grinder wheels, and some cheap 2x72 belts that I was given. I have several electric drills, but I find that I get straighter channels when I do it by hand with my trusty hand drill. I'll eventually do some lures completely by hand, just so that I know that I could build them without power. Heck, I'm even going to make my own paint and sealer, later on. I love that kind of stuff.
Those. Are. Gorgeous.
I'm going to build rigs like that, down the line. I love the old gear. The new stuff does nothing for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it. I was catching sailfish with Shimano Baitrunners on a family friend's 25' foot Contender back in the early 90s. At the time it was the best equipment tailor made for light offshore charter fishing. Today, I'd rather fish from shore with 50 year old equipment, because it doesn't require a $100k investment.
That belt sander is awesome.
Notice the super high tech tracking accomplished by a harbor freight big vise clamp zip tied to the frame, and the other vise grip on the top wheel. It will spit belts at you if you don't have them in place.
I was making it for a friend, he sourced the wheels and came up with the plans and motor. I went back to trade school last year to learn to weld (cool process, terrible work field) so I stick welded it together for him. He moved to take an awesome job in Birmingham, and when we exchanged goodbye gifts, he gave me the grinder. It's a workhorse.
I didn't get a chance to head out to the workshop until about 10:30pm. Had to run errands all day in the lovely feeder bands from Cindy.
So, I learned a valuable lesson tonight. I am done through-drilling, for now. I shaped up three small topwater swimmer baits, and.......blew through the sides of all of them. I'm just going to inlet and epoxy from here on out. It will cost alittle more, but it's worth it because I can make cooler shapes.
I made my first attempt at a Yozuri popper, a regular shad style swimmer, and a modified fat boy Yozuri-style. I'm going to do the final shaping and rig and paint them tomorrow. In the picture below the regular Yozuri style popper looks straight but it has alot of neat dimensionality in person.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_20_06_17_11_19_23_173422121.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_20_06_17_11_19_36_17343941.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_20_06_17_11_20_15_17344650.jpeg)
Quote from: thorhammer on June 20, 2017, 04:00:35 PM
Calcutta is the prized grade of bamboo cane, used for fly rods to tuna rods 60 years ago or earlier before fibreglas.
Funny this should come up today. Steve (Oc1) and I have been trading messages about bamboo, and I've done some recent research. Steve lives in HI and builds his own bamboo rods from bamboo he grows himself. I'll let him expand if he wishes.
If you talk to bamboo growers, they don't know what Calcutta cane is. Call it "Male bamboo", or by its scientific name,
Dendrocalamus strictus and you'll get somewhere. It seems that only fishermen refer to bamboo rods as "cane". This particular bamboo plant is native to India and Asia, but has also become naturalized in Cuba and several Pacific Islands. It prefers dry weather but tolerates monsoons. In India it grows with solid culms (the culm is the trunk). In Florida, where I am, it grows with hollow culms, presumably due to the difference in humidity but that hasn't been explained to my satisfaction. In building a split-bamboo rod only the outside of the culm is used anyway, and the culms I've seen split for rod-making (on videos) have been hollow. "Calcutta cane" is a "clumping" bamboo, not a "running" bamboo. The former are useful in landscaping. The latter are like weeds and will pop up runners three yards down the road; not what most people want in their yards, considering if left alone they can easily grow 30-40 feet tall or more in a few years - they grow extremely rapidly.
I never understood what it took to build a split-bamboo rod until I started this research a few weeks ago. There's a cool YouTube video of Hoagie Carmichael (who bought the Garrison flyrod shop years ago) building split-bamboo fly rods. The precision required is amazing. The rod shop has since been donated to a museum somewhere in the Poconos.
Sid
Thank you, Sdlehr! I love learning about older and nearly forgotten practices. I'm also in florida, up in the Panhandle. There's alot of clumping bamboo around here. I'm going to take a look at split bamboo rods, because I think it's amazing that you can catch tuna with gear made out of cane. In our super-modern age nearly everything in our lives is machine made or mass produced. Bringing back the old handmade ways is as vital (to me at least) today, as it was to the men and women who relied on the processes in order to survive. We must not let these old arts die. We have newer (some say better) processes for doing all kinds of things today, but forgetting how we got to the point where we are now is a short-sighted approach that can only hurt us.
The average man in a closet sized workshop can make a stunning variety of things. I wish more of my generation would put down the video game controller and pick up a hand tool.
Amen to that Flipflop ;D
Sorry if I got alittle preachy. It's just annoying being surrounded by an entire age bracket that has no idea how anything around them functions, outside of their smartphone.
Today I'm going to post pictures of those lures painted up and rigged. I'm going to try to emulate Yozuri's colors. I don't have their exact shades, but I do have a couple of blues that should enable me to do a fade into a white underbelly, pretty easily.
I learned that inletting is alot easier once you've done a couple of lures.
First, I flattened the weights that I had available (for me, cast lead balls for an old cap and ball rig). Then, I sawed them with my little Dozuki saw, and used my hand miter saw to enlarge and deepen the cuts. After that I reamed out with my dremel tool. Once I had a weight pocket, I reamed the forward side to accomodate a swivel on the through-wire. I went back after reaming and cleaned up the channel with alittle hand saw action. I did a bimini twist on one end of the wire, laid it in the channel, popped a swivel on, pushed a weight in on top of the wire, and then made sure they fit together well.
Once I did one, it took less than five minutes per lure for the other two. I superglued the weights in place, then cheated and used wood glue as both a bonder and a filler for the inlet channel. It's probably not orthodox at all, but I'm a rebel without a clue.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_12_23_17_17354821.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_12_23_47_17355595.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_12_25_32_173582004.jpeg)
Not only is split-cane rod-building labor-intensive, but the initial layout of equipment makes it nearly impossible to dabble in this. I think one either has to go big, or go home. I'd love to go big, but realistically, I'm going home.
I was watching a man on youtube split the cane by hand with a knife, much like a froe. That didn't look so bad, however he lost me as the technicality of building cane rods goes super deep. Unless fiberglass becomes a hyper rare commodity, I believe that I'm going to stay away from this art. Much like rocket surgery, it's beyond my capabilities.
I'm in the Florida Panhandle and will hook you up with whatever you need. You still need the Carbontex drag washers and Cal's grease? PM me your address and its on the way. I will build you a care package to help you along. No problem at all.
I will make the ones you need and send you a 1mm thick sheet so you can make your own when the next one comes along.
Keith
Keith is a straight up dude; hope to meet one day. Sid, I've met. Jury's out on him unless I happened to need a Vgc 9/0 spool for free 😜.
Sid, that build hopefully will get wet in the next day or two if wind lays. Thanks again!
Keith, I appreciate your help!
Tiddlerbasher has cut the washers for this particular reel and they're in the post.
I refuse to accept the help that has been given by you incredible human beings without giving something in return. I'm going to continue building lures and refining my craft, so the minute you gentleman see one that you like I will pop it in the mail ASAP. Please don't hesitate! I mean it.
Oh, I forgot to mention, no sir, I do not have any drag grease. I honestly had never heard of it before this forum.
Thorhammer, I am anxiously looking forward to that post on rod building. I'm going to start shooting paint on those lures tonight. I found a deal on white and black cheap enamel spray paint so I'm taking your approach and shooting a couple of coats of that. I was fretting about how to fill and smooth the lure lines and then it dawned on me............I have a hot glue gun and glue sticks. Cooled hot glue doesn't sand well.....ask me how I know that.....but it does cut wth a razor knife. I bet I can get a good smooth fill with it.
I putter a bit restoring old glass rods, post what you need when the time comes, I have a bunch of old stuff sitting around. Nice to see old capable rods back to life. Sheridan
Use what you have fish won't care. Otherwise a $4 can of plastic wood or even silicone caulk will do.
You already grasp the most important tutorial of this forum. Pay it forward. I sent Sid a spool a couple years ago he needed and he repaid recently (with a much better piece to me btw). Keith and many others send parts around as needed and get in return. It's how it works. I could start listing folks that have helped me out and I would see the sunrise.
Biggiesmalls blessed me to post the rebuild I did fir him recently so will start there. He hasn't finished the reel build yet but I told him we had a member interested in this subject and he was all in.
FFRS, Like Daron said, "thanks for bringing us along on this project"
You don't owe a thing... but one of these days you'll get a chance to share with someone else. When that day comes...
Guess we're Godfatherish on AT.com :D
Very nice woodwork btw.
Steve
I am honored by the help, everyone. There aren't words, other than it's incredibly humbling walking into such a warm welcome from near perfect strangers.
I do not reccomend the hot glue as a filler. Yes, it will work. Caulk is a much much better idea. I'm going to go get some tomorrow. I haven't had good luck with wood filler around marine environments and I'm not sealing with a thick layer of epoxy, just alittle polyurethane so I'm afraid that it might swell or pop out. I did stumble onto something that works well in a pinch, tonight. I had a roll of nylon masonry cord laying around and it was the exact size of the saw channel.....I applied superglue and will sand it flush tomorrow. Superglue sands well, I find.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_8_30_07_17359643.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_8_29_57_17359878.jpeg)
Steve, thank you for the compliment. I literally got into wood working two weeks ago. My fiance's father gave me a big crate of power tools from the 70s and inside was a router......what an eye opener a router is. Between that, my cheap harbor freight port-a-band that I made into an upright bandsaw, and my two belt sanders, I find that if I can think of it, I can try to make it.
Swami805, Thorhammer had mentioned taking apart older glass rods and building them into newer rods. This is an art that I'm definitely interested in. I love taking old things and making them like new again.
Here's a couple of tips for you as you get a little more into the lure making.
1. Try cedar rather than pine. It is a little lighter, more buoyant and repels water a little better than pine. It's very easy to work with. A
large number of early lures were made out cedar.
2. When you cut your lure blanks cut them so the grain runs length-ways rather than cross-ways. Cross grain breaks or snaps easily. Also,
linear grain shapes and sands better, plus it will be easier to get a smooth finish in the end.
3. If you through drill for wire, drill in from both ends and meet in the middle rather than trying to drill all the way through from one end.
It's easier to keep a shorter hole going in the right direction than a long one.
4. Regular wood glue dissolves in water. Try a urethane glue like Gorilla or Elmer's, they are pretty much waterproof. Urethane glue will
expand so it will fill voids but you should use a little less than if you were using regular wood glue. Urethane glues will sand if they
expand too much and weep a little.
5. You might try melting your lead and pouring it into the weight cavity rather than premaking the weight. If you do that bell the hole by
reaming it so that it is a little larger up inside than at the surface. That will help prevent the weight from falling out.
Quote from: FlipFlopRepairShoppe on June 22, 2017, 03:34:06 AM
I am honored by the help, everyone. There aren't words, other than it's incredibly humbling walking into such a warm welcome from near perfect strangers.
I do not reccomend the hot glue as a filler. Yes, it will work. Caulk is a much much better idea. I'm going to go get some tomorrow. I haven't had good luck with wood filler around marine environments and I'm not sealing with a thick layer of epoxy, just alittle polyurethane so I'm afraid that it might swell or pop out. I did stumble onto something that works well in a pinch, tonight. I had a roll of nylon masonry cord laying around and it was the exact size of the saw channel.....I applied superglue and will sand it flush tomorrow. Superglue sands well, I find.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_8_30_07_17359643.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/17587_21_06_17_8_29_57_17359878.jpeg)
My go-to filler for exterior applications is bondo. Never have used in the salt except I've filled lots of San Francisco exterior trim with bondo, primer and paint. Guess that's pretty salty.
Steve
MidwayTommy, you know....I have some cedar siding in my scrap pile. It's only 3/4" thick but I can just ream out a channel for the wire on the inside of each piece and then glue the two together. I don't have any way to safely melt the lead, but that is a VERY intelligent way of mounting weights. I tried drilling from each end of the blank, but I couldn't get them to line up well, resulting in the blow throughs earlier in the post. I had that large reamer bit in my hand drill to try to connect the two holes but even that didn't work out well. I am never going to claim to even be a journeyman craftsman.
Thank you so much for that advice, sir! It gave me some awesome ideas for how to make better lures. I bet that cedar won't gum up my belts and router bits the way the pine has been doing, too.
Steve, I don't have any regular bondo, but I do have some Bondo glazing and spot putty. Do you think that that would work?
I think you need a 2 part mixture. Epoxy? probably other products will work. Bondo is nice because it's easy to form to a smooth surface and can be sanded after. But, who knows? Try what you have and see if it works.
Swill88, I don't have much epoxy laying around, but I can use gorilla glue mixed with the wood flour that comes off of my belt sanders.
MidwayTommy's advice gave me a 180 degree turnaround. With the new approach I hope to eliminate the need for much wood filling. I'm going to take two cedar halves from some old scrap siding, ream out channels inside, and then glue them together. I know for a fact that you can work on something glued with Gorilla White Glue 45 mins after gluing it, so I am going to try this out first thing tomorrow and post pictures.
Oh, I realized that I didn't explain my method when I first posted this. If you look up on youtube how to quickly cure gorilla glue using baking soda and vinegar you'll get good recipes for how to get polyurethane glue to cure in less than an hour. Now, I wouldn't use it for something super high strength, but for lures, I'm going for it.
Here is my new revamped method in the works. I used my quick curing Gorilla Glue and am going to shape and sand here in alittle while. They are rough, but I nicknamed this whole project my Q.U.A.D. Lures. Quick Ugly And Dirty.
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How does Daiwa Tutorials & Questions relate to DIY wooden lures?? I think you are in the wrong section. There is a section for lures. Most of this needs to be moved there. Mods???
Moderators, I will gladly move this section to the Beginner's board section. I'm going to copy and post my posts with photos over there. If there is a better way, please show me!
Flip Flop you are building lures, why not post them in the Lures section. That's the place for lures. store bought or homemade. The begginers section is more for "How can I fix this" not this is how I did it. Rudy
Check out the thread, bud. You'll see why I posted it there. More lure building will follow in the lure section.
Hey flop start a new thread on the plugs for folks that haven't followed the evolution and spirit of the project. Not the first time a thread morphed nor the last. It's what makes this place awesome, the free flowing exchange, and will focus on the project in a different view as this is way more interesting than a reel tutorial as it began.
After I do the quick and dirty lure, I'm going to go back to logging my regular lure building in the lure section. Thanks for all of your help, Thorhammer.
Quote from: thorhammer on June 23, 2017, 12:01:08 AM
Hey flop start a new thread on the plugs for folks that haven't followed the evolution and spirit of the project. Not the first time a thread morphed nor the last. It's what makes this place awesome, the free flowing exchange, and will focus on the project in a different view as this is way more interesting than a reel tutorial as it began.
I like this thread , has a little of everything in it .... going to follow it were ever it goes joe
Hey, Oldmanjoe. The thread has moved over to the beginner's forum. I'm writing a quick and dirty lure tutorial there. Who knows what that'll turn into down the line.
Love this thread! It's a box of chocolates, The man's on a roll, keep it coming Flip!
Thank you, Swami805! Wait until you see the weird components I picked up in the dollar section at my local craft store. There are going to be some lures built soley around them.
For anyone that's interested, I've completed the post over in the beginner's section, and have also started a new topic in the Lures section titled Inexpensive Creative Lures.