Handmade Fishing Lure

I have been wanting try at carving a lure for a while now, so when I got the opportunity to I had to try it. It turned out even better than I thought it would. Now I started out carving this with an exacto knife, and I know your thinking it is the wrong knife to be using and your right, except I found out the hard way. NEVER USE A RAZOR BLADE FOR CARVING WOOD. ESPECIALLY WHEN CARVING SOMETHING SO SMALL. Well as you can guess I cut my finger open very badly. After that I switched to a rasp and sandpaper and eventually Dremel.

For this lure I used:

-1x1 Wood- make sure to choose a soft wood
-Water Sealer- I used a small spray can kind
-Eye Screws
-Split Rings
-Treble Hooks- I used mustad hooks
-Epoxy
-Lure Eyes
-Acrylic
-(optional)Lure to base yours on- I used a Rick Clunn Series 2
-(optional)Paint- I didn't paint mine because I liked the natural color of the wood, and I figured it would look better if I didn't try to paint it.

I started by tracing the contour of the side of the body out on the side of the wood, and cutting out that profile. Next I traced the top view, and cut that too. I found it helpful to write out L,R,T,B on each side for left, right, top, and bottom. Please also know that if you are carving with a knife, the more you cut off, the smaller it gets and the easier it is to cut yourself.

Next I used a rasp and sandpaper to round the curvature of the body. Once I got the whole body to where I liked it, I started with 100 grit sandpaper and ended with 340 grit.

I then began using the Dremel to work the details of the lure. After they were all lined up I finished the body with 340 grit sandpaper again. I also cut a piece of acrylic for the diver, and drilled holes in the body for it.

I skipped a couple of pictures, it it basically finishing the lure. First I gave the body 2 coats of waterproofing spray, it actually darkened the wood and brought out the grains. Second i glued in the acrylic diver, and the lure eyes. Lastly I finished up and screwed in the eye screws and put on the split rings and treble hooks.

I even made this package for it out of and altoids tin because this was a school project. Now that you have finished your lure you can take it out and try it. I won't be fishing with mine because I want it to be more of a display. Catching a fish on this lure can give you even more pride, because you are using something you made from scratch yourself and worked for. Hope you get yourself a nice fish dinner. Enjoy!