Can someone give me the straight skinny on how long is necessary to soak AYC, Birch, Pine, Basswood in BLO/MS. I'm new to the plug building scene, have made 10 plugs to date. I've seen soak times from 1minute to 2 hours. ??? Currently I've been soaking my pine handcarves for 20 minutes and my AYC for 1 hour. Would like to get this straight in my head from the experts. I assume the harder the wood, the longer the soak.....and longer the dry time? I let my plugs hang for atleast 3 days after sealing.
Thanks for the intro to this insanity called plug building...I love it!

I soak my AYC for 1 minute.....60 seconds! No need for more as I find it is only going to penetrate so far as I have done some testing....long story short I soaked one for an hour and one for a minute and there was no more penetration in the one hour one than the one minute one! Soak, wipe and I let mine dry for about 3-4 days.....depends on how warm it is!:kewl:

Oh....and welcome to the site Rob!:wave:

Thanks BF, thats what I needed to hear! Thanks for the welcome. GattaFish steered me over hear from another board. You guys are making some fantastic plugs and fishing with those beauties too!:kewl:

Lets see some of your work Rob when your done!:eyes:

After 2 weeks of work and responsibilities, I finally got out to fish my first batch of plugs. Handcarved 3 needles from white pine, nothing fancy, not very smooth or true but good enough for first plugs.

http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/401968187_AFgqt-M.jpg

Like I said, went fishing on Thursday (took a half day).

http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/406909568_yKcbA-M.jpg

http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/406909603_RSjfD-M.jpg
http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/406909699_nKV2X-M.jpg

10 bass, 2 blues, quiet, relaxing, beach all to myself, catching fish on my own plugs, I couldn't ask for more. Let's just say I'm hooked too.:uhuh:

That's the way to do it :claps: Nice job. There is nothing better than to catch on your own stuff.

I soak my AYC for 1 minute.....60 seconds! No need for more as I find it is only going to penetrate so far as I have done some testing....long story short I soaked one for an hour and one for a minute and there was no more penetration in the one hour one than the one minute one! Soak, wipe and I let mine dry for about 3-4 days.....depends on how warm it is!:kewl:

Ditto......I have done similar testing with the same results!

Thanks BF, thats what I needed to hear! Thanks for the welcome. GattaFish steered me over hear from another board. You guys are making some fantastic plugs and fishing with those beauties too!:kewl:

Rob,,,,, Glad you made it ,,,, Nice stuff and a great way to get started posting here,,,,,,, There are some great guys here who build proven FISH catching plugs too.

I'd wait a week after dipping.