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Hello to all members! This is my first post -Raven

when i make plugs: i use thrown away rake handles that
i collect through-out the year... and after the shaping process
i slap-em in the vice rapped in a rag to prevent marks from the jaws and then use a wood burl reemer bit (round style ) and
force feed it into the plug head and purposely make it "smoke
and burn" a real deep ( 5/8 inch ) cup mouth which hardens the wood to prevent an eye screw from pulling out and use glue too.

buck tails are tied seperately to help hide hooks and to provide an absorbent material to add some scent like menhaden oil.
Ive had plugs bitten in half and on hook set they smacked into
the side of my boat as a half plug.

tight lines ! _Raven

Plugs bitten in half? wow.
I guess you need to try thru wiring some of those bad boys. Maybe the hardening process is making the plug brittle???

I use cedar and birch and maple.

I tried using a round rasp but was never able to get that nice even cup.

Now I do it right on the lathe. Instead of cutting the plug off flat I angle in as far as possible with the cut off tool then finish the inside with the small home made tool in the photo. All I have to do to finish is nip out the tiny bit left in the center with a small carving gouge.

Photo #1 - the tool with the turned blank
Photo #2 - the finished plug

Messed up - Here's photo 2

http://striped-bass.com/images/popperdone1_a.jpg

Sweet plug!

(I dropped the image size a little for our brothers with dial-up modem lines :eek: )

I just use the Forstners bit now. It is not written anywhere that it has to be rounded. I saw some Gags poppers yesterday and they were flat at the bottom.