How to make your own wooden top water lures

Several people have requested this so here goes.

First you'll need a few things.
Wood blocks (I prefer red cedar) Mine are 3-4 inches long and about 1 inch square.


A sharp knife,a pocket knife will work just fine, a shorter blade is easier to handle

A plan, I was first taught to make a Lucky 13 type lure

Lure hardware; I order from Jann's Netcraft
hooks, whatever size you like
hook hangers, size 2
split rings, size 1 or 2,
Split ring pliers
stick on eyes, whatever color
screws, 1/4"
and screw eyes (I like the open 1" long ones)

Paint, I use acrylic paint that I paint with a brush, most people use an airbrush, you can also get good results with spray paint.

Epoxy, I use EnviroTex Lite, its a 2 part slow cure epoxy, most often used for bars and table tops.

Woodsealer, minwax natural works good

Sand paper, coarse, smooth and finishing

First carve the edges off the wood blocks


Keep going until you've carved off all the flat surfaces, this takes practice and it'll never be perfectly round. If it rolls easily that's good enough. To make the tail carve about the last 1/4 of the lure to a point.



Now cut the mouth out. I use a scroll saw, a bandsaw or hacksaw will work. The top of the mouth needs to be shorter than the bottom. See picture of the green and white lure below.

Now sand the hell out the lure. This is a crucial part, the sanding will really make the lure round and smooth.
Coarse

Fine


After sanding clean with a towel. To apply the sealer I just dunk the whole lure in the wood sealer. Let dry.

Now paint, whatever color you like. I suggest starting with something easy, black top with a grey bottom is a good place to start. The mouth of course should be bright red. Note the shape of the mouth in the picture below.



After your paint has dried, attach the eyes or draw them on if you like. Also attach a screweye in the center of the mouth and point of the tail.

To epoxy you will need some way to hold it while the epoxy cures. You can simply hang it by one of the screweyes or for best results turn the lure slowly. My curing rack is hooked up to a rotisserie motor. I buy cheap paint brushes to put the epoxy on.




After the epoxy has fully hardened its time to attach the hardware.
The hook on the belly should be placed so it won't foul the line or the lure on the tail. Simply screw each end of the hookhanger into the lure, put on split ring and hook. In the pic the front of the lure is on the left side.


The hook on the tail is attached easily with a split ring through the screweye.

Close up of the mouth, screweye, notice how the stickon eyes look with the epoxy over them.


I'll answer any questions best I can.