2 simple newbie questions

[Surfster]

First of all I promise not to ask for any secrets and will work hard to find out what I need to find out. Only before pulling hair or suicide will I ask for a hand.
But I have 2 basic questions to get me rolling right.

#1) How close do you guys like to hold your tolorances? Having been a machinist for the first 15yrs of my working career I am used to close but how close is good enough? I'm trying to hold my diameters from Pikie to Pike at +or- .010. Any curves and blends are basically by eye and laying the master over or under the one being turned. OAL is easy enough. How close is close enough for a swimmer?

#2) What is "Ho'ed"? And will it hurt?

[Slipknot]

[Canalman]

sheesh.. My ruler have lines for .010

Surfster, 1st of all I use a duplicator, but even when I make templates for it I just try and get them close. I can't speak for everyone but I think you'll drive yourself nuts trying to make them exact. Having some variance is one of the things I like about making my own plugs (most of the time... sometimes it drives me nuts!) As long as it swims right and catches fish then it's close enough for me.

As for being hoe'd... post a pic and maybe one of us will show you how much it hurts

-DAve

[Surfster]

Originally posted by Canalman
[

As for being hoe'd... post a pic and maybe one of us will show you how much it hurts

-DAve [/B]

Err, Slipknot sir? Whatta ya smilin' at? Yer all scarin' me. Is that a banjo? HEY PUT THAT THING DOWN!

[Slipknot]

Personally, close enough is good enough for me as far as tolerances.

To be Ho'd means someone like Bassmaster for instance, relieves you of your plug or plugs.

[Jigman]

Even if you made two plugs that were exactly the same dimensions, they would not have exactly the same action. Wood density varies amoung plugs too, so that will effect the action. Getting them close is usually good enough. You can tweak them some by bending lips on swimmers, adjusting the weight, changing out hooks, etc. Get them close, them tweak them during the test swim to get the action you are after. If you find one that the fish seem to like better than the rest of the batch, try to figure out what is different and adjust them to work like that one.

Just for fun, take some measurements and weights on several commercial plugs that are the "same". See how much they vary.

Jigman

[Surfster]

Was starting to wonder if I was being a little anal about it!
(here we go back to that banjo thing again )

I'd be happy to share plugs once I build a small pile that swim. Will be testing today at a local canal. I want to see swimmers in dead water first to see if they work without a current running on a SLOW retrieve.