Take a short (6" to 8") piece of copper pipe or tubing and file the outside edge as sharp as you can. Then use the pipe to round off square strips of balsa you can get at most hobby and many craft stores (Hobby Lobby, Crafts2000, Michaels etc.).
After rough rounding the balsa, sand to a more uniform cylinder(balsa dowel). I then sand to shape starting with tail of the body being the tip of the dowel. When I get the general length/profile, I cut it off and final sand by hand. (in the picture the top left body has been turned around after cutting off and finishing. you can see the angle I cut it off is the general angle of the face.) For a slight cup face, wrap sandpaper around the appropiate size pipe and sand a ‘cup’ in the face.
Using a thin kerf x-acto type hobby saw, I cut a shallow slot in the bottom for the hook. For kinkshank hooks(reccomended) to deeped the slot where the kink shank bumps up press the rounded end of a small paperclip straight in. Between the kinkshank and epoxy, the body will never roll on the hook. Here are some stages of the rough rounding, and some finished bodies, flies and kinkshank hooks.
The copper is so soft it files easy, but that also keep its for holding a very sharp edge. The hard part is making a round edge sharp, AND even all around, with a file. The smaller the diameter it becomes even harder to keep even. The graininess of wood can grab the edge of the copper and gouge if you’re not careful, the but once you get a couple of inches in the pipe it runs fairly straight.
Here’s some I’ve been working on. The smaller hooks are Mustad 33903 #8 kink shank. The larger are #2 kink shank saltwater “Perfect Popper” hooks from Wapsi.
Instead of the strips of balsa I use a 2x2 inch block 12 inch long from the hobby store. If I want pencil poppers I cut a 3 inch length from the 12 take my brass tube of whatever dia I want and use a golf ball to push the tube thru the length of balsa. Use a pencil sharpener to trim one end. Get about 10 bodys from each 3 inch peice. You can use any dia tube and any length of balsa for poppers,size 12 on up. The golf ball is placed on the push end of the tube to help the palm of your hand. I use artist sealer paint for the first coat then either model store paint or spray. BILL
I use the same tool but from walmart in a package of 3 sizes and i use stainless tubing to make cutters… to push out the peices i use a length of dowell with a wooden ball for a handle… never used balsa but thats a good idear im gonna have to try… ive allways used cork, foam or part of a sandle… how well does the balsa float ?
I have never used one but I’ll bet you a metal golf club shaft would be an excellent cutter, chrome plated steel with several stepped down sizes available. I could kick myself I left on lying where it had be discarded a couple of weeks ago.
Balsa should float at least as good as cork I would think, but probably not as good as the styrofoam that commercially tied poppers are made of, but I’m not sure about that last point.
I tried sharpening the inside with a round file and it worked ok, but sharpening the inside makes the initial O.D of the ‘plug’ bigger. The deeper you go in the product the tighter the plug gets. This probably isnt as much an issue in a flexible foam but somthing less flexible gets compressed, the deeper you go, the harder it is to push thru.
Balsa floats like cork, but will eventually absorb some water if not sealed. I seal with epoxy before painting.
Thanks for tip. I’ve never seen those before. A brief 'net search showed set on Amazon from $13 to 30 for the few sets I saw. Also the Sharpener runs about $7. It appears the sharpener cuts the outside edge, and the cone just stabilizes it. Is that correct?
That is correct, the sharpener sharpens the outside, and the cone portion stablizes the inside. You have to be careful using the sharpener, though, because if you are not careful you can bell out the inside of the boring tube, rather than keeping the inside of the tube at a constant diameter.
I like to use the sharpener to get the angle about right, often using the results as is, but if it is really critical sometimes use a small very fine file. A small round file that again has very fine teeth is also handy to clean up the inside edge after sharpening.
When you use the sharpener, use only minimal pressure and use it to cut slowly rather than force it to cut as quickly as possible.
Also should have mentioned, I use one from work (the hand power drill press type) to cut foam flip flops to make foam popper bodies. It works pretty well.
Also, pick up some glycern from the drug store to use as a lube on the tubing cutter. It has been used as a lube on cork borers for at least 50 years, and I wouldn’t be surprized if it has been used for 100 years.
It works well as a lube, and is water soluble, so after you are through cutting foam popper bodies, water will wash the lube off of the foam.
I decided to add this after seeing the post on the foam poppers.
Model air plane stores have all sizes of balsa – read my post on the first page about bying a 2x2 block that will make hundreds of pencil and small poppers. The model store also sells all sizes of tubing for the cutters. The cutters can be used for foam bodies. BILL
You could, but its harder to work with, and heavier. The way I cut slots for the hook, I don’t think you’d ever get them deep and straight enough in dowels, unless you have a band saw (but that seems like it would be very dangerous). If you have any dowels or scraps, give it a shot (not the band saw), and see what happens.
Every Hobby Shop, and most big craft shops sell balsa wood. Basswood is closer to pine than balsa in density (but a tighter finer grain) and is also readily available (sold as ‘whittling blocks’). Jann’s Neftcraft and many lure making sites carry basswood, never seen it in dowels though.
