Here are a few darters I made. The one on the left was my first plug about a year ago. I gave it to a friend 2 weeks after I made it and had to bribe him to get it back last month.

as allways, they look great! olive/black eye
:drool:

Jr Link

consider you just been ho'ed.. i like that one right in the middle..


:D

Olive:btu: :btu: Nice. Specs?

Originally posted by crashfromamesbury
consider you just been ho'ed.. i like that one right in the middle..


:D


i saw them first!:cool:... i see wonderbread in the backround :rolleyes:

Originally posted by crashfromamesbury
consider you just been ho'ed.. i like that one right in the middle..


:D :laughs: :laughs:

BA, the plug is 6 1/2" long x 1 1/4" in diam. weight is 3 oz and made out of birch. I swam 3 of them today before the epoxy and was satisfied .

Nice Dah Tas ....Newelly ,,buddy old pal ... Real sweeet....yous gots a lot of em ...:rolleyes:

Yup, and they be all mine, mine, mine, mine,mine....

Originally posted by Newell Guy
Yup, and they be all mine, mine, mine, mine,mine....

:af:















:D

Newell, did you find those harder to make than anything else?? I've been wanting to make some, but for one I dont have the right wood and secondly, isnt the slope and mouth very tricky to get right? I mean if its slightly off, it wont swim right??

true, got to have a good eye. I got 2 of them:D I layed out 6 or 7 different darters and came up with these.

Newell
Very sweet plugs. You use a jig to make the cuts?:cool:

These are great. I have made every type of plug except darters. Talk to us about the technique for cutting the slope on the top and the notch for the mouth.:confused:

yeh! grand wizard of ayc, spill ya guts...the mindless want ta know...fess up!

I line the slope up with the center of the plug and cut it down with my benchtop belt sander. For the mouth cut I insert a 5/16" drill bit into swivel hole and lay it on a piece of strapping sideways. Sounds more confusing than it really is. With only a little practice yo can make this cut come out nice.

:confused:

Thanks for the lesson Newell Guy.:)

all right..... I'll step in here and post the plans:D:

When I do make soem of these, I'm going to do what newell did and use a bandsaw to do the mouth... the slope ends at the loop at the nose and slopes back to a certian spot along the back, so I'll start sanding at the mark on the back and apply pressure to the nose... when enough material is removed the slope should end at the loop hole....

somebody told me a really neet way to cut the lip that is very simple an foolproof.Maybe he'll see this an fess up.then again I wish he would not.to many experts out there already.:smash:

Sorry bout that.I like darters that throw like a missle.now gettin one of them to swim is a acomplishment.Oz makes a good darter.I like the shape Tatoos swim good but tumble on the way out.tough to beat a super strike for fishability or a Beachmaster for depth or a gibbs 2 5/8 for all around perfomance.three good models to copy. I rewired an added some lead to those funny gibbs three once jobs an that did the trick with them.I wonder if they even tested them before they put them out.:confused:

Newell Guy could you show a front picture of those dahtas. I've been putting the wire threw the middle and bending the loop to the back. Yours look like they are coming out of the back. Sorry for all the questions....still trying to learn!:p

Thanks. Got it. Great explaination

TT, not sure what you are looking for but here goes, the 3 on left have been swam and dart nicely, the 2 on right are different as far as front loop goes. Going to swim these at the Canal today.

here is another shot

Nice darters :happy:

For those using the Frech article, you can make a simple jig to do the cuts:

Set up the fence on the bandsaw, then clamp the blank to the jig to do the face cuts. I leave the square end on the tail and put a small shim under the plug to keep it square.

After doing both face cuts, set up the blank to do the angle on the top:

Doh, attach the image too :smash: :rolleyes:

Here is the blank, just needs some sanding and it is ready.

Awesome! thanks jigman:happy:

Newell thanks, I've been cutting the bottom lip to the hole and sanding the back 1/8" or smaller to the bottom lip. So the wire loop was in the middle of the mouth, not above. I see what you are doing different and makes a more sence. I haven't swam any yet because the lake are all frozen yet. I'll be going to the shore this weekend though.

Jigman thanks again. I've made a couple that way too but it take me more time. I'll let both of you know haw they swimm soon.

This sight rocks. Thanks to all the guys here for us newys!

Kudos to you guys. Great expanation and great pics.
Tight Lines
PTI

TT, the 3 on left darted good. The blue one on right with loop further out didn't do so good. With an aggressive retrieve it would roll out. The 3 with loop above mouth stayed right in there and couldn't be forced to roll out.