Wooden Bait Replication

[WUMFL]

Hey SU, theres a lot of bait makers out there that make detailed baits purely out of wood, and I have to know how they do it. How do you replicate your own hand made wooden bait to the tee? They’re able to make so many that they can sell big numbers of them and they’re all the same. 
If you guys have any idea how it works/how I could do it, please let me know!

Thanks!

[Jinxd12]

Time.

[benczar94]

Well it seems that roman made uses stencils to get accurate initial cuts to make the rough outline of their baits and then they probably have an order of operations to get them all close to being the same. Every Roman made negotiator I have owned has been a little different. Some have wider bodies, tighter joints, some the hardware is a little off center etc. they all have swam similarly but my two most recent ones swim quite a bit different and at that point it’s up to the angler or the bait maker to tinker with weighting or other factors to get desired swim and so on.

[danthefisherman]

There are also machines that can make quick work of the profiling and even some of the detail work. CNC routers and even laser cutters… most likely too expensive of an investment for one offs but can be used for a lot of other projects as well.

Edited January 21, 2023 by danthefisherman

[Big Epp]

Is there a particular bait you have in mind? One thing I've heard a lot about working with wood is that each bait is unique in some ways (like benczar94 mentioned). Even if the bait looks almost identical on the outside there might be some variance in action based on wood density and other factors. 

I bet with enough time and practice you could get pretty consistant results, but that would take a lot of time and practice.

What I think I've seen most for exact replication is carving an initial master and molding replicas of that first carved bait out of resin. That creates much more consistency (from what I've read, I've never used resin).

[morgantm16]

Well if you're doing it by hand.... attention to detail. lots of measurements and templates along the way to keep each one as close to the next as possible.  Some of that just gets better through more repetitions.

 

On the other hand... I would lean towards the side of saying a lot baits these days that are sold in any amount of volume are "handmade" but in all reality at least shaped and cut CNC or other methods. For instance, in the balsa crankbait world, most baits are cut from stock on lure duplicators.  You sometimes hear about gun stock lathes, a lathe that can turn one piece by referencing contact on a master piece... Those type duplicators are highly expensive, so much so that for lure building purposes I don't see how people can ever come out ahead.  But you could get into a table top CNC machine waaaay cheaper, cut each half and glue them together and be able to produce a pretty good level of consistency bait to bait.  The quality of the machine and the resolution that it cuts may leave more or less clean up and sanding.

[Big Epp]

On 1/23/2023 at 10:30 AM, morgantm16 said:

I would lean towards the side of saying a lot baits these days that are sold in any amount of volume are "handmade" but in all reality at least shaped and cut CNC or other methods.

I am intrigued with the idea of a CNC machine.  It would be really neat to set up the programming so you would cut space for all the internals, wire harness, ballast weight, etc... on the inside and then flip the stock over to cut out the outside of the lure too.