Sat-night surf chat,,, Week 8 " Monster Builder ",,,Bennyraw....

..... One of my favorite builders,,, been a lot of good times in our short friendship, I look forward to many more Welcome Benny

Can't wait to see this. Benny's work is awsome!!!! drool drool


Bluesfish

SWEET!!! CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU GOT UP YOUR SLEEVE BENNY!

one of SBO'S finest....... benny cant wait to see what u got cooking for this ....

Hey guys, sorry for the late response. I've been under tecnological attack today affraid.

I did a whole build with pictures over a month ago and lost the memory card.
So I rebuilt the plug this
morning and took more pics. When I was uploading them to photobucket my computer was attacked by a worm virus and shut down on me.

I'm at work now and I'm going to try and do this from my itouch.

I have minimal tools and I wanted to do something that coul
d be done with just a knife and some sandpaper.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'm always trying to come up with something new and usually finding out it's all been done before.
This build is just another one of those stories.
I generely like to sit and hang with the piece of wood I'll be using and wait for the inspiration to come. Trying to pull from the miriad of lures we all see. This is the shape I came up with on this 1.5" square piece of cedar.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

If you have access to a bandsaw or a jigsaw that's the easiest way to cut out your shape but you can also just do it with the knife.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Next I'll draw my shape on top and bottom and cut to shape with a knife.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
from here I'll put the plug in the vice Greek style and start sanding.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
This plug is pretty easy to make for a wooden lipped swimmer and they've swam very consistantly for me. Basically you just round the bottom infill it meets the top up to the end of the first curve and the round out the back, top and bottom first and then the sides.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
unfortunately this last pic is where my computer crapped out so I have no pics of the rest of the build. As far as weighting goes I put a six gram slug at the center of gravity and a three gram slug an inch in front of that with the hook centered between them. I'm still playing with the through wire but I'm basically doubling the wire,pushing it through and then opening it up again. I fill the holes with plumbers epoxy and then sand and seal.
Tomorrow I should be able to get a couple more pics of the build up and pics of the finished plug which will be given away in tomorrow nights chat.

I'm not sure why these pics aren't coming up in the post, probably has to do with posting from the itouch. If someone knows how to fix that, that would be great.

benny...i've edit your pics to show the images....let me know if it's in the right order.


Looking good benny....

lookin good benny....

way to help with the pics jett.....

AWESOME BENNY!!!

Hey Benny brother, do not sweat it, you got the whole week, does not have to be done to be givin away...

skippy wrote: ..... One of my favorite builders,,, been a lot of good times in our short friendship, I look forward to many more Welcome Benny

Thanks for the warm welcome Skip, I feel the same way. Really looking forward to meeting you at the Berkeley show.
I'll get this post straightened up this week.

I'm going to be late for the chat but I'll be there.

awesome,cant wait to see more of it, big fan of your work benny,

Etch

OK, I still don't have a computer so I have limited itouch access at work.

After rounding out the bottom and back of the plug and softening the corners it should look something like this.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
At this point you can use screw eyes for hook and eye placement and tape your weights in place and take it for a swim.
When your happy with how it swims, mark your locations, drill your weight and belly holes and then through drill if desired.
I like the look of the through wire coming out the bottom of this plug but I'm sure it would be fine wired traditionally as well.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


So as I was saying at the top of the thread, after many hours spent developing and finishing the plug I'm BS'ing with DMag and Football Jack on the beach one day and Dennis says "what's that in your bag, we use to fish those all the time. Hey Jack, what are these called?"
"Oh, that's a flat fish"
Oh well, back to the drawing board, I did pick up some cool tuning info though.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Alright lets paint. I tarted this plug off white and then painted the bottom pink/blue cloud and the top black.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Next I brush the backinto the sides with Pearl-Ex Interference Violet. I'm a big fan of this stuff and use it on alot of my plugs. It may not show up in the pic but it adds a nice purple hue that shows up as you turn the plug in the light.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
You could call it done here and the plug will look great and be very fishy. I'll be doing a few more steps over the next couple of days though.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Awesome design Benny. Thanks for this.

bennyraw wrote:Alright lets paint. I tarted this plug off white and then painted the bottom pink/blue cloud and the top black.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Next I brush the backinto the sides with Pearl-Ex Interference Violet. I'm a big fan of this stuff and use it on alot of my plugs. It may not show up in the pic but it adds a nice purple hue that shows up as you turn the plug in the light.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
You could call it done here and the plug will look great and be very fishy. I'll be doing a few more steps over the next couple of days though.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

looks like some pretty cool stuff...

I've seen flatfish before and those don't look like flatfish to me...yours are much more graceful. I can't believe you can carve something like that with a knife and a piece of sandpaper.

Those are some beautiful baits.

Thanks Vince, means alot coming from you.

I couldn't take pics of the painting process do to the style which must be done quickly. You'll get the idea if you watch Black Talon's video though.
I did a brushed white/pearl white/silver marble pattern on the bottom and then, while still keeping the paint wet, sprayed the top with aqua/pearl siver/pearl green. Remember to spray plain water betwee each layer. Next, while the paint is still wet, you can use just air, at a very low pressure, to spray the top paint away exposing your interference violet below in the Mack pattern.

I'm calling it...Absrackeral...
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

THAT IS A FRIGGING SICK ASS PAINT JOB ON A SICK ASS PLUG MY FRIEND!!! I LOVE IT!!! YOU GOT THE SKILLS TO PAY THE BILLS BROTHER!!!!