BLO/MS Soak Times
 

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/4...87_AFgqt-M.jpg

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

http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/4...68_yKcbA-M.jpg

http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/4...03_RSjfD-M.jpg
http://sandflea.smugmug.com/photos/4...99_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.

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

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.