Ok fellas, I have been out of my lure making for a while now.  I have tried to make some Poppers which looked ok.  I have tried to make my own designs, which included a frog (Which I think was pretty awesome) a snake (Which had an awesome action) And a few other things.  I graduated from college with a degree in Art Education, so I had the opportunity to use the sculpture lab with all kinds of saws and sanders and files and all kinds of cool things.  Now that I am no longer in school, I dont have the opportunity to use the tools.  So, after that background knowledge, here we go...

 

I am looking to make some poppers and maybe some frog lures that walk the dog.  What kind of wood do you all reccomend? A CHEAP dremel tool is all I have, so it doesnt have too much power or attachments to go with it.  I was thinking probably Balsa Wood. Previously I have made a through wire becuase i thought the screw eyes would pull out of the soft balsa wood. Also, because I couldn't find any small screw eyes. Is this necessary or will screw eyes work?  Im sure I will have another question pretty soon, but this is all I can think of right now.

Screw eyes will work but are not nearly as durable as thru-wiring.  If you use them, I'd use the longest I could find and fill the hole with epoxy or superglue before screwing them in for final assembly.  But really, thru-wiring is not much harder to do and will make the baits much stronger and more durable.  I use SOFT temper stainless steel wire for thru-wiring - at least .032" diameter, more often .040".  The soft temper wire is much easier to bend accurately and will hold up fine.

Do not use balsa if you are going to attach the hooks with screw eyes. Balsa lures will need a through wire, as the wood isn't dense enough for screw eyes to bite into it. 

 

Balsa is also a poor choice for poppers. I would use something like basswood or pine and attach the hooks with screw eyes (unless you're confident in your wire bending and woodworking to do a through wire.) And like BobP said in his post, use epoxy on them. The size of screw eyes will require some experimentation, as they will add a significant amount of weight to the bait. 

 

Working with limited resources will force you to be innovative. You may surprise yourself with what you'll come up with. Hope you catch some fish on your home made lures.

i've tried basswood before, but its so dang tough to carve with an exacto knife.  Is there a wood easier to carve, but not as soft as balsa wood? Its so dang soft!

i've tried basswood before, but its so dang tough to carve with an exacto knife.  Is there a wood easier to carve, but not as soft as balsa wood? Its so dang soft!

Pick up a coping saw and use that to shape the bait, then use your knife to do the more detailed shaping. You should be able to get one used for $5 or less, or a new one for around $10-20.

 

As far as hand tools go you should arm yourself with a good assortment of sand paper (50-80grit to remove material, and 150-220 for smoothing.) A rasp is also a handy tool to have, as is a bench vise to hold things in place. A good round burr and a drill will help to make the popper mouths. Unfortunately burrs aren't cheap, but a good one will last a very, very long time.

 

Realistically you'll be able to make baits with just the knife, but it'll take longer and be harder on your hands. 

I always cut my blanks out on a jig saw or band saw and then used small Dremel sanding cylinders for most of the rounding-over on crankbaits.  The cylinders come in 2 grits - I use the fine grit.  The downside is you have wood dust flying so a particle mask is recommended.  More lately, I've started using a wood carvers Murphy knife to do the gross parts of rounding over, saving the Dremel for blending the facets cut with the knife into the curvature of the bait.  A Murphy knife will cut any type of wood used in crankbaits and using it instead of a knife not specifically designed for wood carving is comparing night and day.  I got mine about a year ago online for around $15.

 

Different guys use different methods and I think it's mostly a function of what they started out using and became familiar with.  So it's mostly what works for you -  knives, saws, sanders, rasps, lathes, etc.

Alternatives to balsa are paulownia or white cedar.  Paulownia is the wood with next-higher density to balsa but it is much harder.  Balsa density is 6-18 lb/cu ft (12 lb average) and paulownia averages 18 lbs.  Most balsa sold in shops is lighter density balsa intended for model airplanes and such.  I often use light balsa for its high buoyancy but you need to seriously reinforce it for use in crankbaits - superglue followed by epoxy makes a good undercoat, followed by paint and an epoxy topcoat.