I always liked the shape of the Lucky Craft Sammy, which is a freshwater walk-the-dog lure. I wanted to make a larger version for saltwater use, and I wanted to make it reproducible for the Vega.

The Sammy isn’t cylindrical so I had to learn about off-center turning.

Below is a picture of a plastic Lucky Craft Sammy 128, which I based mine on.

Planning - Dimensions

The Sammy’s belly, top and sides are all different shapes, so I needed three different Vega templates. To make sure they were proportionate, I overlayed pictures of the Sammy onto a Vega template grid to trace the arcs.

Planning – Turning Points (Axes)

Now that the bottom, top and the sides of the lure were laid out, I had to figure out the head-on view, which was going to determine where the multiple turning axis (axes) needed to be. To do this I made a grid representing the end-stock of the wood blank. I placed a few turning points and drew arcs until I got the shape I wanted.

In the picture below, you can see the arcs created by each Vega template. The purple rectangle indicates the minimum dimensions of the wood blank (1.125” x 1.25”). I decided to use 1.5” x 1.5” x 9” stock (EWP).

Preparing the Turning Stock

Accurately measuring and punching 4 turning points on end-stock can be dicey, so a centering template can be useful. You can make one out of 1.5” x 1.5” x .75” hard maple:

Carefully measure & awl the four points
Drill them through with a 1/16” bit on the drill press
Insert 1” nails through from the rear
Place the centering template on a simple square jig and tap the ends of the turning stock into it.

Remove the template and you are left with 4 turning points accurately punched into the ends of the turning stock.

Pre-Seating the Turning Stock

The biggest risk with off-center turning is breaking the piece. There’s a few ways to reduce risk of breakage, and the first is to “pre-seat” the piece on all 4 turning points before you start turning.

To do this, seat the piece in the lathe along all 4 axes -- compress it deep enough for the teeth on the head stock to bite into the end-grain. Now that the teeth marks are in the wood, you won’t have to compress the piece as much when you change turning axes.

Turning

Nothing special to say about the actual turning, except be sure to cut shallower and make slower passes than you normally would – and be especially careful to not touch the squared ends of the blank with the cutter – this is when most breakages occur.

Did I mention to take shallow, slow passes?

The Sammy is made from EWP with two .286 oz weights placed 2” and 2.75” from the tail. I rig it with a 4/0 VMC siwash on the tail and a 3/0 VMC treble on the belly (located 4.25” from tail). It sits with the eyes at water level angling down about 25 degrees. It swims well, though not exceptionally so, and it does not cast very well due to its shape. It needs further tweaking if I’m going to consistently choose it over a traditional spook shape, but I enjoy the challenge and I really like the way it looks so I’ll keep tinkering.

Below is a picture of the pre-sealed one from this tutorial, and a finished one I made for the fall run. It caught fish – and sometimes out fished my favorite pencils.

You may notice that they are sized slightly differently, the reason is they were turned at different spindle depths -- trying to find out which dimensions swims the best.

WOW is all i can say......
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Shakin my head in disbelief.....
and i've seen the process at PLUGFEST
but for some reason it still seems
IMPOSIBLE.... to my Brain
like a Blaine magic trick

Love your cut box too by the way, you have given me a few ideas.
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Nice Eric!! I watched a PBS special on off center turning for axe handles a few weeks ago.
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Great job. Thinking mans plug.
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I'm not sure you're from this planet! WOW. MIND BLOWN!!!

Very nice. I've not done much off center stuff but supposedly a Steb Center makes it easier.

Stunning work
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Real nice work!

Nice job Eric, excellent write-up as well.

Very nice :btu:

does the tailstock center go in offset the opposite on all three of those setups as well? just wondering

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

Love your cut box too by the way, you have given me a few ideas.
Thanks, I wrote something up about the chip control box about a year-and-a-half ago (see link below).
I love the box -- almost every single chip goes into the dust collector.
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=77059&highlight=vega+chip+control

...does the tailstock center go in offset the opposite on all three of those setups as well?
Yes, the turning points are mirrored on both ends of the wood blank -- I haven't experimented with off-set axes yet.

WOW!! that's awesome!

very cool, nice neat and to the point

Excellent stuff!

You are a true craftsman. Excellent !!!