Building the double J..

[Rockfish9]

now align and clamp the halves tightly and allow to dry 3-4 hours, overnight is better... if your wondering about the strength of this stuff, i took a unseald, glued , through drilled blank and soaked in water for 48 hours,I then put it onto my lathe and applied as much tail stock pressure as I could... it held, the then removed it from the lathe, drove my awl in to it so far, water was running everywhere out of the blank... it took a hammer and the vise to remove th awl.. the blank never split... back to the build.

once the blank/glue is dry, you will se the "ooze" on both edges, I remove it with the belt sander when I square up the ends, you can also remove it with a utility knife...

Like all plugs I make, there is a blue print, prior to the final blue print there are lots of scribbles and notes, I also make a "quick reference" index card that clamps on a magnet on my lathe.. my memory just isnt what it once was...

Continued in the next frame...

[Rockfish9]

after trueing up the ends, either with a belt sander or a saw, mark you center, normaly I eye ball it, but here, you dont have alot of extra to work with, so an exact center is a must, find your center by marking the blank corner to corner, or with a center finder...

you will find that when you chuck up the blank on the lathe that it wants to move towards the cedar, or soft wood, this is OK, when you turn the blank, you will be removing a little more of the denser maple than the softer, more boyant cedar, it was part of the plan, originaly, I made the maple 1/4" thicker so I could drilll into the maple...long story short, it was a bad idea and the plug was too bottom heavy, alot of the action was lost..

once the blank is on the lathe, make two marks on one of the flats, 6" appart to mark the front half of the plug ( beggining and end) this will be repeated with the secnd piece for the rear half, be sure to leave the square ends, you will need them.. once the blank is marked, even though you only marked one flat, you will be able to see the ghost image and using your roughing gouge, turn the blank to a round cylinder that will be 7/8" in diameter when it's sanded, so leave a little extra... a word of caution.... use SHARP tools, becase of the difference in wood densities, dull tools are a bad omen... for safety, please wear a full face shield... eye goggles dont help when a blank or errant hunk of wood whacks you in the cheek...

continued in the next frame...

[Rockfish9]

once you have a roughed out cylinder, mark out the nose and rear of the front section, I've drawn all the marks as a reference but normalu would only mark the start finish and nose taper..

you should have a 7/8" ( or close to finished) diameter, 2" back from the nose is the start of you nose taper, the target for the nose is 5/8", I prefer to round off the nose a bit but a square nose tends to make a little more water disturbance..

once you have the nose taper turned, sand the blank, I never go any finer than #220.. IMHO, anything finer than that can cause adhesion problems latter on... just my own findings...

Now make marks at 1 3/8" ( for the eye) 2" for the hook and 1/2" from the rear of the front half, this will be the end of your "v" cut..

bring the marks all the way arond the plug,I do it manualy, some turn the lathe on.. your choice...

Continued in the next frame:

[Rockfish9]

Repeat the process witht he rear blank, marking out a 5" section and rounding it out to 7/8".. the rear taper starts 1" from the front of the rear half and gradualy tapers to 7/16" at the tail...

After sanding, make a mark at 5/8" ( rear "v"cut) and 1" for your rear belly hook..

proceed to your drill prss and drill your belly holes, they should extend approx. half way through the plug, I use a step( multidiameter) drill for this, so it's a one shot deal, I had the size written down but somewhere misplaced it... if anyone is iterested i can give you the size, it fits the .341 belly gromet perfectly...

Lacking the step drill, use a 1/2" forshner bit to spot face the gromet, then finish with a 3/8 forsner bit...repeat for the rear section..

Continued in the next frame:

[Rockfish9]

Now return to your lathe ( use your drill press if you want) for this process, I use a 5/32" drill bit, drilling from the rear of the front half, drill through until the drill comes through the belly hole... stop her, you will finish the front latter... repeat with the rear, you can go all the way through here...

before you cut off the square ends, place the plug on a flat surface, usnig a block of wood ( 3/4" thick) mark the eye location and drill them to what ever size you like, I like 5/16 for these...

Now remove you square ends...band saw is the eaisest tool,but a hand saw will suffice ( yuk!)

[Rockfish9]

the first picture is of the jig I made specificlay for making this plug,it's been modified a few times but it serves several funtions, a dowel centerd 7/16" near the front holds the plug in place as I cut the lip slot, because the pikie 1 lip is so thin, I use the scroll saw instead of the table top band saw to cut this slot....

the lip slot is 5/16" deep in the plug, it would be too simple to mark it while I was laying out the plug, so I end up holding the lip to the plug most of the time...

once the lip slot is cut, install the lip andwith an awl, mark the center of the throgh wire...with a hand drill, drill a 5/32" hole at an upwards angle into the fron hook hole, this allows the use of a #1 swivel without it hanging down like an untucked shirt...

Making the V cut... the V not only makes the plug stream line, but by using a tight joint, the sides rattle as the plug swims along, slapping from side to side, this was by design, as I tried my best to make a rattle work on this plug, normaly, I instal them between the eyes, no could do here, just too narrow, so the next best thing.. a working body... this wouldnt be possible if the plug were not epoxied...

continued in the next frame:

[Rockfish9]

so, with you fence set up on your band saw, the plug on the jig, make you 70 degree cut, move the fence, put the plug on the opposite pin and cut the other side, I leave approx 1/8" on each edge, I sometime make a few straight cuts on the band saw before moving to the scroll saw ( a coping saw also can be used) I then clean out ( rough) the cut with the scroll saw, afterwards, I finish the slot with a small sanding drum on a demel tool, be sure to round out the edges, or they will be brittle ( the mape gives them strength this was another reason I went to the maple laminate) and not hold the epoxy well...