Lure Carving: Part 1 - California Fishing

MOBassman · 12-03-2008, 11:30 AM

Carving a Swimbait: Part 1

Fig 1-A This picture shows the tools I use most often in lure carving. They include: a box plane, a 4 in 1 file, an Xacto knife, a finger drill and sanding sponges. Other tools that I use (not pictured) are a Dremel Rotary Tool and a vise. They will make an appearance later in this tutorial. The only tools you actually need to finsh a lure are: an Xacto knife, sandpaper, a finger drill, a vise, a Dremel (or drill) and a saw for cutting out your blanks.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what you will be carving. The members of Hookup have made that choice for me, so we will be carving a trout swimbait today.

After you have your pattern picked out, you need to select a piece of wood. Here we are using a piece of 1/2" pine.

Fig 1-B Lay out your pattern, going with the grain. Never go across the grain, as shown in Fig 1-C. Going across the grain will make a structurally weak lure!

Trace each half of the pattern, making sure to mark where fins, eye screws and weight will be placed. After the pattern has been traced, remove and mark the lines for the fins, eye screws and weight on the actual lure body. This is shown in Fig 1-D. If you don't mark the lines before cutting out the blank, you won't know where your hardware and fins will go.

Fig 1-E Shows what all the marks on the body are for. We'll come back to these later.

The next step is going to the saw and cutting out your blank. For this, I recommend a band saw. You can use a scroll saw, if that's all you have. You can even use a coping saw. Just be sure your cuts are square. Nothing is more aggravating than trying to carve a lopsided lure.

This ends part one of the tutorial. Part two is coming soon.

Local Rookie · 12-03-2008, 12:34 PM

very nice! Quick questions, what's that tool between the file and sand spounge? Also, what kind of wood should we use or maybe what would you recommend? Is pine what you would recommend? Thanks.

Wahoo! · 12-03-2008, 01:31 PM

Great start Darren! I'm looking forward to watching this lure be built from beginning to end!

IEATFISH · 12-03-2008, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Local Rookie

very nice! Quick questions, what's that tool between the file and sand spounge? Also, what kind of wood should we use or maybe what would you recommend? Is pine what you would recommend? Thanks.

The tool in question is a box plane. I would reccommend any wood besides your own to cut, plane, drill, carve, paint, and toss in the water.

Thanks MoBass, good start. I see this one is going to JG101 but I would like to get a swimbait from you when your ready to do a shad.

BeachBear · 12-03-2008, 02:02 PM

That is bad ##### of you to share. I'd try, but I like having all my fingers

FromtheLBC · 12-03-2008, 03:21 PM

can we get a scanned version of that stencil?

Sinjin Kim · 12-03-2008, 04:02 PM

Very cool info!

Max Estep · 12-03-2008, 04:50 PM

Thats sick!

spooky007 · 12-03-2008, 05:06 PM

Great start Darren!! You have to much time on your hands!!!

fishtaco · 12-03-2008, 05:07 PM

I like it ! keep going

andale!

AlexRuiz · 12-03-2008, 06:38 PM

Good stuff! I can't wait to see the next installment!

dodoman · 12-03-2008, 07:10 PM

right on mobass.
this will help me understand a bit better on how you do it.
are you snowed in yet?

MOBassman · 12-03-2008, 09:54 PM

Harold, the tool in question is, indeed, a box plane. You can get them at most hardware stores. As for wood, I recommend cedar to most new lure makers. Cedar is naturally resistant to rot and is one of the easier woods to carve and sand. Pine is easy to carve but the grain makes it hard to get smooth by hand sanding.

IEATFISH, if this one goes well, the shad is next.

Rich, I still think you'd do awesome making lures. You have serious skills!

Sherwood, I might make this pattern available as a download. Let me get with Jon and see what we can do.

Everyone else, thanks for the replies of enthusiasm!! I should have the next installment in a couple days. Sorry it takes so long.

SoCalGuy7 · 12-04-2008, 09:02 AM

Very cool of you to do this!
It will show everyone how entailed making lures can be.

SCG7

mickeysindahous · 12-04-2008, 09:28 AM

C'mon Darren, why do we have to wait a couple days? It's not like you've got any business to do "outside."

How's the weather treating you?

Mighty cool of you to do this! Part 1 is awesome. I'd join in, but I've barely got enough time to clean my butt. Maybe during the holiday break I'll give it a shot. I'd really like to see the products of those following this tutorial!