heres one of the many plug projects Ive been working on this winter.

These plugs are stained with 2 coats colored stain, then they get two coats of etex, makes a rock hard finish and the wood is stained and the etex seals it all in. I did a run of green needles a few years back they fished and lasted great.

the metal lips are 6" and are 2.75oz fully rigged, they use a pikie 3 lip and an 11 gram belly weight, they cast great and hold in heavy current sweet, subsurface to about 12", maybe more with some tuning. they are based on the smaller musso torpedo. have a few spots in mind where these should really shine.

the needles are based on Don's afterhours shape, but these are true floaters, carry one 11 gram belly weight about 2" from the tail and weigh 1.75oz fully rigged. they can be worked like a pencil or spook with faster twitches or fished dead straight like a traditional needle, they make a massive v wake on top.

Did a coat of etex on them last night after my natural plugs, and they soaked in a good amount of epoxy, will wait a few days and sand and recoat.

here are the before epoxy pics, really digging the flat black.

sexy stuff... nice work

great lookin plugs, really like the shape on those swimmers. I typically use Lefty2 on my 6" swimmers, may try a pikie on the next one to see how that works.

Looking serious

Nice stuff Chris, You going to bring any to the fest?

Loving the flat
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Chris nice looking. What stain you using? Interesting my son and I stain our colored baseball bats instead of paint dipping. Easier and less messy. Your staining after sealing or utilizing the stain as a penetrant? As I done stain over untreated wood for asorbion then I apply a thinned polyurethane for sealer then a uncoat finish coat. Your eyes the old style did you have to cut each individual eye out of the sheet or were they an induvidual decal? my eyes from M&D had to be indiviually cut from sheet. PITA But I like the look. Saw Ryan at the Hartford show yesterday. New northeast specialty blanks look great.

really digging the flat black

X2:kewl:

Chris nice looking. What stain you using? Interesting my son and I stain our colored baseball bats instead of paint dipping. Easier and less messy. Your staining after sealing or utilizing the stain as a penetrant? As I done stain over untreated wood for asorbion then I apply a thinned polyurethane for sealer then a uncoat finish coat. Your eyes the old style did you have to cut each individual eye out of the sheet or were they an induvidual decal? my eyes from M&D had to be indiviually cut from sheet. PITA But I like the look. Saw Ryan at the Hartford show yesterday. New northeast specialty blanks look great.

Billy its a minwax colored stain, comes in a tube, its thick like paint, i dont thin it just rub it on, comes in all sorts of colors.

Plug is sealer like usual then sanded and rubbed with stain.

then two coats of epoxy, so the color is sealed in pretty well.

The eyes are from saltys, they are stick on, peel off and put where you want, i really like em, adds a nice look.

Question the stain penetrate the sealer? Or is it thick to overlay the sealer? we need a full body stain for baseball bat coverage. Maple doesn't take the stain w/ 1 coat.