What’s cooking? Some 9” Habs needles that is!
From crochet mallet, to needlefish :kewl:
In the picture there is Birch, 2 Cherry, and Crochet bat (silver maple?)

Its funny how we wood turners look at objects and vision lures.!
Nice bodies.
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Enjoying turning out this style early Habs Stubby Needle!

No square ends. Using a jig to drill holes?
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What’s cooking? Some 9” Habs needles that is!
From crochet mallet, to needlefish :kewl:
In the picture there is Birch, 2 Cherry, and Crochet bat (silver maple?)

Tommy, do you get much of a weight difference between the birch and cherry?

5" shallow diver . will have 2/0 belly and rear tail flag.
Going to try a black scale base with my own made copper over spray on a few. Have to do something different!!

Ready for paint

Tommy, do you get much of a weight difference between the birch and cherry?

I can check and let you know later today, going out to fish now.

Ready for paint

Looking good Billy!

I can check and let you know later today, going out to fish now.

Don't you have homework to do!!!

Don't you have homework to do!!!

:wid:

Didn’t get the chance today. Fishing was good haha

A 12in long by 1.5x1.5 baluster of AYC for me on average is 8oz.
A 12in long by 1.5x1.5 block of cherry is 9oz.

As for birch, according to an app I have it has a specific gravity of 0.55, cherry a specific gravity of 0.50. They are nearly identical in weight; especially if you account for the variances you are sure to get between pieces.
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:wid:

Didn’t get the chance today. Fishing was good haha

o.k. if you are not doing homework, figure this out for me. last May i painted some trophy tackle needles.they have been sitting in the house since i finished them.Birch dowels, 4hr+ soak in spar/mspirits, 2 to 3 weeks drying in living room near wood stove,rustoleum primer, 8 or 9 day dry, rustoleum 2x paint, 10 day dry, i think i put a clear mat spray on the black ones, one coat system 3 it was warm in the house.Now these needles have been sitting on my desk since may. the epoxy just lifted in a few places in the last 2 weeks. i have made others that i fished last year and had no problems.yes wore gloves after painting.Remember cant use right arm yet so my typing is worse then normal.

Derek you may have sealer bleed. 4hrs is way too long to soak. The excess sealer internally may not of fully cured even though its been awhile. I say this because I tried hot soak birch a couple years ago. Yes it absorbed the sealer quick but too much. I was increasing the needle weight by 6-9 grams. The wood weighed unsealed 28 grams. Thats approx 25%. Within a couple weeks of finishing the process of prime- epoxy., I noticed clear coat lifting on half of the needles. The clear cost lifted everything from the bare wood.
Mind you Ive been doing this same needle for 10yrs or so and the only difference done was this excessive soak. Immediately I went back to my proven.method of 30minute cold soak in 60/40 spar varnish and mineral spirits.
BTW I ended up scraping off all the needles to bare wood and let them dry for a month. I weighed them first then after. Found a drop of half the added weight from the sealer. Fellow builders have done experiments in sealing soak times and found no benefit from soaks longer than 10 minutes.
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Thanks for the reply Bill, that was my thought, i believe i might have heated these to. i had the problem once before after i fished a couple plugs. first time i had it happen to plugs that have been sitting on my desk for almost a year. Black spray paint fixes everything. i Really dont care for the epoxy top coat anyways. I am fine with having bad hook rash after a night of fishing .

Derek in the long run , the fish dont care. Fish em hard and catch a big one!
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Took some ayc and milled rectangle 1×3/4×10". Did a prototype of a slender nose broader rear section needle. Tweeked the pattern to finish the design to my liking.
Spun a couple dozen blanks . Trick here is finding dead center and marking with an awl the perfect dead center. This is needed to establish symmetrical flat sides.
Soon Ill take a couple to drill hook hole and start adjusting weight locations. Ultimately I'll be trying to achieve a level slow sink that will obtain a neutral buoyancy when retreive is stopped and a spook like reaction when rod tip is twitched.
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No square ends. Using a jig to drill holes?
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Yes

After testing, the slider needles responded as planned. Slow drop rate and very slowly sink giving it an effect right after stopping a pause. During retrieve, you can elect to incorporate a spook style pause with slack to create a zig zag retrieve. The AYC needles were sealed in 60/40 helmsman/ turps for 10-15 min.
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After testing, the slider needles responded as planned. Slow drop rate and very slowly sink giving it an effect right after stopping a pause. During retrieve, you can elect to incorporate a spook style pause with slack to create a zig zag retrieve. The AYC needles were sealed in 60/40 helmsman/ turps for 10-15 min.
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Just curious as to why you are sealing AYC. Cedar doesn't absorb water and in 30 years of making plugs I never sealed AYC and never had and issue.

After testing, the slider needles responded as planned. Slow drop rate and very slowly sink giving it an effect right after stopping a pause. During retrieve, you can elect to incorporate a spook style pause with slack to create a zig zag retrieve. The AYC needles were sealed in 60/40 helmsman/ turps for 10-15 min.
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Bill, may i ask what kind of turps you are using, i had used some very old turps that had a nice pine smell to it. then all i could find around here was sunnyside (i think) brand. had a real harsh chemical smell to it. i dry everything in the house.

Paul yes cedar wood in water resilient. Honestly I ask myself this question everytime I build with ayc. I do notice while I'm testing an untreated ayc blank it seems to swell a bit. I mike up all my turnings and I recheck after testing. Normally they are sealed before testing but most cases its wired and temporary weighted as is. I really dont favor that process in plug building. Its just something I do. At cut down the soak time to about 10 minutes or so.
I use now regular turps( sunnyside). The pine smell you refer to is pure gum turpentine. If available that worked well. Sealer stinks no matter what. Actually like I mentioned earlier sealing plugs is my least favorite step in building.
BTW I still use on occassion Val oil. With less than a quart left , I'll use it when I need a quick turn.around. < a week of drying. My varnish/ turps is a 2 week dry time. Use to be 1 week but had some bleed issues so Ill do.longer. Hardwoods ...birch 30 minutes. Maple which i try not to use because if its not sealed well use get cracking between the hook holes and weight holes, Ill either double soak ( repeat next day) or epoxy seal ( messy).
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Thank you. I was just curious.

Spooks

Looking good Tommy
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Those are " spookie". Sharp eyes and great looking colors.
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Those are " spookie". Sharp eyes and great looking colors.
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Thanks Billy
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Great work Tommy.

Carlezon needlefish duplicates.

Looks like a level.sink. 8" long?
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Looks like a level.sink. 8" long?
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Slight tail down, and have a shimmy in the water. Think superstrike 1 3/4oz and a Habs 2oz combined.

Carlezon needlefish duplicates.

Tommy, birch dowels? grain looks different then the ones i bought. i have been starting to use more belly weights in needles and getting a better swim/glide out of them.

Tommy, birch dowels? grain looks different then the ones i bought. i have been starting to use more belly weights in needles and getting a better swim/glide out of them.

Birch and one sugar maple, the grain is obvious on the maple one.

These are kiln dried birch dowels from kelloggs hardwood years ago.
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Tommy is that a screw eye hook hole? Looks like a recession to fill w/ epoxy.
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Tommy is that a screw eye hook hole? Looks like a recession to fill w/ epoxy.
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Yes, wanted to keep it traditional. I figured through drilling with a 5/32 bit would remove too much wood buoyancy and impede upon the action.
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Tommy, back in 2008 Flaptail posted the "sd special needlefish" its for an eelskin. it is also built with screw eyes. It is worth building a couple. It works, i changed it a little to thru wire this last year. but the original caught worked good for me

Yes, wanted to keep it traditional. I figured through drilling with a 5/32 bit would remove too much wood buoyancy and impede upon the action.
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True. Maybe thru one and drop the equivalent weight of wire. Im sure u can create the same effect.
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Tommy, back in 2008 Flaptail posted the "sd special needlefish" its for an eelskin. it is also built with screw eyes. It is worth building a couple. It works, i changed it a little to thru wire this last year. but the original caught worked good for me

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=48010&highlight=special+needlefish

Neat plug, I’ll have to give it a shot. Thanks for sharing!

Derek what’s the diameter on the SD SPECIAL?
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Tommy, first ones i made i used 3/4 . birch dowel. the thru wire i am playing around with this year i am using ayc and more lead mid plug.

Tommy, first ones i made i used 3/4 . birch dowel. the thru wire i am playing around with this year i am using ayc and more lead mid plug.

Upload some pics, I would like to try my hand at a few; and learn from your mistakes as well!
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Upload some pics, I would like to try my hand at a few; and learn from your mistakes as well!
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tommy, tried to put pictures on computer years ago, never figured it out. could not figure out how to save them or where they were, dont have a cell phone other then old flip phone in truck for emergency. It would be nice to be able to sell stuff, but i made it this long so the hell with it

tommy, tried to put pictures on computer years ago, never figured it out. could not figure out how to save them or where they were, dont have a cell phone other then old flip phone in truck for emergency. It would be nice to be able to sell stuff, but i made it this long so the hell with it

If you can email me them, I can post them up.
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Some not so recent.

If you can email me them, I can post them up.
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I cant email them to me! i couldnt figure how to get them on the computer. computer i have now has no place to put the card thing. i was told i have to buy something that plugs into the computer.. I was happy with film

I cant email them to me! i couldnt figure how to get them on the computer. computer i have now has no place to put the card thing. i was told i have to buy something that plugs into the computer.. I was happy with film

Hmm, if I ever see you bring it along. Problem solved haha
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OK!!! I have had it with this heat. I am giving up on working on one of my decks and going to the plug room in the basement to TURN!!!!!

OK!!! I have had it with this heat. I am giving up on working on one of my decks and going to the plug room in the basement to TURN!!!!!

SMART MAN! My dog will sit in the shop with me for hours while I test my designs in the pool. Best plug partner I’ve had. He will watch them swim, if they’re good he keeps his eyes locked in on it.
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SMART MAN! My dog will sit in the shop with me for hours while I test my designs in the pool. Best plug partner I’ve had. He will watch them swim, if they’re good he keeps his eyes locked in on it.
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Love it Tommy. We should figure out how to fish at least once during the fall run.

Love it Tommy. We should figure out how to fish at least once during the fall run.

Totally, let’s do it
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MS Slammer

WOW!!

Tommy u joining the "mouse " club!LOL
Bet it swims great on top with that lip.
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Tommy u joining the "mouse " club!LOL
Bet it swims great on top with that lip.
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Ha, this one I cut the tail fin slot too wide and stuck a sluggo in. The rest get a soft plastic tail.
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Anyone turning?

Anyone turning?

Experimental sand eel swimmers and Darter hell. and soon to enjoy system 3 and cold temperatures. I need to build a enclosed box that i can control temp

Derek you may have sealer bleed. 4hrs is way too long to soak. The excess sealer internally may not of fully cured even though its been awhile. I say this because I tried hot soak birch a couple years ago. Yes it absorbed the sealer quick but too much. I was increasing the needle weight by 6-9 grams. The wood weighed unsealed 28 grams. Thats approx 25%. Within a couple weeks of finishing the process of prime- epoxy., I noticed clear coat lifting on half of the needles. The clear cost lifted everything from the bare wood.
Mind you Ive been doing this same needle for 10yrs or so and the only difference done was this excessive soak. Immediately I went back to my proven.method of 30minute cold soak in 60/40 spar varnish and mineral spirits.
BTW I ended up scraping off all the needles to bare wood and let them dry for a month. I weighed them first then after. Found a drop of half the added weight from the sealer. Fellow builders have done experiments in sealing soak times and found no benefit from soaks longer than 10 minutes.
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I heat some of my plugs, specifically maple darters to be epoxy sealed. Because epoxy chemically cures there is no off-gassing issue later. The result is a super strong plug, especially considering the bottom lip takes abuse and maple is not sealed well splits, I find the extra time to epoxy seal darters is worth it for me. Ayc darter lips, even if sealed this way still break.

Anyone turning?

Tommy, I have been making some needles for DZ and Bob Huddy. We are fishing The Block the last week of the month on the New Moon. I'll post some pics when I get 5 seconds to breath. My better half has me transplanting stuff after I worked at the GC this morning.

Experimental sand eel swimmers and Darter hell. and soon to enjoy system 3 and cold temperatures. I need to build a enclosed box that i can control temp

Epoxy and cold temps do not mix. Best of luck!

What style sandeel swimmers? I found the slopehead gives them a little better swim, and cupping the lip.
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Epoxy and cold temps do not mix. Best of luck!

What style sandeel swimmers? I found the slopehead gives them a little better swim, and cupping the lip.
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The sand eel swimmer that Rockfish9 posted a how to on,Tried a couple different lips. rwc, pine, ayc. and some board thats been in the shop for 40 years +. I thought it was pine but sucks up sealer more then any wood i tried.
Lost 2 Agitators to huge bluefish last couple days. so they are on the list to do now

The sand eel swimmer that Rockfish9 posted a how to on,Tried a couple different lips. rwc, pine, ayc. and some board thats been in the shop for 40 years +. I thought it was pine but sucks up sealer more then any wood i tried.
Lost 2 Agitators to huge bluefish last couple days. so they are on the list to do now

Let me know if you need template for agitator.
Unless you still have one to copy.
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Thanks Tommy, i kept and old beat up one to copy. I had been using the agitator body with a tail weight in both ends and a couple slugs of lead in the belly for a glide bait also.

Thanks Tommy, i kept and old beat up one to copy. I had been using the agitator body with a tail weight in both ends and a couple slugs of lead in the belly for a glide bait also.

Awesome
Have you caught on glide bait?

Keep in mind the resistance from the deep eye sockets is critical to the action of the agitator.
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The couple that got turned into glide baits started as a level sink skin plug that i could put a 4/0 or 5/0 treble on. they only had 3/8 eyes and a real big notch for tying a skin. Yes i caught on them. made some needles same way tail weight in both ends and a couple of belly weights front of the belly hook.Swam nice, caught some fish, cast like crap.

The couple that got turned into glide baits started as a level sink skin plug that i could put a 4/0 or 5/0 treble on. they only had 3/8 eyes and a real big notch for tying a skin. Yes i caught on them. made some needles same way tail weight in both ends and a couple of belly weights front of the belly hook.Swam nice, caught some fish, cast like crap.

Those sound awesome
Will have to give that a try

Yes skin plugs usually don’t cast too great haha
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Some repaints, a couple of mine
And custom trout trophy’s I did for a Competitive fly fishing tournament I am going to right now till Monday, also raising money for women with gynecological cancers. So I know they are to support a good cause.

Well done Tommy, trout look great.

Kick ass work Tommy. Those trout look like real mounts.

Thanks guys
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You are sooo talented!!

I've been working on my selection of lure bodies prior to knee replacement surgery. Majority of the arduous work is sealed & primed. Hopefully I'll be down in the shop in a couple weeks to start painting.
I have been working on a super slim shallow diver Jointed Pike . Similar to my slim version. Fortunately I swam tested it prior to surgery and this cold weather.
Another plug I'm doing is a model of my same super slim Pike but in a slope head. It's a slow level sinking/suspending/neutral buoyancy model. This plug started about a few years back when I turned 1 in Birch. Obviously that version was much heavier and required much less weight to get action. Unfortunately it sank slow as I continued to remove almost all the belly weight sans approx. 4-5 gr. Wasn't what I was looking for but nonetheless a club member had interest in trying it in some deep spots. So I painted it and handed it off to him. Over the first year he had hits but no solid takes. He started using it this season and had success with good size fish including many in the mid 30lb. As luck be had, he lost the lure on a very large fish in the rocks. So he asks if I can make another. So luckily I had scratch sheet with the scribbled specs on this plug. I tested the new bodies in my test tank and got it close but I need to get to salt water to test the drop rate, attitude and retrieve action. Hopefully in January I'll be ready and a thaw is present with a high tide to further test. I will update on my finding soon.
http://20221103_114829

good luck with the surgery.

Thanks for the wood Billy :jump:

Awesome work Tommy. What lip are u using?
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Awesome work Tommy. What lip are u using?
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A-40
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A-40
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Yup, they will swim with a nice "wiggle" with an A-40 lip.

Spun some skin Jrs
Pic soon.
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Here they are

Nice tommy

Tommy nice nose on the jrs. A little hand work?
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Tommy nice nose on the jrs. A little hand work?
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Yes, I have a little technique I’ll show ya.
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Yes, I have a little technique I’ll show ya.
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Ok. I'm game!
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Here they are
Put up some pictures of that beluga when you get done,

Put up some pictures of that beluga when you get done,

Will do
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Gonna start turning some mahogany I got from Ross. Tips? I have never turned anything but AYC.

Gonna start turning some mahogany I got from Ross. Tips? I have never turned anything but AYC.

I once made some beautiful squid darters out of mahogany. Put the eyes on the back and it looks like an angry squid.
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Paul depends on what type of mahogany. Is it real hard ( Honduran or fiberie( African)? Latter is cake to turn..
If its Honduran, I would suggest you cut the blank on eight sides to.get the roughing started easier.
Definitely need a sharp gouge.
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Thank you. I believe it's hard so I wil score.

Paul depends on what type of mahogany. Is it real hard ( Honduran or fiberie( African)? Latter is cake to turn..
If its Honduran, I would suggest you cut the blank on eight sides to.get the roughing started easier.
Definitely need a sharp gouge.
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It is Honduran, I got some as well.

Makes a nice heavy needle, no lead needed.

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I have a bunch I got from Stripermaniac. I trim them into.an octagon . Use a v jig to cut on bandsaw.
Yeh Tommy , no weight needed.

It is Honduran, I got some as well.

Makes a nice heavy needle, no lead needed.

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I have a bunch I got from Stripermaniac. I trim them into.an octagon . Use a v jig to cut on bandsaw.
Yeh Tommy , no weight needed.

Thank you guys!

Been a while

Been a while

Like the Norris, were you able to find hooks?

When do you sleep? in school

Knowing how much plug building takes , you must be doing homework in study hall! LOL
Tommy u did some fine work there.
Those repro Norris needles are sweet. Did u thru drill the hook hanger for cotter pin hook.attachment?
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Like the Norris, were you able to find hooks?

When do you sleep? in school

Yes, and yes
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Knowing how much plug building takes , you must be doing homework in study hall! LOL
Tommy u did some fine work there.
Those repro Norris needles are sweet. Did u thru drill the hook hanger for cotter pin hook.attachment?
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No through hole for cotter pin. Small screw eyes. Paul sent me his templates for it, and I made a couple.
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Looking good Tommy