Great stuff guys. The in progress pics give an appreciation into making plugs.
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Nice box Bruce! Good to see!:uhuh:

wow, thats some fast work!
What method did you use to do the "scooping"?

beltsander on edge

Thanks, they look nice and uniform.

Happy Thanksgiving!!
 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
I also would like to thank the great crew here for all the informative threads especially Prof M and Numby for there great photo's, drawings and those great X-rays!!
So who's out there and anyone working in the cave today? I am, that should piss the wife off..:uhuh:

Dang I have to stop fishin or workin to keep up here.

Need suggestions on how to practice airbrushin, in particular, what is best to thin createx, I've read somewhere it's windex , water till milky?

whats the take?

To practice I recommend cutting some 1 inch dowel stock to practice on! I use Createx and do not thin it at all?

That windex, water mix combo I think you may have confused with the solution many use to clean their air brush.....Simple Green, Windex and water!

What air pressure? I have a paasche, badger(s). You're painting is awesome.

WOODY give it about a month. I will be releasing something soon that you have never seen before as Handcarved KITS.

Between 5 and 30 PSI....depends on how thick the color is and if its coverage or detail!

now your being translucent!! I'll practice practice practice.

Some current stuff
 

Got ahold of some pichney plugs and am making some troller Jr's, plus needles and big dannies.
The needles are WRC and Birch. Weight and hook placement is the same, but body diameters are different. Trying to get both floaters and sinkers done with the same body style. Both versions weight 1.75 oz all finished up.

Trollers are AYC. I actually did a few trollers and a couple surface swimmers off the pichney body.

Dannies are similar to the original, but have a slightly different weight and slimmer tail.

those dannies pine mike? I made some of those last year, had an original to look at , and they did not swim like I had hoped but I am going to try some more this winter. I am going to try some of my new, lower on the belly, belly weights on them instead of the Pichney style of weighting and see if that comes out better. Same amount of weight just distributed a little lower on the belly . Kind of how my body is starting to morph into as I climb the age chart. Makes me slow and lazy and that is what I want the plug to do. I'm the perfect blueprint. Are you going with the same Pikie style bent up lip?

Dannies are AYC with a NJ tackle .40 round weight in the belly. The weight sits right at the bottom of the belly, almost flush with the wood surface. Lips are going to be pikie 3 mid slots, which is what the original one I own has in it. I already did a demo plug with this setup and I feel sorry for the fish already...:laugha:

Seriously though, time will tell. I'm tempted to throw the original in the water just to see what it does, but its the only real collectible plug I own. Finished weight of the original is 3.25 and mine are just about the same. I need to put the lips in my vise afterwards and make the folds so they look like the original.

If your needles are the same shape (ie displace the same amount of water) and weigh the same, I think you will find they act the same in the water. As for WRC, be careful it is very allergenic. It also is pretty soft stuff which will scar quickly.

As for the Pichneys, the crucial thing on them seems to be getting the balance right. That long slope into the fat belly makes the plug want to plane rather than dig in. The line tie position, the angle of the lip bend, and level/angle the plug floats at all seem to be issues. I had some trouble with these plugs "skating" rather than swimming when I first tried to replicate them.

I have a beater large Pichney SS if you want to swim one. I also have a bunch of fished BM versions you can try. I did find that the BM versions sometimes weighed nearly 4 oz, so there is a lot of variation in these originals.

I can't stand my shop .. hate it the whole time I'm there.. Microclustermess.. sux,, plus I've knocked my furnace out twice with the dust ..

:biglaugh: sorry eddie it just hit me funny

I have some very cool and unique stuff going here in the BigFish shop! Winter sucks but it lets me release the creative ideas that pop into my head during the season!!:uhuh:

Good morning, Larry.
Haven't started turning yet, but I do have a load of mahogany out in the truck. I like working with that stuff for some perverse reason. I do have to get som ayc . I thinking Conrads , needles, and little dannys this year. But nothing is etched in stone.

Hi Fred! How you doing? I was thinking of hosting some of you builders for a day of building in my shop maybe after the Holidays??? How many of you might be interested in a play date at my house???

Too many plans in my head, too much clutter in the cellar, too many things I should do....... inertia sucks.

Good Morning Larry-

OD Mike and PRBuzz came over and we make some dannies, pencil Poppers yesterday in my shop. OD Mike brought his JET with his Vega replicator so I learned how the replicator works... I am a hand turned guy to date. We used my lathe for the thru wire holes and mikes for the replicator turning...

Start at "One" George! We love to see your work!:uhuh:

Hi BT! Sounds like you guys might have had a great time! How did Phil do?? Any pics of your work??:drool:

Phil manned the drillpress and drilled weight holes, eye holes, and hook locations..
he is slowly getting into the concept of making plugs.. a WIP

I don't turn much during the fishing season if at all! I do alot of painting though! So during the season I get alot of ideas that I want to try and plugs I would like to make or replicate so what I do is keep a notebook with details and sometimes drawings so I remember what I want to do! Sometimes however I can't wait to try some of them so I will take the time to do a few turnings....also if it is something I would like to try immediately with the fish being here at the time!:uhuh:

I need to get a notebook going so i can log the ideas as they occur... they disappear in my mind faster than they appear now that i am 56... LOL

I may need to acquire a duplicator jig for my lathe ... at $200 they price tag seems well worth it.. Does anyone have an unused Vega Midi duplicator hanging around...

I am currently also trying to work on completing some Christmas ornaments I make for gifting to friends and relative to hang on their tree! Thats fun......can post some pics later if you like? Heading out to the shop in a few minutes!