BIG M

Those baits are very sharp, you got skills with the air brush.

Great looking paint and keep posting.

Good looking paint

Good looking paint patterns.

Great job on one of the hardest baits to copy period. I've got 1 laying in the shop that needs some water time, what a pain to carve that little bait.

Marc, I get it from Mudhole.com. You have to let it set up for 10-12 min, that's the trick to using it and e-tex. The longer you let it set up the thicker it can be brushed on. The flex coat has uv stuff in it so the clear won't yellow. It's much thinner than epoxy so I use two coats on my baits. If I were repainting plastic cranks then 1 coat would work in my opinion. It will hold up better than the factory clears in my opinion as well.

Switch to flex coat ultra v high build and never look back. Beats epoxy hands downs. After mixing a batch let it sit for 10 min then blow on it thru a straw and all the bubbles are gone. Still has a pot life to coat 6 big cranks.

I would start with a simple shallow running flat sided crank for your first bait. I use a wood carving knife and sandpaper for shaping my blanks. I have more control with the simple tools. Get you a wheeled marking guage for marking the center line of the bait and marking the areas to take off wood. Look at any of my theads with flat sided cranks and use 1 as your pattern. If you need to know the specifics like ballast placement and bill angle just ask. If your first bait runs decent and you catch a fish it's all over but the crying. Welcome to the darkside.

Here is another small batch of flat sided cranks. The Petey style bait is made from pine 3/8 thick, rest are 1/2 thick balsa.

very nice topwaters

Looking good Cliff

You can put a line tie in any bill. If the baits are old poe's then the lip slot will be 1/8 inch wide and you will have to find plastic bills thick enough to fill the slot and maintain the same angle. Jann's, Barlow's, Lure parts online, will have bills you can purchase.

John, all your work looks great and it's top of the line. With that said, I like the old fins much better than the resin version. I think it's a unique feature to your baits that makes them stand out from the crowd even more. I've been a fan of your work for a long time now and that will not change even if fins do.

Here are a few flat sides I made. Most are 1/2 inch thick balsa wood with a 3/8 thick bait from pine. I'm starting to like pine for the thinner cranks.

Very nice

This is a simple attempt at a answer. The bait swims due to the water pressure moving down the sides of the bait as you reel. The water makes the bait swim based on the body design, ballast weight, and lie tie position. If Vman sees that question he will give you an answer that makes my head hurt.

Ben all those baits look great but I like the first Am shad best.

Well that's a neat trick Bob.

Cliff, I think you get better with each batch you post. I would like to see that natural shad pattern with grey/black over the green. We may have to talk a little trade or something.

Most older wood cranks used plastic bills with a 1/8 inch thick base. You will want to measure that lip slot before trying to find a replacement bill. It's a tricky repair to fit a 1/16 inch lip into that 1/8 inch slot and keep the correct angle.

I really like all of the baits, tough to pick a fav from that batch.

Here is a fresh batch of shallow runners, flat sides and round body square bills.

Thanks guys, as of Fri I'm working on old man status 43.

Here is a batch of flat sided cranks I've finished. All are shallow runners just in time for this cooler weather.

You will need the lip installed before doing the clear coat or you run the risk of getting epoxy in the lip slot. I know some guys do it different but that's a lot of work to risk an easy screw up. I cut my lip slots first while the bait is still nice and square.