S-B.com is the first site I found about plug building and I would like to thank everyone for being so generous with the sharing of plug building know how. I have learned a lot here and would like to contribute any way I can.
Most of the following step by step will not be anything new to most of you but hopefully it will help someone.

What follows is a step by step I use for making a jointed pikie.
The first photo shows a completed body turned and marked for joint location, belly hole, eyes, and lip cut. If I am going to make a run of several, I can mark the first one only and then use stop blocks on the drill press and band saw so I don’t have to mark them all.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP1.jpg

The next step is to drill the belly hole and eyes. After this is done, it’s off to the band saw to cut the lip slot.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP2.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP3.jpg

The next step is to cut the joint location on a 45 angle on the tablesaw. To do this I clamped an extension piece to my miter gage and marked it to line up the plug. I also use this piece to set the height of the blade. I flip the plug and make two cuts on each side.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP4.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP5.jpg

Notice that I line up the mark on the plug with the mark on the miter gage extension.

Now I cut the top half of the square end off so it is not in the way for cutting the scalloped head.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP9.jpg

To do the scallop, I use a very simple jig along with a pattern bit on my router table. The jig has a dowel drilled in the bottom that is an exact fit for the belly hole. This acts as a registration point even if the blanks are not cut to the same exact length. The pattern bit has a bearing at the bottom that won’t allow you to cut off any more than the shape of the pattern. This makes it easy to get the same shape on all your pikies.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP6.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP7.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP8.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP10.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP11.jpg

Now the plug is ready to be cut at the joint. After the plug is in 2 parts, I cut the squared ends off and the drill for the thru wire. I put the chin weight in the thru wire hole using a tail weight, but if you prefer a bottom mounted weight, you can add that hole during the drilling of the eyes and belly hole.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1116952/JP13.jpg

WOW great tutorial Woodbuster :btu: :claps: thanks for posting that


There are so many steps involved in making a plug it's incredible.
I wonder if others realize what goes into making a custom plug and the time consumed by so many different steps. There is nothing quite like a hunk of wood to catch stripers on :D

NICE! this one should go in the how-to section. :kewl:

That is fantastic..... GREAT POST,,,,,

Very helpful.

Very nice, and I now have a very serious case of tool envy. All your stuff looks real heavy duty, makes my entry level stuff seems like toys...

I really like the router table jig with the collar. I think thats a very under utilized tool. I messed around with minnow type plugs on the router table using a round over bit last year, they came out nice and its sure faster than sanding.

Clever jig.

neat methods .. great looking plug .

Nice job and technique

That's great.. thanks!
Do you think I could possibly do the same with a dremel and a bit of luck?

Thanks for the kind words guys.
Like I said before, I've learned so much here and got to meet a bunch of the guys at Plugfest who were real helpful. I wanted to try to add a little instead of just taking alot!!

I use the router for a ton of stuff and to be honest, if all my tools had to be replaced, I'm gettin a router and table first. (I do other woodworking besides plugs) I have some other jigs that I use that I will post in the near future. Thanks again!!!

:kewl: Great post and please put up some jig pics as you know i only use one or two myself.:scatter:

Lu
You machinist types have me drooling with your jig making skills!!
One day I'm gonna hop on the PJ ferry and come looking for your lab!!

Like woodbuster said, you guys make me drool with your skills. Funny, I just finished a couple of jointed surfsters. Nice swimming action.

Cool how too! Always interesting to see how other builders set up jigs and how they go about building. On pikie face cuts, I use a beltsander.

Jigman

Wow....that is some awesome stuff.....that router jig is sheer brilliance

Awesome post and great slills.
Under all this plug making lies some rather wealthy machine tool salesmen. This hobby has been a boom to the tool industry! :)

Great post Woodbuster. Very creative with the jigs and fixtures. :kewl:

PatrickD

Like I always said there is more than one way to do something to end up with the same result. Just have to pick one that you are comfortable with. It would be a really boring world if everyone did everything the same way and you would never learn anything either. I enjoy seeing how each person thinks and how they figure out ways around obstacles.

Thanks very much Woodbuster. Pictures very clear and the teaching sequence very clean. Great job!

I am now enlightened.....thankyou so much.

Like I always said there is more than one way to do something to end up with the same result. Just have to pick one that you are comfortable with. It would be a really boring world if everyone did everything the same way and you would never learn anything either. I enjoy seeing how each person thinks and how they figure out ways around obstacles.

Exactly... good post.:cheers:

Excellent job of posting .... Now I am going to junk all my tools & start over. Well Done!:cheers:

I've read this a few times woodbuster and forgot to thank you. SO...

:thanks:

Good stuff.