Latest homemade efforts

[Angus Hulme]

G'day Ben, thanks mate....the clear coat I use is a 2 part gloss resin, called Aristocrat. I must warn though: it's not designed for marine conditions, and I'd bet my house that the makers never intended for their product to be GT resistant!

If I was going to sell my lures, I would try to source something more suitable for marine conditions,  but I figure that fish don't give a hoot what the finish is like, so there's no point me getting too wound up about it. I have sealed the base timber well, so the final clear finish is largely for aesthetic value, IMO.

Hope that helps
Cheers
Angus

[Nathan Cefai]

good work mate,soon every one that are able to make there own poppers will start making them,we have made atleast 40-50 poppers on a friends lathe,some are bigger than I-Cups...some have fish tails and all work great,wiring is a hundred percent..

[Neale Bird]

how do you go about twisting the wire?

[Angus Hulme]

Neale, bear in mind that I am just pottering in my little workshop under my house and don't own any specialized tools. Basically, I just use a a bench vice, pliers and some large drill bits. Put a drill bit into the vice, and bend the wire around the drill bit until it's almost a circle.  Then I put the loop into the vice, and use the pliers to twist the tag end around the main wire a number of times. Then cut the tag off with a hacksaw. Crude but effective. Take some practice to get it looking reasonably neat, but that's part of the fun.

Cheers
Angus

[Ben Gudgeon]

Thanks Angus,

 Aristocrat is the same brand of clear I have used also, I ve only made a handful of poppers for an upcoming trip and the Aristocrat has turned out well.  As for the wire, I used 1.6mm  316 stainless tig filler,  same kind of way you desribed, a drill in the vice and hold the end of the wire with vice grips to do the twists.  One thing I did try was to cut a slot into the drill thats used to form the loop around, this lets you place a swivel in the slot and twist the wire with the swivel inside the loop.  I can post a pic if anyone wants.

Cheers Ben   

[Neale Bird]

That'd be good thanks 

[Angus Hulme]

One thing I did try was to cut a slot into the drill thats used to form the loop around, this lets you place a swivel in the slot and twist the wire with the swivel inside the loop.  I can post a pic if anyone wants. 

That sounds like a great little trick Ben, I would also be keen to see some pics if you can manage it.

Cheers
Angus

[Ben Gudgeon]

If you form the loop then place the swivel into the loop before your final twists it seems to be a bit easier.

Cheers Ben

[Angus Hulme]

super work Ben, simple yet highly effective. How'd you cut the slot in the drill bit?

[Ben Gudgeon]

Angus,

I just used a 1mm thick disc on the angle grinder, you can get them at most hardware shops.  I call em wafer discs. Its actually an old screwdriver I used to form the loop around, anything round is good I'd reckon.

Cheers Ben