I know this seems like a dumb question, but it's amazing how few people give any real thought to what type of timber they should use for their lure making! But the type of wood you select be the difference between an ok lure and one that's an absolute winner!
In fact, if you're really serious about your luremaking you certainly wouldn't limit yourself to a single timber - I use several different ones, depending on the intended use of my lure.
Thinking back a decade or two (shite, am I really that old?), some of my early luremaking endeavours were definitely below par, simply because my choice of timber wasn't great.
Back then, I was a kid and was just starting to learn about making and using lures - these days it's an obsession. I was making lures out of necessity because I was a schoolboy lure fishing addict who didn't have the financial means to support his expensive fishing habit. I'd go into the fishing shop and pick up lures, get a real good look at them, feel the weight, carefully note all the contours, then go home and try to imitate them! I occasionally still do this today!
I was making lures purely because I otherwise couldn't afford them, and my source of lure making timber was any construction site I went past as I cycled home from school. I'd fill my school bag with whatever offcuts I could get my hands on, then head home to the old man's shed. Night after night.
In those days I didn't understand the awesome power of custom lures (that took a few years), and I saw my lures as inferior imitations of the 'real' thing. I didn't expect to catch fish, but I had early success on a couple of suicidal rainbow trout and my enthusiasm got the better of me... so here I am year later and still making wooden lures!
Desirable and undesirable qualities of wood for lure making
It's fair to say that most timbers have their place in lure making. It's just that some timbers are better for some styles of lure, and others are better for a different style. There are probably a few that don't have a real place in luremaking, I guess.
To go back to my schoolboy days once again, I remember spending ages hand carving half a dozen lures out of redgum, one of our harder, denser Australian timbers. Redgum is beautiful timber and over the years I've enjoyed making some really nice furniture that took full advantage of the rich color and beautiful grain. As a luremaking timber though, it sucks!
Redgum is incredibly hard and has interlocking grain. It's also very dense. All of this made it very difficult to shape, so it literally took a couple of hours to make each lure. And when I'd finished the lures looked beautiful, but didn't work because they were designed to be floater divers, and unfortunately redgum is so dense it sinks!
Incidentally, here's a random tip, the best timbers for making sinking wooden lures are those that are fairly buoyant (ie they float high in the water) - more on this in a later newsletter!
Ok, so what are the key qualities of a really good wooden lure making timber?
* It must be easy to work. Once I've cut the basic shape of a lure out it takes me 5-10 minutes to hard carve and sand the body, ready for hardware and paint. Less if I'm using power tools to speed the process up. If your lure making timber is difficult to carve (ie it's hard or has difficult grain), find a better option!
* Wood for lure making should be light in weight. Dense, heavy timbers are generally hard to work with, but more importantly they give the lure an inferior action. The lighter the timber, the better the action.
* Wooden lure making is full of compromises! As well as being light, your lure making timber needs to be strong. Of course, the lighter the timber the less strong it is......so there lies our dilemma. I use balsa a lot for making lures because it is so light. However, I try to restrict its use to lighter fishing applications, like trout, bass, bream etc, because most of our larger, feistier fish will destroy a balsa lure. Generally speaking, balsa is fine for freshwater and lighter saltwater applications, but a harder timber is required for medium to heavy saltwater.
* Timber grain is really important in wooden lure making, for a couple of reasons. Timber with interlocking grain can be very difficult to work with. some softwoods (eg radiata pine) have layers of light and dark grain, which alternate from soft to hard. It's sometimes hard to shape these without getting little ridges where the hard grain is. Open grained timbers can be used and often work quite well - meranti was one I used to use a lot - but if you want a really professional looking lure, be prepared to spend extra time filling the grain to get a smooth surface for painting.
* Good wooden lure timbers must take a finish well. What do I mean by this? We'll, to give an example, here in Australia we have a very beautiful timber called Huon pine. Before it was poisonously expensive it was a favorite with boat builders because it is almost completely waterproof, light, strong and very easy to work. The problem for wooden lure makers? Huon pine is oily, so when I've experimented with it I've had difficulty getting paint to adhere properly. Often they look perfect straight after painting, but the paint job doesn't seem to last when you start using them. Go for wood that paint will stick to.
* Wood for lure making must be cheap and readily available. As custom lure makers we don't mind paying for quality materials if that's what it takes to make great wooden lures. But there are so many cheap timbers out there that are perfect for the task, why would you use expensive ones? Try to choose timbers that you will be able to get more of in years to come. Making the same lure out of different timber will give a very different action. You don't want to be in the position of developing a gun, fish catching lure, only to find you can't make more because you can't get that timber any more.
* I'm a great fan of through-wire construction for lure making, because I like to know that if something really big or toothy nails my lure I'll still land the fish, even if the lure is destroyed. Plenty of people prefer screw eyes or glued in wire eyelets, which is fine (I sometimes use the latter for light duty lures, but I don't often use screw eyes because I prefer not to mail order components - I get my materials locally). If you don't use a through wire construction, be sure that the wood you choose will hold a screw securely, or will make a strong bond with epoxy (or your preferred glue). Otherwise you'll be losing fish!
* I prefer my lure making wood to be square at the start. I know that plenty of lure makers use old broom handles and other non-square sources, but I've found that to consistently get the best action you really need to start with square timber. I prefer to buy wood in planks then cut it to size, but if you don't have the tools, get the lumber yard to do this for you.
* Avoid knotty timber. Knots make the wood hard to work, can cause your finished lures to be unbalanced and are generally a hassle you don't need. When you are selecting or ordering timber, try to go for straight, even grained planks.
* Always choose well seasoned timbers. Cabinet makers often preferred air dried timber, but for lure making it doesn't really matter whether it is air or kiln dried, just that it is completely dry. Lures made from poorly seasoned timber have an inferior action due to additional weight, and often crack, split or distort as the timber dries. You may also find that your paint job won't last as long as it should.
Some basic lure making timbers
The list of timbers that can be used for wooden lure making is endless, but here is just a few to get you started
Balsa
This is one of the all time classic lure making timbers. You can get balsa readily through hobby shops and most larger hardware stores. It's light, easy to work, takes paint and makes some of the sweetest actioned fishing lures around. I use balsa a lot for freshwater and light saltwater lures. I don't trust it's ability to hold screw eye though, so I'd recommend going for a through-wire construction.
Cedar
There are various cedars around. I mostly use western red cedar because it's easy to get, but my North American friends use eastern red cedar. I've used both, and from a lure making perspective they're pretty much the same timber. Light, good strength, good screw, paint and glue holding ability. Cedar is really easy to work, too. My favorite.
Pine
There are various pine species that can be used for making wooden lures. I use radiata because it's the most readily available in my area and is relatively cheap. The grain of radiata pine can sometimes be a nuisance, but it holds glue and screws and is pretty easy to work with. It's a bit tougher than balsa and cedar, so I often use it for heavier duty lures.
Meranti
Meranti used to be used a lot for architraves and skirtings in homes, so a lot of my early lure making used offcuts of this timber. These days meranti is a lot harder to get and much more expensive. It's an easy to work, straight grained timber that takes screws, glue and paint well. Unfortunately, it has an open grain that needs a little extra work if you want a high quality finish on your lure. I think cedar is a superior lure making wood.
Others
I've also made or seen lures made out of basswood, cherry, fir, beech and various novelty hardwoods. They all have their place and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the day use the above as a guide, then go find out what lure making timbers are available to you in your area and give them a go.
If I had to choose just one wooden lure making timber, for me it would be cedar. I think it's almost the perfect lure making material.
Want more information?
If you're ready to start making some really high quality wooden fishing lures, why not check out my ebook "Make Better Fishing Lures: Wooden Lures" at http://www.makebetterfishinglures.com/woodenlures.html?
And before you ask, I'm not talking just topwater lures, I'm talking crankbaits, jerkbaits and any other hard bait you can thing of. My book will give you all the information you need to make custom wooden fishing lures that not only look professional, they will outperform bought lures. I give you step by step instructions, with photographs each and every step of the way.
**IMPORTANT** - You don't need to own lathes, drill presses, power saws, band saws, dremel tools, airbrushes or any other expensive tools or machinery to make lures my way! Just a few simple hand tools a bit of wood and a couple of spray cans and you'll be making killer custom fishing lures. If you have any of the above power tools, great! You can use them to make lures faster if you like, but you don't NEED them.
Greg Vinall
Aquatic Scientist, Lure Maker and Lunatic Fisherman
http://www.makebetterfishinglures.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Vinall
see my previous post :
How Do You Make A Fishing Lure Look Alive
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