Beginner Plug Building ?

Say i wanted to build my very first own plug ...what equipment and materials would i need at the bare minimum to get started and start playing around with some ideas. Never built a plug before but you guys sure know your shit. Any recommendations would be much appreciated. :study:

I made my first plug with nothing more than a large dowel from home depot and sand paper....

a drill and screw eyes some spray paint and i was off to the addition lol...

hey hand carved plugs are made with some times nothing more than a sharp knife and sand paper...

I posted the exact same question on another forum at the beginning of winter.

The advice I received was to pick up a couple of do-it-yourself kits and start there.

Best advice I could have been given.

We picked up about $100 worth of Salty's kits in a variety of styles, got an $80 airbrush from Harbor Freight, about $60 worth of Createx paints, spent $20 on some E-Tex, and maybe $40 or $50 worth of assorted other stuff (BLO/MS, BIN, brushes, sandpaper, hard plastic eyes, hooks) and started messing around.

The experience we're having is teaching us a lot about what goes in to a fishing lure's construction. We have a lot more respect now for what builders do. Before this experiment I though that plug prices were kind of high, but now I would argue that plug builders don't get paid what these things are worth when you consider the time and effort that goes into them.

We're going to stick with it and look into investing in a lathe and some other shop tools next winter. Probably start turning poppers or pencil poppers and see how it goes. Obviously that is the much more difficult and essential part of lure building. The assembly, paint, and epoxy is only cosmetic. But messing with the cosmetic side of it gave us a look into half of the business of plug building without having to sink a bunch of money into shop tools. We know we like it, so getting more involved in it makes sense. But we could have hated it and been stuck with a $700 anchor in a shitty economy.

I'll post pictures of the lures when they're finished, and I'll let you know how they swim.

soot wrote:I posted the exact same question on another forum at the beginning of winter.

The advice I received was to pick up a couple of do-it-yourself kits and start there.

Best advice I could have been given.

We picked up about $100 worth of Salty's kits in a variety of styles, got an $80 airbrush from Harbor Freight, about $60 worth of Createx paints, spent $20 on some E-Tex, and maybe $40 or $50 worth of assorted other stuff (BLO/MS, BIN, brushes, sandpaper, hard plastic eyes, hooks) and started messing around.

The experience we're having is teaching us a lot about what goes in to a fishing lure's construction. We have a lot more respect now for what builders do. Before this experiment I though that plug prices were kind of high, but now I would argue that plug builders don't get paid what these things are worth when you consider the time and effort that goes into them.

We're going to stick with it and look into investing in a lathe and some other shop tools next winter. Probably start turning poppers or pencil poppers and see how it goes. Obviously that is the much more difficult and essential part of lure building. The assembly, paint, and epoxy is only cosmetic. But messing with the cosmetic side of it gave us a look into half of the business of plug building without having to sink a bunch of money into shop tools. We know we like it, so getting more involved in it makes sense. But we could have hated it and been stuck with a $700 anchor in a shitty economy.

I'll post pictures of the lures when they're finished, and I'll let you know how they swim.

NICE WAY OF PUTTING IT. ITS A FUN HOBBIE.BUT IT COULD ADD UP REAL FAST. TRY PLUG KITS FIRST. GOOD LUCK

like soot said great experience, much appriciation to the builders, time well spent, a lot of cash. one thing is for sure i can't wait to cacth a fish on something painted or put toghther by ourselfs, all indeed priceless.

I started by redoing older plugs to understand how they were build, where the weights were and how they were drilled. this way you can repaint them and reshape them alittle. then to home depot buy a dowel, sand paper, exacto knife and a dremel. then your family will start missing you. enjoy and welcome to the madness.

Problem is if you don't sell them, you end up with too many, and you start giving them away!

Oh no another one is coming over to the dark side lol all i can say is youll need a lot of time and patiance to get going start with the kits see how you like them you can paint them with spray cans ,thats how i paint most of mine.there is a ton of information out there on this subject it would do you good to search this subject to see whats realy involved i could list off stuff you need but im shure i would forget some there are some good posts out there read them and if you still have more questions im shure the builders here will be more than happy to help

start w the kits and see if you like it .........before you dump the loot ...

Made my first from a blank used rattle cans. :king:

now i'm using an airbrush