simple jig for holding hydro oriented plugs square
 

I am working on my first darter. I wanted to hydro orient it, as it will be unweighted and I wanted to do what I could to get them to sit right. So after I cut off the square ends of the stock and floated it to find what side was up, I was trying to think of a way to work with the round blank as I've had more than my share of shop 'incidents' and I want to use the table saw to cut the lip slot.

I know rockfish9 had a slick jig for the bandsaw that used the belly hole & a dowel but I wanted something that would work on the table saw and the drill press too.

So I was looking for a way to hold the blank steady with the hyrdo oriented side up. My band saw blade was dull from cutting lead tail weights to length (lets not go there) and it burned the ends of the stock where I trimmed the off the blank. When I looked at the end from the head stock, I noticed the circle is the same diamater as the blank and since I had already center drilled it, it already had a pilot hole that was dead center to the blank. So here's what I did.

I knocked off two sides of the cutoff end so they were flush with the size of the blank.

Then on the back I used a countersink so that I could insert a screw slightly larger than the belly hole that would let me rotate the plug right side up & then tighten the screw so the blank is square.

With the 2 sides of the end of the stock trimmed off, the plug sits flush on both its belly or its side. So I can work with it on the tablesaw, bandsaw and drillpress. I hate to tell you how long it took to think of such an obvious solution...

Here's the plug with it attached at the bandsaw and the tablesaws.

The nice thing about this is it will work for any size blank, so I can experiment with different widths and just use the square ends I cut off from each blank as the guide for that blank..

Thanks Dave, thats awesome:cheers:

Funny how that little gnawing thought in the back of your head for years and years can have such a simple solution:claps:

Here is how I do it.
Turn to size,
drill belly holes (measure exactly)
then cut lip on tablesaw using this jig.

Next I use a sled/jig to mark out the slope square to the lip/hook holes

Then take the sled with the plug in it to the band saw and rough out (I've experimented with a pattern guide to cut things to finish size but don't like the result)

Yous guys. Nice job on the fixtures, jigs. I luv jigs, but I'm Irish.

I do every plug without the sq. ends on, always have. After I float it, if I am doing something that would be affected, I do the belly holes and everything is done off the belly holes after in a fixture.
I sometimes prefer to make some spooks purposely 90 degrees off the hydro mark to see if I can get something that has a unique action and being out of balance sometimes does that.

Finally I take the plug to the belt sander and smooth off the slope. The sander will free the remaining part of the face when it reaches the tablesaw cut.

Not very efficient, but it works.

Note, I think there is a potential problem with hydro-orienting darters and bottles. The grain often ends up horizontal across the lip, rather than vertical. If the plug hits bottom, as darters often do, the lip shears off unless the grain is vertical. I also think, but am not sure, maple is more likely to split when the hook holes pass perpendicularly through the grain lines, rather than parallel to the grain lines. If I've got this wrong, I'm going to be very unhappy in a few months. Anybody know for sure?

Who knows George you may have a unique swimming plug if you guessed wrong.

George thats slick. I wanted a darter with only 1 belly hook and without the hole for a second belly hole I needed something else to hold the back end.
.
I was thinking of roughing the slopes on the bandsaw and trying to make a template for my router and use a flush cutting bit to follow a template and do the finish cutting but I'll have to be real confident in the jig I make before I try that. I like the router and use it for a lot of stuff but its the second scariest tool in my shop just behind the table saw...

Another way I've seen people do it. You can drill a small pilot hole where the belly hook will go then use a L shaped piece of wood (with squared sides) with a hole in each limb of the L. Screw the plug on through the long limb, then center the tail by screwing into the wire hole through the short limb. Use a piece of aluminum angle stock and cut your slope and lip shape into it. Use it to mark the plug blank while in the jig and take it to the band saw and cut it all. Clean up on the sander, and enlarge the screw hole in the belly to grommet size. Credit to Eddy for this one.

I hadn't really thought about that but when I make metal lipped swimmers I always cut the lip slot cut perpindicular to the grain so the lip won't split the blank.

I have always made em with the belly holes through the grain.I have had some split and some not..

great point Professor

when you release a small fish that's having a difficult time..

they swim crooked or on a 45 degree angle ...not perfectly straight up and balanced... and they tend to swim weird in an arch... stop and repeat... trying to aclimate

that profile or swimming style may be exactly what predator fish are looking for.

I hyro all ,seal,hydro,cut darter, re-seal ... and all work perfect ,, no roll outs .. I have had some split as many others builders I fished .. Usually starts at the wire tie back .. Very frustrating .. I think Cranking the arse wire so tight you pull the nose loop in like a wedge . I think some split on impact of hitting the water on the cast . or maybe a combination of both . I stopped building them and in my Forest Gump way ,thought about it for a year . I dropped the hard maple and tried birch .. so far so good ,. hard maple is so damm brittle .

WHOOOAA .. typed mine before reading yours Karl .. I suspected but wasn't sure .. thanks for that ..

Awesome information. I plan on starting some darters this winter. Great info on the jigs.