I found this subtopic the other day and have been hooked since. Thanks a lot Glenn.

So i went out to Micheals and bought a few basics, Xacto Carving Knife, a few blocks of Basswood various sides, and a basswood Dowel. I stopped at Taylor's DIY, picked up some Sandpaper (variety packs). I spent about 1 hour reading most of the post here about hardbaits then went to underground tackle, saw a link to Stamina Inc. and spent 3 hours last night looking at stuff to buy and getting ideas. So in about a 36 hour period i have carved and sanded 3 topwater lures. I still don't have paint or eyes yet. Whitler helped with the eyes and I just need to go buy paint. I attached a semi good pick below to show the basics.

Again, Thanks Glenn and all of the rest of you. Someday i will hope to send a few out to be tested by some of the best guys i have ever met on the net.

Looks like a great start... ;D

I have tried making lures lust like those. I made a diving crank, a popper, and a spook clone. I carved and painted them, but never got any hardware for them.

Whittler,  

I went to Home Depot and got the wire and Glue you suggested and i think i found a scale pattern while i was looking around.  I was looking at the filler section looking for a small tube of wood filler and i came acroos prefab sheet rock patch kits.  This kit uses a metal diamond grate as a backing,  i will attach a picture soon to show you.  

With what i purchased today i should be ready for painting tomorrow night and sealing soon after.  I have read of a few different epoxy sealers  the last few days, what is the easiest to use.

Sounds like your off to a flying start. The screen should work well for scale but so will onion sacks, net and fiberglass drywall tape. Spraying through a comb or lace can also create some unusual patterns. Sealing the bait before painting can be done with a wide range of materials and each baitmaker seems to have their own formula. Once the bait is painted I do use an epoxy top-coat, really makes a tough bait.

Post some pics when your finished.

Wow. Those look like great baits. Be sure to put up pics when you get em done.

The only one that looks like it will be fully operational, is the Spook clone. I have been concetrating on the popper and the walker and have made a few newby mistakes.  I also attempted a small crank but i screwed it up by being in a hurry.  Thw biggest problem i have right now is i don't have anything to cut straight with.  I am looking at an table top band saw at a pawn shop and a disk/belt sander combo.   I enjoy the carving partbut going from retangle to round isn't easy.  I hope to do some more trial and error so maybe in a month i will have 4 or 5 baits to show and use.

Whittler,  Is there a guide on Lip angle to lure depth i should know about for C-baits?  I am using looks to decide were the lip goes, instead of putting it where it should be for the desired depth i want for lure.(sentence structure?)

Dave, lip angle and line tie position are two of the things which control diving depth, not the only things but the two main things. There are no hard fast rules but with a little trial and error you will be able to figure it out. The bait pictured is certainly a deep diver, as you look at the lip it is almost on a horizonal plane and the line tie is fairly far out on the lip. Weight is a factor but lip angle, size of the lip and position of the line tie is where the diving depth comes from. As you will discover its easy to make a bait run 6' deep but a lot tougher to make it run 16' deep. Keep your work as true, centered and accurate as possible and you will be way ahead of most.

Well, i tested the "Walking Stick" (Bottom Pic) and the Spook clone today.

The spook didn't do so well, it is still to front heavy so it doesn't "walk the dog", at least not consistantly.  I have a few ideas to change it up so not to be a total waste.   :-/

The walking stick, YESSSS!!!  It worked just the way i wanted it to.  I nice small slash on casting, even when chunked a mile.  I really tight walk, the lure is 5 inches long, and walks back and forth in about an 8" area.   I wanted to be able to cast next to standing timber and lay downs in shallow coves,  and not spook the fish holding close to that cover.   8-)

Now the hard part, see if i can duplicate it, since i have no idea how much weight i put in it.

Tenka, got any pics of those bad boys since you painted them, or what would be way cool, one of them hanging out of a 5 lbrs mouth. Good luck with them!

I wished they were painted, but i tried a once and discoveed i have no patience for detailed painting.  So i have to sand it down and try again.  Where i get them painted, i will have the up ASAP.

Whittler. That's a nice crankbait.