Building the double J..

[Rockfish9]

As promised here it is, this is a long one, lots of pictures,(over 40) I think ther will be something for everyone ( I think) some of this is down right basic, othether stuff a little funky... Enjoy...BTW my spelling sucks and my fingers dont comunicate with my noggin.. so dont blame me for the spelling...

This has been a project of mine for many years, it was on "ice" for nearly a decade when I stopped making plugs altogether...
The first picture is of the very first one I made... I still have it and it never caught a fish.... below it, is the first sucessfull version, not laminated and sporting a sufster lip, she was front heavy casted like crap but she caught many a fish before her retirement...

The fished plug is jointed, 9" long and weighs in the vicinty of 2.5 ounces..

Materials : Gorrilla glue, 1 1/8"X 9/16" X 6" maple and cedar( to be glued together), I used WRC, if you use something else you may have to adjust your weighting, 2, 9" lengths of 304 SS maleable wire ( NJtackle) if is not maleable, it will split if you attempt to wire the plug as I will show... you will need 2 #1 swivels, I use Kroc SS swivels, you will need 2 #2/0 VMC trebles.. a lennght of SS wire approx .032" for making the fins and tail... you will need bucktail ( your color choice) and saddle hackles ( again your choice of color) and fly tieing thread... you will need a #1 pikie lip and 2 ...341 belly gromets as well as 2 nose gromets and a .375 tail gromet.. a 4 gram weight ( 15/64X1 1/8) for the body and a 2 gram weight for the tail, (1/4"X 1/2")I'm sure there is something else but lets get started!

First prepare your blanks, wet each half of your 1 1/8X9/16X6" blanks with water, coat the entire surface of one blank/half with gorrilla glue, it is very important to cover the entire blank, although it expands greatly, you dont want to have any voids when you are turning... dont ask me how I know!

Continued on the next frame...

[Rockfish9]

now align and clamp the halves tightly and allow to dry 3-4 hours, overnight is better... if your wondering about the strength of this stuff, i took a unseald, glued , through drilled blank and soaked in water for 48 hours,I then put it onto my lathe and applied as much tail stock pressure as I could... it held, the then removed it from the lathe, drove my awl in to it so far, water was running everywhere out of the blank... it took a hammer and the vise to remove th awl.. the blank never split... back to the build.

once the blank/glue is dry, you will se the "ooze" on both edges, I remove it with the belt sander when I square up the ends, you can also remove it with a utility knife...

Like all plugs I make, there is a blue print, prior to the final blue print there are lots of scribbles and notes, I also make a "quick reference" index card that clamps on a magnet on my lathe.. my memory just isnt what it once was...

Continued in the next frame...

[Rockfish9]

after trueing up the ends, either with a belt sander or a saw, mark you center, normaly I eye ball it, but here, you dont have alot of extra to work with, so an exact center is a must, find your center by marking the blank corner to corner, or with a center finder...

you will find that when you chuck up the blank on the lathe that it wants to move towards the cedar, or soft wood, this is OK, when you turn the blank, you will be removing a little more of the denser maple than the softer, more boyant cedar, it was part of the plan, originaly, I made the maple 1/4" thicker so I could drilll into the maple...long story short, it was a bad idea and the plug was too bottom heavy, alot of the action was lost..

once the blank is on the lathe, make two marks on one of the flats, 6" appart to mark the front half of the plug ( beggining and end) this will be repeated with the secnd piece for the rear half, be sure to leave the square ends, you will need them.. once the blank is marked, even though you only marked one flat, you will be able to see the ghost image and using your roughing gouge, turn the blank to a round cylinder that will be 7/8" in diameter when it's sanded, so leave a little extra... a word of caution.... use SHARP tools, becase of the difference in wood densities, dull tools are a bad omen... for safety, please wear a full face shield... eye goggles dont help when a blank or errant hunk of wood whacks you in the cheek...

continued in the next frame...

[Rockfish9]

once you have a roughed out cylinder, mark out the nose and rear of the front section, I've drawn all the marks as a reference but normalu would only mark the start finish and nose taper..

you should have a 7/8" ( or close to finished) diameter, 2" back from the nose is the start of you nose taper, the target for the nose is 5/8", I prefer to round off the nose a bit but a square nose tends to make a little more water disturbance..

once you have the nose taper turned, sand the blank, I never go any finer than #220.. IMHO, anything finer than that can cause adhesion problems latter on... just my own findings...

Now make marks at 1 3/8" ( for the eye) 2" for the hook and 1/2" from the rear of the front half, this will be the end of your "v" cut..

bring the marks all the way arond the plug,I do it manualy, some turn the lathe on.. your choice...

Continued in the next frame:

[Rockfish9]

Repeat the process witht he rear blank, marking out a 5" section and rounding it out to 7/8".. the rear taper starts 1" from the front of the rear half and gradualy tapers to 7/16" at the tail...

After sanding, make a mark at 5/8" ( rear "v"cut) and 1" for your rear belly hook..

proceed to your drill prss and drill your belly holes, they should extend approx. half way through the plug, I use a step( multidiameter) drill for this, so it's a one shot deal, I had the size written down but somewhere misplaced it... if anyone is iterested i can give you the size, it fits the .341 belly gromet perfectly...

Lacking the step drill, use a 1/2" forshner bit to spot face the gromet, then finish with a 3/8 forsner bit...repeat for the rear section..

Continued in the next frame:

[Rockfish9]

Now return to your lathe ( use your drill press if you want) for this process, I use a 5/32" drill bit, drilling from the rear of the front half, drill through until the drill comes through the belly hole... stop her, you will finish the front latter... repeat with the rear, you can go all the way through here...

before you cut off the square ends, place the plug on a flat surface, usnig a block of wood ( 3/4" thick) mark the eye location and drill them to what ever size you like, I like 5/16 for these...

Now remove you square ends...band saw is the eaisest tool,but a hand saw will suffice ( yuk!)

[ProfessorM]

thank you

[Jigman]

Good stuff Picked up an idea or two I can use on other plugs.

Jigman

[Diggin Jiggin]

Very cool, and I really like that drill bit. Saves a bit change from the way I do it...

[Tagger]

... alot of work putting that together ,, thanks for sharing all that ,,, can't wait to see the rest ..

[GooGoo Man]

I am sure this tutorial is very time consuming for you to put together,just want to say I really appreciate it & can not wait to see the rest.

Thanks Joe

[PNG]

Great stuff...Thanks

[Rockfish9]

Now that the putty has dried, sand the putty and the rest of the plug, test fit all the parts, now is the time to do it, saves alot of fighting latter on....

Time to seal, these are the only plugs I epoxy seal, IMHO, it just isnt worth the time it takes or the mess it creates, I can turn a half dozen in the time it takes to epoxy seal, my original fear was the sealer absorbion rates of the two woods when using BLO, I made a bunch of test subjects for this season sealed with BLO, I'll know by October if it is reasable..

Most guys I know that epoxy seal use their wives oven( obviously when she's not home) and preheat to 250 and heat the plugs for about 20 minutes, it is my understanding that toaster ovens dont get it done.... however, I have my own heat sorce.... yup, the GRILL.. it's still fairly clean from the fall cleaning so it doesnt take much to bake off the residue, I wrap the plug in foil and place them on the warming rack for 15 minutes, while I'm preparing the grill, I have the epoxy sitting next top the light bulbs in my spinner, soaking the bottles in warm water accomplishes the same thing, warm epoxy is a hell of alot eaiser to pour and mix correctly... I use a plastic teaspoon and a plastic mixer that came in a west system package,it is the perfect tool for scraping the spoon and mixing the epoxy..

Mixing epoxy: I use Envirotex lite, once I masterd it, I love it, I havent had an issue in years... here are the steps I folow, this also applies to the finish coat, not just when I am sealing plugs...

1) Warm your epoxy..2)lay out your utensils ...3) keep paper towels handy... 4) measure carefully,if you use a spoon scrape the soon completly between pours... 5) always pour the hardener FIRST, a little extra hardener will not make the epoxy cure any faster ( unlike polyester resin) but it will not make the epoxy stickey and not cure... ...6) always add the resin to the hardener, scrape thouroghly betwwen pours.... 7) mix completly, at first the mixtire will become cloudy, keep mixing, be sure to scrape the sides as you mix, after a minute or so of mixing the misture will become clear and v=begin gassing freely... your ready to go...

got retrieve your plugs from the grill (or oven) I keep a heat gun handy, I'll ezplain in the next frame....

[blondterror]

As we wait for the next installment.... another option for glue that it waterproof and does not expand and create a cleanup issue ... is Titebond 3.
I use it in segmented bowls and it holds up welll...

[Slipknot]

This is most excellant Joe very nice of you to share your how to. I'll have to add it to the favorites and how to forum part of this plug forum.
Thank you.

I have a suggestion not that you need it, on those fins and tails, the "bone" as you call it, if you leave a tag end on it so you can put the tag end in the vise, then you could tie the bucktail hair on it facing the other way like you normally would do to a hook or jig. I find that more comfortable for me.

Great looking plug, I'm sure they catch fish. I'll have to try this soon.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

This is most excellant Joe very nice of you to share your how to. I'll have to add it to the favorites and how to forum part of this plug forum.
Thank you.

I have a suggestion not that you need it, on those fins and tails, the "bone" as you call it, if you leave a tag end on it so you can put the tag end in the vise, then you could tie the bucktail hair on it facing the other way like you normally would do to a hook or jig. I find that more comfortable for me.

Great looking plug, I'm sure they catch fish. I'll have to try this soon.

I'm left handed.... I do everything backwards...

[Slipknot]

[Backbeach Jake]

Can't thank you enough for that! Now I know how to really make a plug.

[GooGoo Man]

Joe, I have a question,

Is there a reason you do not turn the head & the tail at the same time? Useing one longer piece of glued up stock.

[Ake G]

What a great read!!! Thanks for taking the time to document and post this here.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by GooGoo Man

Joe, I have a question,

Is there a reason you do not turn the head & the tail at the same time? Useing one longer piece of glued up stock.

Economics.... I pre cut almost every blank to 8 1/2"... after sawing a 4X4X12' hunk of cedar ( of coarse it's not realy 4X4) but when making smaller plugs, instead of makeing extra saw dust, I resaw the lumber, it turns fastrer less wate, the thin peices can then v=be glued to make needle fish, smaller plugd etc... same with the maple, when i make darters, rather than make shaving form all that lumber I re saw it...

[blondterror]

Thank you for sharing ALL this valuable information that you have presented here with great details and pictures. I learned a lot and really appreciate your hard work on this tutorial-


chris

[eskimo]

wow, way awesome. I love seeing the process just as much as the finished product.

thanks rockfish for posting this, I had to bookmark this thread for future reference.

[Big D]

Just read your tutorial, another great one!!! Thanks for taking the time and sharing all that great info. I have learned many new things, looking forward to applying them in my next build. Makes me want to call in sick!!!! Thanks-again Joe !

[Tagger]

Thanks Joe .. I learned a few things .. I had a couple of "Dohh !! Why didn't I think of that" moments . now .. I have to re-read a few times..

[Rockfish9]

Thanks guys, it took alot longer to put this together than it did to make a dozen plugs..obviously, I didnt think of every "trick" or idea on my own, some are original, others borrowed, some out right stolen!.. the thing is this, in this scociety of "me" first, alot of people just take, I've found on this site, the plug forum in particlar, you gents give unselfishly of your thoughts and findings... I felt, that in a small way ,it was time to give something back, so if just one of you comes away with an idea, it was all worth it.. so to all, I say thank you for contributing what you know , I for one know it has made me a better plug builder.

[kickin'bass ass]

WOW!!!!that was awesome!!i learned so much from that,especially the jigs,i am soon going to start building a jointed swimmer and was wondering about the jointed part off it ,but not now.a very well presented tutorial,pictures were especially helpful.thank you

[ProfessorM]

nice job

[LaPala]

Thanks Joe, need to ask as sometimes some forum post are frowned upon when distributed outside of it.

Didn't take too long with the spell check, the machine did most of the work. Layout and resizing the pictures to fit took sometime though. Thanks again

[nightfighter]

was doing a search on laminating and read this thread again.... great stuff