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Glide testing question


redhed10
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Okay so I am in the process of carving out a glide bait for a master mold for resin baits. My question is about tuning the glide before I make the mold. How would I go about testing out the master in the water to make sure it has the correct glide? Would I treat the wood before, test, then sand the joint till I got it right rinse and repeat? Does the wood even need to be treated before I put it in water if it is only to test the glide? I know it seems like a simple question I just do not want to ruin my master mold by testing it the "wrong" way. Any insight will be greatly appreciated!

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This might help in terms of treating the wooden master: http://swimbaitunderground.com/forums/index.php?/topic/44913-advice-for-balancing-a-wooden-topwater/?hl=wood

 

If you`re really concerned about ruining your master and wasting all the work you put into carving it, I recommend you mold the bait before you cut the joint. The reality is that you won`t know how your bait will perform until you load it with ballast and cut the joint, but you only have one shot at guessing where to place the joint and hardware. Molding the master before you start chopping it up will allow you to experiment with different joint placements and joint play without having to glue the master back together. Also note that resin behaves very differently from wood, so you`ll have to retune the whole thing again anyway. This is another big reason why molding twice is favorable. You mold and cut the joint once, tune it, mold it again, and then you should be good to go! It`ll take twice as long to complete and cost twice as much in materials, so you`ll have to decide whether the bait is worth it to you.

 

If you decide to cut the joint before you mold it, make it count because you have one shot! Look at pictures of different glides and try to replicate a similar joint position and amount of joint play. I cut the joint before molding my very first glide attempt and ended up with way too much joint play for it to glide effectively.

 

Making glide baits can be a risky and costly endeavor. I had high expectations as I began to make my own, and now it`s been over a year since I first started the project. Some guys succeed right off the bat, and others like myself run in circles for months and years trying to perfect their bait. You`ll understand once you start tuning the thing haha, but don`t give up! The reward is great, and the more you struggle the more special the bait becomes.

I hope this helps, Briggs, and wish you the best with this project!

Dan

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Dan,

 

Thank you for the great insight and also pointing me to the other thread. I have just started with this project and knew there would be bumps along the way. I totally understand where you are coming from by making the master and molding before cutting the bait. I wish had thought of that first. Would have saved me three carvings.. but ya live and ya learn! I will start a new carve probably next week and go about it that way. 

 

Briggs

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