Legs Through Popper Bodies?

[Joe Billingsley]

I have some Wapsi Perfect Popper Bodies that I've been making some bass and bream bugs with. They recommend heating a bodkin or sewing needle and inserting it through the body to make the hole to be able to run the rubber legs through. It works fine except it makes a mess of the body where it comes out of the other side. The bodkin also cools off enough to make it difficult to pull back through the body afterward. If you pull it back through quickly the hole melts itself back together. I'm sure the fish don't mind but it does make for a kind of bedraggled finished popper body. Does anybody have any tricks or tips to make the holes look neater?
Thanks,
Joe

[Normand]

how about a tiny drill bit in a pin vise to start the hole in the foam and then a cool needle to pull the rubber legs thru. add head cement. go fishing.

[DDRRedneck500]

i make all my own popper bodies with craft foam and a dremel and i can always just push the hook through the body eaasily without making a mess or heating it. id suggest doing that because its about a 100 times cheaper

[Rick Z]

If they are foam you can push a darning needle thru them with the legs on the needle.
Move the position of the rubber each time as after a few time the rubber will break at the needle
as you pull legs thru.
A bobbin threader is a neat way to get the legs thru the eye of the needle.

Rick

[WarrenP]

Joe,

I know what you are going through. I think the suggestion to use a very small drill bit is the best solution. I would recommend that you drill the hole all the way through and make sure the hole is smaller then the rubber leg material so they will stay put.

The body Joe is talking about is a hard preformed foam and you cannot put a needle through them.

[flyandtie]

Needle..With legs in the end.Push through and cement.
DONE

[Joe Billingsley]

Warren is right, the needle will not go through by itself because the Wapsi popper body is way too hard. I think the drill bit may be the way to go. I've always used a bobbin threader to get the rubber legs through. I was thinking about heating up a bobbin cleaner and using it because it is uniform in diameter and squared off on the end and it might make a cleaner hole. I still like the idea of the drill bit, though.
Thanks to everybody for their suggestions.
Joe

[WarrenP]

Joe,

Thanks for the idea about using a bobbin cleaner. Never thought about that, so, I will try it. There just is not anyway to push a needle through the hard foam (almost plastic) body without breaking the foam.

Again, thanks for the tip about the bobbin cleaner.

[FlyPimp]

I do it the way they suggest on the package, then I just take a nail file to the "mess' on the other side. The thing I hate the most about it is the "crease" you get in the legs from pulling them through.

[flyangler]

Could you start a hole on the opposite side before pushing all the way through from one side? Or use a heated bodkin on one side and a heated needle with the legs threaded through on the other? Then you'd back out with the bodkin and press onward with the needle.

Just an acupuncturist's opinion. Not an actual experience .