Finishing Lure Shop/Getting Started with Pencils

[ProfessorM]

I do. Very rarely miss connecting each side with this method. I just did 30 , 8" long , .400 dia. maple needles and only lost 1. Thin maple needles are the measuring stick as far as I'm concerned. If you can do those you can do anything. If it is a danny or a metal lip swimmer of some kind i will only drill from the ass end and stop at where the front belly hook hole will fall. I then hydro them, drill belly hook holes, I then cut lip slot, lay the lip in, mark where the lip hole will go and hand drill that hole to meet the front belly hole, thus connecting the whole shabang for a thru wire.

[Charleston]

Hey Roach, Glad the shop is coming along. FWIW doing your through drilling on the lathe is spot on! I don't make many plugs but I drill them all on the lathe.
Let me know if I can be of help as you venture into this thing we call "plug building"

[WoodyCT]

A couple things I learned- the hard and frustrating way:

DO NOT use a brad point bit to through drill. Use a standard bit, or better yet, one meant for end grain.

You don't need a really long bit, as you will drill in from each end and meet in the middle. Use a hand drill with a long bit to finish if your lathe drilling bit is too short to make it halfway through the plug- very likely with pencils and needles.

Go SLOW. Push the plug onto the bit about a 1/4-1/2", back it out to clear the chips, go another 1/4-1/2", clear chips....

Good luck young grasshoppa

[numbskull]

Try both. I find the drill press easier. Lots of threads on through drilling.

[Grapenuts]

No drilling for me anymore..I got two pet termites..one male one female....I dangle the female in front of the plugs nose on a string, then put the male on the tail of the plug an say "go get her butch"go upstairs an have a cup of coffee,come back and their maken kids...perfect straight wire hole evey time.

E.R......maybe to late now,but u didn't say what the finished walls were going to be inside, you live in the land of rough sawn pine..that wood be the ticket as u'd not have any problems in finding any place to screw into...if u were headed for rock the best thing before it goes on wood be to use 1/2" ply on the walls before putting up the rock..then any where u needed to screw into it wood b solid...no hunting for studds an hoping one was there.

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by Grapenuts

No drilling for me anymore..I got two pet termites..one male one female....I dangle the female in front of the plugs nose on a string, then put the male on the tail of the plug an say "go get her butch"go upstairs an have a cup of coffee,come back and their maken kids...perfect straight wire hole evey time.

and how do you catch a squirrel ?

[BigFish]

With a hand grenade!

[Grapenuts]

Originally Posted by Tagger

and how do you catch a squirrel ?

Thats easy......8 lb mono to nut ..mono leads to the window....place super glue on nut...toss nut into known feeding ground,,wait for the bump...count to 4...drag his arse up to the window...let window fall..fight over.

[EricW]

Originally Posted by WoodyCT

A couple things I learned- the hard and frustrating way:

DO NOT use a brad point bit to through drill. Use a standard bit, or better yet, one meant for end grain.


Good luck young grasshoppa

Have you had issues using brad point bits?
I have actually found them to be much more accurate in my thru drilling, and give the best results. I use them because they have
the little point on the end which for me anyway is much easier to
pinpoint the center mark on the plug blank and go straight down.
I currently use one of my drill presses to drill and and meet up with a long bit in a hand drill.
One tip I can share which has helped me is on my first "plunge" of the drill press I only go about 2 millimeters. I have found that this somehow sets the hole if you know what I mean. I have tried going a deeper like a 1/2 to 1 inch and sometimes you can notice the drill bit grab some grain and look like it may go off. For some reason, I have much better success on subsequent plunges when I make that first hole about 2 mm deep.

I recently acquired a 9" metal lathe and am planning on getting it set up to do some experimenting with thru drilling on it. I was able to do a couple test blanks with some good results.

[WoodyCT]

I had nothing but bad luck with brad points, so I researched them and found that the side spurs were the problem. They tend to follow the grain and veer off course. The point in the center is good, and bits designed to drill end grain have some sort of point in the center.

Since ditching the brads and going to a Morris Tools end grain bit I haven't wrecked a plug while through drilling. Even 8+"ers.