Ok, its early june and I already need to make more pencils & needles. Guess I was slacking last winter... I have 2 bundles of that nice red cedar from plugfest, do you guys think red cedar is too soft for pencils ? Will the constant hook swing chew em up worse that AYC?

I made some floating needles from pine and I've noticed they get damaged a lot easier than my ayc or maple needles. I need more floating needles and I was also thinking of using the red cedar for this application too....

Maybe I need to epoxy seal the blanks to toughen them up?

Epoxy seal them and they will be fine. (For pencils)

I would not use red cedar for needles unless you want some floaters.

the wood #^&#^&#^&#^& had at plug fest was white cedar and cypress. the cypress is nearly the same as AYC.

Finatic you are right, it was white cedar! I have 1 piece downstairs sitting next to some AYC and it looked so dark I was thinking it was red.. I haven't turned any of it yet, but I have it stacked in my shed and boy does my shed smell nice...

Like said above, epoxy seal them. I have found that a plug, a very good, popular one, made by a comm. builder, fishes so much better made form red other than the ones he make in AYC. It is of the top water variety. They will still get wrecked but that is a good thing. I would rather have the action than the durability. I can make more if need be. As far as needles go let us know how you fair with the light wooded needles.

That's right! PlugFest wood was Atlantic White Cedar and Cypress. Another fellow had some Spanish Cedar.
The AWC turns real nice!!

I made my Monstro little neck of AWC. They work very well if I say so myself. I don't see why pencils wouldn't work. Floating needles work well, suspending needles by adding another shot or two..

I'm saving my AWC for swimmers .. Same with red cedar.. swimmers .. I like AYC for heavy arse pencils .. was even thinking of trying something heavier for pencils .. I like Birch needles ,,very minor weight tweaking and you got your floating,,slow sink ,sinkers.. cherry also.. Unless your looking for a real dancy light pencil .. then I'd just make a spook ..

Whites fine, a much more lively wood. Like others said you can epoxy just dont over do or you will kill what makes it so active.

Watch you dont make the nose to thin it coud split when you wire it.

Red for pencils..
I epoxy seal em till they take no more..
If u start with the lightest wood an seal the crap out of it it is still ur best bet..
I like a hard pencil they take a beating plus sometimes the hooks will stick in the wood of a softer plug..You might lose a fish with the hook stuck in the plug..It has happened to me..

Like said above, epoxy seal them. I have found that a plug, a very good, popular one, made by a comm. builder, fishes so much better made form red other than the ones he make in AYC. It is of the top water variety. They will still get wrecked but that is a good thing. I would rather have the action than the durability. I can make more if need be. As far as needles go let us know how you fair with the light wooded needles.

I just started turning some red cedar for pencils and was wondering what I was going to do to toughen them up....then I read this thread. Thanks for the advise. I will let everybody know how they hold up when they are done.

red cedar = spooks.

red cedar = spooks.

Good call. I gotta get some more red cedar!

white is good too

anyone use proprionate with red cedar to seal it? Any thoughts?

IMO not worth it. It works but if you want to add toughness you would have to dip it 3 million times. Go with CPES or epoxy and even then it is going to wear from hooks so just make lots of em.

DJ if you use cut hooks instead of hooks on split rings it will help a bit with the hooks being able to dig into the side of the lure, giving you that hook swing dig/rash sort of thing. YOu know the deal measure re/measure sort of thing. I love the red for topwater :kewl: