# Got lathe?



## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

I just purchased a lathe about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I haven't had much time to use it. Still learning; don't really have a quality set of chisels for it, but I have a few old carpenters chisels and I'm trying my hand.

Here's a few pictures of some bass-type poppers, a couple of manta style jerkbaits and a jointed bait that I'm working on.

If anyone has any experience or tips on lathes, I'm all ears.


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## the weav (Mar 22, 2007)

Those look great!Iwood work for a living,what kind of wood is that?I think your on the right track.


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## eyesman_01 (Jan 4, 2007)

Great work. But I'd get a set of the lathe tools. Safer, and easier on the body. They are longer for better control. You might even be able to find some good used ones on ebay. 

Been years since I worked a wood lathe. Last lathe I worked on was with steel, copper, bronze.......

Will be looking forward to seeing what those look like finished.

I haven't started my next project yet. Been too busy trying to get the boat around and ready for Erie.


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## lazy (Apr 10, 2004)

Looken good vc, the fish don't stand a chance now you've got them surrounded.
The top topper would look good with a hair time treble on the rear.

Dallas


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## BigDaddy300 (Nov 1, 2004)

Looking good vc. Hope to be testing those for you soon


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

BD300, I'm going to try to get down to the local water hole tomorrow and test the manta jerks. If they work, I'm going to make as many as I can from the wood I have left from Tigger. They take a good-sized chunk because the lathe eats a lot of the wood in the process.

I've got to tell you that I'm really liking this lathe business. I have several prototypes in my head that I've been wanting to try to build and test for a long time and they involve the lathe. 

When I get some bigger chunks of timber I've got a plan to improve on the Burt, which has been a real producer for me for the last 5 years or so. I think I can build one that will run deeper with less work, make more noise, and of course, I can foil a few and paint a bunch in colors that are not available on the market. 

I've already discovered a lot of very productive color patterns for Leesville, Pymatuning and West Branch for the muskies, so it should be interesting.

Jerkbait fishing for muskies is a real rush. Its sort of like topwater fishing for bass. No matter how much you think you're ready for the strike, you're always pleasantly jolted when it happens.

I'm also working on a way to build a jig to cut slots in certain jerkbaits to facilitate the diving movement. I'm going to use the tablesaw for that. If that fails I've got a radial arm saw that I picked up at a garage sale last summer. Haven't used it yet, but I think I've got a good idea how I can accurately rip the cuts I need and then repeat them with precision on other baits of varying lengths and thicknesses.

I think there's a lot yet to be done with jerkbaits and I say that knowing that much has been done already (we're talking muskies here, not the other species).

I can say with certainty that follows and slashes can be turned into hooked fish by quickly switching to a different style of jerkbait in the same situation on a given day. I've seen it happen quite a few times. I've also seen certain jerkbait and glidebait configurations produce fish when absolutely nothing else would. 

My only problem is at this moment in time that I have so many different types, styles, and colors of baits that I want to build, that I am constantly tweaking a number of different bait styles at the same time. It will be easier when I've built a series of useful, productive baits that I've developed and then I can concentrate on trying to build only jerkbaits for an entire year. Concentrating on that one type of bait will allow more fine-tuning and will also speed the process of elimination.

Of course, building a bait to completion and testing it _thoroughly_ for musky is problematic for a number of reasons. The species is by nature somewhat finicky at times (now there's an understatement, eh?). Jerkbaits are like bass jigs; when they want them, you better be heavin' them. When they don't, you might as well throw your shoe out there, because they're just not interested in snatching a jerkbait at that particular time. So. its isn't as though you can throw a new jerkbait on a given day, get no action, and conclude that the bait isn't productive.

Additionally, the other normal variables come into play like light pentration, water clarity, fish concentrations near structure or baitfish movements, water temps, air pressure, yada, yada.

I've got some contacts with one of the local legends in musky fishing. This guy and his partner fish strictly for musky, which is pretty much what we do, but they fish a much larger geographical radius, including Canada. They also fish for the nasty creature from ice out to ice up. He sent me a picture the other day of a real pig he landed on March 8th of this month! It was a true hog caught locally, and I mean to tell you that thing had a gut on it like middle-aged beer-swizzlin' bowler (no offense to you middle-aged beer-swizzlin' bowlers, we're just talkin' here ). Anyway, the info he's giving me is all about jointed baits, which I have had very poor luck with, and thus far have very little faith in...but I'm listening...and that lathe ain't going nowhere! So I'm going to do some BSing with him and his partner and build a few baits for him (as a gift) and I'll probably build a half-dozen or so for myself and force myself to use them this year despite my previous experience with jointed musky baits.

So, the wood chips are going to be flyin' in my basement this year.It should be an interesting year, if I don't lose one of my fatfingers on one of these powertools. 

Here's a shot of the Burt that has produced several dozen muskies for me in the last several years. Its the firetiger bait at the bottom

I think I can build variations of this and really up the odds this year or next:


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## DaleM (Apr 5, 2004)

Man those look fantastic. Quite a gifted skill you have there to make those lures. Good luck and keep us updated on how they work.


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Thanks for kind words, Dale.

Oh and Lazy, I am planning on putting some small bucktails on the back of the poppers, so if you see a black persian cat missing some patches of hair from her tail, its mine; send her home for me.


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## peple of the perch (Sep 13, 2004)

Nice job on those lures. they look nice. I use a lathe at school but we use metals.


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Sorry double post.


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Weav, sorry I didn't notice your question earlier. The wood I use most of the time is poplar, but the one jerkbait with the stainless steel tail is maple. Tough stuff to work with but I'm curious how it will behave in the water on jerkbaits.

Here's a few that I have ready to paint. 

This is an 11 inch musky bait in the old Creek Chub Pikie style. I turned it on the lathe using maple and made the stainless steel lip with a bandsaw, a small sheet of stainless and the bench vise:












Here's another one, already primed, made from cherry. 

Its also an older but still popular style, I'm still working on fabricating the lip out of stainless. The smaller lips are much more difficult to work with in stainless steel. 

My bait is the white one in the middle; its larger because I felt that the originals were a touch too small for musky. The other two, above and below mine, were purchased by a friend of mine and are what I was trying to emulate on the lathe:


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## the weav (Mar 22, 2007)

VC thanks,let us know how they work.Id like to know how the pop. and maple float for you,should be more than tough enough.


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## TIGGER (Jan 17, 2006)

Man those look great vc! Can't wait to them painted. New at the turning?????????? Looks like you have been doing it for years!!!!! LOL Nice job


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Weav, I had a chance to test the Manta-style jerkbaits the other day during the warm spell. They both work, but I have to tweak the weighting on the maple Manta style bait a little more. The poplar one is awesome in the water.

I also made a glider from poplar with the same head as you used to see on the old "vamp" baits (really showing my age there, eh?). I weighted it with 50 caliber 175 grain "roundballs" from my muzzleloader. I was lucky nailed the weighting of the bait on the first try so I'm really looking forward to building more of those on the lathe.

I should be able to start painting baits in the next week or so. I'll post a few pictures when I get further along in the process.

Hope you guys are getting re-spooled and ready to fish!:G


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