I've been winging it, holding an original next to the lathe and copying into wood. Didn't have '40 lips at first so I used pikie lips. Now that I have the right tin, where are they weighted? Can't tell with the plastic ones. :huh:

I like to weight them approx 3/4" to 1" behind front hook

I took a vintage wood apart and found no weight at all .. I stripped the plug down to repaint no belly weight and no tail weight .. Although I think there were some that were tail weighted.. Capesams knows .. Where is the old grumpy fart ?

I remember the thread with the tailweighteds. I think that they were trollers. I made one of birch and another of AYC. The AYC swims good never got the chance with the Birch, but it seemed weighty, which could be good in a breeze I guess.

blue streak furniture grade mahogony ... thats a heavy atom 40 stlye plug ..

I made a couple this winter that had zero weight and i painted them either solid white or solid black. they swim sweet... just wish i could find the time to use them :(

BB Jake.... I have a variety of oldies and new in wood....I could get in the mail to your Clinton crib soon if you want buddy....no dissections please :hee:

I have x-rayed several original wooden atom 40s. Most are unweighted and weigh between 2.6 and 2.75 oz. I have one that is weighted, it carries a 2.85"x 1/4" through wired tail weight that extends from the tail to the back belly hook. That plug weighs about 3.6 oz. I have also seen an early wood A-40 (the one with the paper work about the canal contest results) that had a belly weight. I couldn't xray it, but did weigh it and it weighed about 2.75 oz. I suspect that Bob Pond did weight some to compensate for variations in the plug body density, but quickly gave it up as being too much trouble.

You might be interested to know, however, that a recent commerical reproduction of the A40, that fishes very well, carries both a belly weight and a tail weight, even in the junior size. The Blue Streak versions of the A40 also were tail weighted. PM me if you want more details.