EBB TIDE TACKLE - The BLOG: Blaze Garage - how to build a quality stickbait part 1

We are delighted to be able to bring you this post. One of our wonderful suppliers at Ebb Tide Tackle is Blaze Garage. The craftsman behind Blaze (and formerly Hitter Lures) is Noi Yanasing. Noi has decided he wants to share his experience as a lure builder with a wider audience and has provided this rare insight into his methods for building timber casting lures. What is obvious is the quality behind the Blaze brand - we hope you enjoy it.

Please follow this progress of a Blaze Burn 120g stickbait from a block of wood to a beautiful lure -

First step after we get the wood from the manufacturer, we cut them into rough shape that we need. As you can see here, we are cutting them into about 120g length. Keep in mind the wood that we get, already has been dried/cured but for perfection we will dry our wood a little more but that's will be in the later step

After we get the rough shape that we need. We find the center and drill a hole right through, this will serve as our wiring hole, keep in mind this is handmade and there will be no lathe or copier that will come in play at all.

These are some of the blocks that already have been prepared.

Template time! We have a template that is the original, this will then be transfer via pencil onto the wood to get the side profile of the lure. As you can see the hole of the wire will run right in the middle of the lure.

Rough shaping! We use a sander to get the rough shape of the lure. The handcarving come in later steps.

Checking and rechecking! The acrylic template is another assurance of the perfect shape of the lure.

Belly hole. Next we find the center on the bottom and get the belly hole drilled.

DIGITAL SCALE! Getting the blank weight right! Keep in mind this is the 120g lure but without the hardware.

After all those steps, the lure will get further drying time which will last from 3-5 days, this step ensure that we get a lure that is perfectly dry!

So after the wood has been given a final dry, we start to shape it and we have a block of a mold that we made with the original lure, to make sure that it come out exactly the same as the original but more importantly, every single one is exactly the same.

After some carving and cutting, the piece is starting to come together, keep in mind that we not only have the side profile but also the top profile as well.

Side profile is almost there but the top profile is still in need a lot of work.

After some time with the knife.. here we have it, fit's like a glove.

Now the fun begins... I think this is one of the most important if not the most important step in lure making. Determining the right weight. As you can see the weight of the wood itself only reads 57.9 grams, you might think that's crazy for a 120 grams lure. Keep mind that there is hardware, weight and many other things that still have to go on the lure. Next step...

This step is adding the weight, with the original you would make the prototype with the weight and also placement determine and would record that. As for us, the F (floating) and LS (level sinking) has different weight and weight distribution. If you look at the scale, it still only say 82.8 grams on a lure that supposed to be 120 grams. I will explain further.

Getting there... with most of the hardware as you can see the weight is 106 grams which is still a bit off from 120 grams. Keep in mind we still need to add painting, foil, and clear coats to the lure and that will bring it right up to 120 grams.