whittler1

Talent and imiganiation = beautiful baits. Nice work Ben.

I do not have the Hornady version but I have had a bunch of 17's over the years and the 17 Ak has to be one of my favorites of all the 17's owned. Not much difference in the the two rounds and load data should be identical. The 17Ak rifles that I have owned have all been very accurate and easy to load for, you get a lot of punch for a very small powder charge. The early 17cal. rifles, due to poor quality bullets, barrels and stick powders and improper cleaning had some real problems. With the better barrels and bullet selection availabe now the 17's really shine. The 17 Hornet with a quality 20gr. bullet in a good rifle is easily capable of 3800 fps and very accurate, the 15 grain Berger bullet will get up to 4100fps in my rifle.

Great work as always Marty. Especially good to see something made by a true craftsman instead of the continual deluge of Chinese crap being passed off as the real thing.

The reel can be placed at the exact spot to get the balance where you like it, without using any other weight or balance systems.

That is some excellent work Ben, really like the fleeing craw.

When oppurtunity knocks its to late to prepare. John Wooden Do it right, do it once.

There is some excellent advice.

Sorry guys, must be getting too old but after watching this I come away with a vastly different point of view. Recorded this program earlier and did not get the chance to watch it until this morning and it leaves me with a few questions. Just wonder how many Wounded Warriors or Last Wish Kids would enjoy being taken to what is basically a fish hatchery, instead of a a few pros? At least he did show the feeders, wow what a true sportsman! I realize that is what most fishing shows are becoming any more but when you go to a private lake where the bass are “spoon fed”, its a little much. Got to pay those sponsors I guess.

Being one who loves to try new finishes, thinking that the ideal is the next trial, I have found, like BobP, that the water borne finishes are usless for hard baits. I have a cabinet full of finishes that I have tried and a lot of money invested if your interested. They are great for coffee tables and gym floors but I have not found any that are waterproof or that hold up fishing for more that a few minutes.

Great lookng baits Marty, really like using the flatside cranks.

Excellent work there Ben, The three cranks have to be my favorites though, especially the firetiger.

Most of the baitmakers cut, carve and seal their own blanks. There is no other way if you want to control the system from srart to finish plus it is much easier to keep things straight when you start with a square flat blank. As for sealing wood before paint I think each baitmaker has their own way of doing this. Some use epoxy, thinned epoxy, super glue and several commercial wood sealers, you just have to experiment and find what works best for you. Some use PVC and you can skip the sealing process altogether. I usually tell guys to buy sealers and topcoats in the smallest amounts and test/try them to see what works best for you, have a whole cabinet full of things that did not work. Avoid anything that does not say waterproof, not water resistant, like most of the furniture and gym floor finishes.

Thank you gentlemen, glad you like them. Here is the finiished batch, little better picture this time.

Exceptinal work there, hard to pick a favorite. Wood chips and sawdust have to be two of the most addictive things I know of.

When I retired I had the mistaken idea that I would be fishing all the time,..... Wrong. Have not built a bait since April and spent most of this year fishing and yes it's just like I had imagined it would be, great. Getting back at it and built a few smal cranks for a friend to use with a flyrod but they also work well with ultralite tackle. These baits are wood with stainless steel hardware and G10 lips and yes those little lips are a bear to make. They are 3/4" long and weigh about a tenth of an ounce, most will run 1' to 2' deep.

Some of the guys selling the fake Chinese knockoff Lucky Craft or Megabass baits are very good at hiding the fact that they are not the real thing. They always use terms like, looks just like, very similar too or they will say its their own model of the bait. The guy that is painting the real thing will have the original box. I have a large number of KO baits from several suppliers that I have sectioned to see how they are made and I have never found the first one that is close to the originals. Most have mismatched halves, weights that will not stay in place( weight transfer style baits), water leaks, internal wall thicknesses which vary a considerable amount, and hook hangers and line ties which are so misaligned that cannot be bent enough to get straight. My personal recomendation is if buy KO baits that you get at least 6 a at a time, that way you might get 1 that runs decent. Yep I have pictures of the cut-aways. One other thing, there will be those who will tell you how great thes KO baits are but if you go to any bass fishing forum that has a tackle making section or tackle under ground you will realize the names of the salesmen (Shills) will be the same. Like the drunk at the ballet, If they wanted tall girls why didn' they hire tall girls. If you want a Lucky craft buy a Luckycraft.

Looking good there Marty, kind of fond of the glitter myself.

Just plain awesome work Marty, the work of a true craftsman. Its always good to see something handmade. There are only so many Chinese knock offs that a person can stand, like putting a tux on a goat, its still a goat.

Deep Jig, on June 24 2011 - 04:45 PM, said: I have more respect for the fishermen who place high in the standings without having Toyota's team of pre-fishermen feeding them the scoop by hiring the best guides available. A professional, in anything, who does not make use of all the tools avaiable to him is foolish.

Man those look great Marty, that jitter stick should be killer. The thing I like most is the 100% made by me, all we see anymore is some $1.50 Chinese bait with a paint job being palmed off as a handmade bait or as the original. There are still a few out there who apprecieate a true handmade bait.

Nice stuff Marty, like them all. I'm going to get a couple of your baits wet next week at St. Clair, smallies look out.

I see no reason that that puppy would not catch bass Marty, nice work.

It sure looks like your off to a great start, excellent work.

Standing up in a hammock. Warning this is not intended for the fainthearted.