Crankbait Making 101
Article by Sebastian
Perez Jr.
The idea of writing an instructional  article on crankbait
making was borne of my own trials and frustrations of not having
enough available tutoring at hand, either in print or in person.
Of the hundreds of books I own, which encompass almost every fact-minutae
of lures, tackle and fishing only a few touch upon the
topic of making your own wooden crankbaits. In my research for this
article, it was even difficult to locate periodical articles on the
subject. Is it because of the myth that crankbait making is
difficult? Is it because lures on the market are thought to be
better? It is my hopes that this brief article will clearly explain
steps to success in making crankbaits that catch BIG FISH. I consider
myself a life-long "student of crankbait making" as there is always
something new to try and another fish to
fool.
From the top:
First I should tell you from my own experience that carving and assembling wooden
lures is loads of fun. It's hard to say what's more fun,
a good day fishing or carving up a lure that makes people think
it's a real fish hangin' on your line! I'll tell
you this though when you put them both together, well its
bliss!
Now lets begin by looking to the trees
and finding wood that will work well for our little endeavor.
I have found red cedar to be the easiest to work with for several
reasons.
It is inexpensive and readily available. It also has a good casting
weight .Cedar is also easy to sand and can leave you with a pretty
smooth surface. This wood will make it easy for you to screw into but
does split on occasion, if we're not careful.
You can experiment with other types of wood like balsa, basswood or
pine.
OK, now that we've selected our wood, we must
decide on a shape and that depends on a few things. One is
your target species, and it's average size, another is depth
range and common forage during the season you'll likely be
fishing.
Obviously if it's panfish you're after you're going to want
to stick with a shape that's 2-inches or less.
Unfortunately these are generally more difficult to make
because any errors in the placement of the components is magnified
relative to the overall body size.
At least till you get the hang of things, stick with
something at least 4-inches long, that seems to be a good overall
size for lot's of different species of fish should you happen
across one.
I've included a 4-in. pattern that you can print out for
you to work from.
Trace the pattern onto a piece of cardboard and use this as
your template for tracing onto your wood block. Use a piece of
wood that's clean, free of knots and for this lure you'll need
it to be 5/8" thick. Lay your template onto the wood and trace
your lure shape.
The Craft
Now this is where it starts
to get tricky, depending on your woodworking skills.
If you own or have access to a scroll saw (about $100 in store),
it'll make this job much easier, if not, the good old fashioned
coping saw (about $10) always worked for me.
Note: Always wear safety
glasses when working wood. If you're using a coping saw, place your
wood block in a vice in a way that you're most comfortable with. If
you don't have a vice use a clamp.
Now you want to make sure that you cut as evenly as possible and
try to stay just on the outside of your line.
After your shape is cut, check to make sure that it's even on
both sides (especially if you cut by hand).
Wood is cheap and if you're not satisfied write it off as
practice and try again.
So far you've warmed up your wood working skills. If you've never
done this before then you've just experienced what it must have been
like for the first MAN on earth who wanted to fool a fish into
eating his hand made decoy, just as you're doing now. The wonderful
feeling he had when he succeeded you'll soon experience also!
You must also cut the slot for the "lip" to
slide into. This should be done before any carving so that the lure
can lay flat on it's side if you're using the scroll saw or it will
sit level in a vice if you use the coping saw. Either way you
MUST be sure that the slot is perfectly perpendicular to the lure
body. The slot in the pattern included shows the slot with 3/32"
thickness. I have found this ideal for the our lure body. You can
adjust the thickness to suit the plastic you may have available,
however I would not go any thinner than
1/8".
See "Attaching Lip" for details.
Your lure should look just like
this:
Your next step is going to help you know where the center is at
all times while you carve.
Using a ruler mark the center along the top and bottom of you're
lure shape and draw a line that runs the distance from end to end on
bottom and top.
Draw another line that runs down the same axis midway between
your centerline and the edge on both the top and bottom. Use your
middle finger as a chock to guide your line.
Now you should have 4 equally spaced sections on the top and
bottom of your shape.
Again using your middle finger as a chock,
run a line equal in width to your sections along the curved edge on
both sides of your shape.
Your lure should look just like this:
The side
view should look like this:
The bottom should look like
this:
Now you'll need a carving knife and I don't mean the one that
grandma used to carve the turkey.
There are plenty of good carving knives you can buy in a wood
working store and I use them exclusively. They're great for the job
and you can even carve details into your lure for a more realistic
looking 3D effect (I think this impresses your friends more than the
fish).
However all you really need to get the job done is a box cutting
razor or something similar as long as it has a sharp blade.
Note: Most accidents are caused by a blade that's not sharp
enough or trying to take off too much wood in one pass. Now it's time to start carving so put your safety glasses
on!
First, get a good grip on the lure with one end on the table
you're going to work on.
Carefully and slowly begin to carve out all
your edges using the lines you made as a guide.
Don't try to take it all out in one pass, as it is important not
to go beyond the lines.
Obviously the general idea here is to carve the wood in the shape
of a fish. However, there are also some design specifications that
have to be maintained in order to attain the action that the lure is
intended to have.
One of these variables that affect the action is the shape.
I've done a lot of experimenting with lure shapes over the years
and have found that sometimes even a small divergence from the
intended design will change the action dramatically.
So try and stick to the pattern and you should be just fine.
Once you've carved out the edges satisfactorily, it's time to
taper the sides.
The idea here is to carve a shape that gradually tapers back to a
3/16".
Stand the lure on the tail side and from almost 1/2 way up the
lure, make one pass with the knife removing wood diagonally. Make
another pass starting from about 1/4 of the way up
the lure. Your final cut should meet your top guideline.
Repeat this process for the opposite side.
Now from the top and bottom view you can see how you've done.
Have you taken equal amounts off both sides? The left and right side
should be a mirror of one another.
You can go ahead and carefully touch it up so they're smooth and
even.
Now let's move on to the head of the lure. Again stand the lure
on the end we're going to carve and hold securely. Remember to
always carve away from your fingers, trust me this won't be much fun
anymore if you hurt yourself.
Basically you want to bring the nose to a taper like you did with
the tail only this time you'll begin from about 1/4 of the way up
the side of the lure. Make a smooth taper towards the nose until the
carve meets with the top guideline.
 Your lure should look just
like
this:
Continue to remove edge tapering and narrowing the overall
body.
It is important to the balance of the lure that you remove equal
weight on both sides so whatever you remove on one side try to
mirror it on the other.
You should end up with a relatively smooth oval shape that
gradually tapers from end to end leaving a flat circular surface on
both ends for which to screw into later.
 You should end up
with a shape that looks like this:
Now it's time to sand your lure. Alwayssand
in the direction
of the grain.
You'll begin with coarse paper, around 100 grit and work your way
to 400 grit paper until you have a very smooth surface.
Using the 100 grit paper, begin by smoothing any imperfections on the
surface. This stage of the sanding also helps to shape the lure so
make sure you have an oval shaped lure where the right half is a mirror
of the left.
Use a 200-grit paper to remove scratches and the
400-grit paper to give it a smooth-as-glass feel.
Attaching
Lip
You can
use various plastics but I have found that
the clearest and most durable is a product from Dupont called Lexan.
This or other "plexiglass" products can be bought at any home
improvement store at various thicknesses which can be cut to the desired shape
(trapezoidal with rounded edge about 1/2 inch long) using
your scroll or coping saw and then smoothing the edges with
sandpaper.
The 5-Minute Process
The defacto standard in epoxy for luremaking is of
the 5-minute variety. This is not to say that 5-minute epoxy cures
in 5 minutes. It is to say, however, that 5-minute epoxy sets and
takes a hard-fast shape in 5
minutes.
Attaching Screws.
IMPORTANT: Proper alignment of eyescrews is crucial to the
action of lure. The screws must all be aligned in the center of the
lure.
Mark the center of the front of the lure using
a fine point pen. Make a starter hole using a pin or small nail;
this is just to start the screw in the right position. Start your
eye-screw slowly, making sure to keep center as you are turning and
paying attention to any sign of splitting.  Turn the screw in until
the "eye" of the screw starts to dig into the lure body. Check the alignment of all
screws by viewing the lure from the front and back. The front and
middle screw should line up when viewing from the front and the rear
and middle should line up when viewing from the rear. Make sure that
the eye-screw is centered and perpendicular to lure body like
this: --------------------->
Now comes the paint job.
The key to any paint being used is
adhesion. The paint has to bond to the
surface. The wood should be primed or sealed before any
paint is applied. Use an oil based sealer/primer.
There are two basic kinds of
paints available on the market today, oil base and water base.
Water-base paint or acrylic, as it's also known has the obvious convenience of ease of use and easy clean
up. Normally, the drawback to acrylic and wood is it raises the
grain of the wood due to it's water base. But as long as the wood
is sealed (primed) there is no need to be concerned.
The
second drawback is that it doesn't adhere to the primer as well as the
second paint option, oil base paint. There are many different kinds of
oil-base paints out on the market today so stick with an enamel that
has a hi-solid content and dries quickly.
The main drawback of oil-base enamel is that
clean-up is difficult. Everything has to be cleaned with a solvent
like turpentine. If you have an airbrush you can work with that, if
not rest assured that the greatest pieces of art were made with
paint and a brush. A good Sable or Camelhair brush will should give
you smooth even strokes.
Colors
For bass fishing, it's best to stick to basic colors.
Crankbaits should match in a general way, the most dominant forage in
the lake. Thus, popular crankbait colors that should be included in
your tacklebox include: silver and black(shad), green and silver
(Tennessee shad), chrome (open water baitfish), orange and
brown(crawfish), etc. If golden shiners occur in your waters, "match
the hatch" by using gold crankbaits. Fluorescent colors are
effective on crankbaits in many conditions. A popular combination is
fluorescent green(chartreuse)/black spots/orange belly in stained
water and/or cloudy days. Red works well around grass beds in clear
and stained water. But always keep in mind that 80 percent of the
strikes you get are due to your retrieve, not color. Choose the design for your lure such as "Perch", "Trout", "Shad"
or any other popular finish or be creative and use your imagination,
you never know what crazy color combo can land you that lunker.
Paint your primary color using smooth even strokes trying to avoid
any drips and runs.
After your first coat is dry, if your base
coat looks a little translucent apply a second base coat. Next you can
start adding your detailing colors, gills, lateral lines eyes and mouth
are some of the details you may want to add to your crankbait
to make it look very realistic. I prefer using plastic molded eyes but
the painted eyes look just as good. If you allow the paint
to dry too long after a prior coating or if you are using a
gloss paint, give it a light sanding with a 400 grit sandpaper. Also, give
the lure a light sanding before applying a clear
coat.
Protective clear
coat
After your lure has been
painted and you are satisfied with the look, then it's time to apply
a protective, durable clear coat. There are many to choose from on
the market today but the strongest and the most durable is the
two-part clear epoxy kind. This is basically the same stuff that
cars are painted with. Purchase a can of this stuff at your local
hardware store or home improvement superstores and follow the
directions. You can apply 2 or more coats of this for a glass like
finish on your creation.
Hardware:
Hooks and Split Rings
The
proper size hook and split ring is also an important factor in your
creation. For this size lure, I recommend size "6" Treble Hook and
size "2" split ring. Adding the split rings is probably most
tedious part of this endeavor, especially without a good pair of
split ring pliers. Use a good quality split ring (Stainless Steel)
and pry it open with a small screwdriver and slip it on to the
center and rear screws. Then just slip your trebles onto the
ring.
Important:
Tuning crankbaits:
Crankbaits
(especially homemade ones) have to be "tuned" so that
they run true. Start by always using a loop knot or split
ring to tie your lure on. This is to allow the lure the action it
was intended to have. Now check how it's swimming. You can do some prelimiminary
checks in a full tub if needed butit's best to go lakeside for this.
Most discrepancies in the placement of the "lip" and "eye-screws"
can be compensated to make your crankbait run true. With needle-nose
pliers bend the "line" eye in small increments, in the opposite
direction the lure favors. If it runs left bend slightly
right etc.. Sometimes
fisherman will intentionally mistune a crankbait to get it to swim
in a certain direction, such as along a weedline or log.
Now you're ready to fish with something you've made yourself that
you can take pride in when you LAND THAT LUNKER!
To the readership: If you have additional secrets, methods or
tricks, please feel free to e-mail.
I'll add your comments to the article. That's the beauty of the
web! Information can be dynamic and is never dated by becoming
printed material for the ages!
|
BFHP 
