Fishing Floats, Lures and a Priest

Colorful fishing floats and lures with wooden mallet.

Woodturner and fishing enthusiast Colwin Way shows how to turn fishing floats, lures and a priest

It’s not often I get a chance to include two of my favourite pastimes together but I’ve been able to do that with this project! The three items I’m making are all turned on the lathe then decorated sometimes on the lathe. I think that whether you are or are not into fishing you will find the methods used and the decorating techniques really useful. The three main woodturning lessons learned on these projects are tool control, the ability to use a delicate touch and repetition of spindle work. Regarding working thin sections, use too much pressure and the thin stems on the float will bounce or deflect from the cutting edge.

The projects involve looking at combining materials, using painting effects and the all-important protection from the abrasion of seawater and constant rough treatment from the outdoor environment. Yes, I agree this is a little indulgent on my part but if you think outside of the fishing box, so to speak, you can adapt these projects in all manner of ways. For instance, one of my customers recently bought six unhooked fishing lures and mounted them into a picture frame as a present for her husband to hang in his den. In fact, most of the fishing lures I make end up with collectors and will never see water in their lives, although they all work well.

Materials

  • PPE & RPE
  • 12 & 30mm skew
  • 20mm spindle roughing gouge • 10mm spindle gouge (optional) • 6mm bowl gouge
  • Diamond sharpener
  • Sanding disc
  • Sanding drum
  • V-block for drilling
  • 5mm drill bit
  • 4mm drill bit
  • 1mm drill
  • 4mm cord
  • Snail countersink bit • Airbrush
  • Coloured paints
  • Netting
  • Pegs
  • Lure-making fish eyes (available online)
  • Screw eyes
  • Epoxy resin
  • Gloves

Tips for the materials

Use epoxy resin as a clear coat. It dries out to a glass-like finish with really hard-wearing properties. You can brush it on like paint and if you select a rapid-set version it can be dry enough to handle gently within a day. The netting used to make bath scrubbers is perfect for making fish- scale effects when using airbrushes. Just make sure you get permission before you start cutting things up. Airbrush paint should go on almost dry, so avoid heavy spraying or spraying too long in one place as this will only cause bleeding and it will take ages for the paint to dry.

Stick floats

Assorted wooden blocks on a wooden surface.
1. Stick floats can be simple pieces of shaped wood turned between centres, or kebab sticks inserted through a cork block which is then sanded to shape. This picture shows the rough blanks for various floats. I grip the stem of both the kebab-stick floats and the shaped wood ones in small jaws that will hold square or round timber down to 3mm in size while I shape it. I will make a shaped float from solid wood
Hand holding metal tool near woodworking lathe
2. Create a cylinder using a spindle roughing gouge or skew. The floats are going to be very thin, so keep your tools sharp. I carry a diamond file and hone to keep edges in top condition
Hands crafting wood on a lathe, close-up view.
3. Timber choice is important so that the float floats. I’m using straight-grained maple. Use a 12mm skew chisel or spindle gouge to refine the shape of the cylinder by sizing the tailstock end, which has the long, thinnest section of the float, slowly working your way back to the headstock. Note I am using my hand, with the arm with short sleeves well clear of the revolving chuck, and supporting the thin stem as I turn it. This is an old production trick and there is only very light pressure from the fingers
Woodturning on a lathe with carving tool.
4. The headstock end of the float is thickened due to this being the buoyant top end, but it has a thin upper section which is the float tip. This orientation of the float gives the opportunity to continue refining the shape, minimising the risk of this area snapping under load when turning
Craftsman shaping wood on a lathe
5. Once you have the float shape you want, sand the float without putting too much load on or it will snap off. Support the float with both hands while sanding through the grits to 400. Now, use the toe of a skew to round over the end and then slice the waste area away
Hands shaping wood on a lathe tool.
6. Support the float once the tailstock end has been parted away and sand the end
Hands crafting wood on a lathe machine.
7. Once sanded we can part the float from the chuck while stabilising the float with a hand. When parted off, lightly sand any untidy areas before putting to one side and starting your next one
Colourful fishing floats on a blue background
8. Here the finished float has a dark green body and yellow top, but with it are a selection of other sizes and colours including the cork and kebab floats. Paint the float tops highly visible colours to make sure they can be seen and use black markers to delineate the coloured areas

Finishing priest

Woodturning on lathe with tool shavings.
9. Fishing priests are used for quickly dispatching large fish after catching them and are made from heavy, dense timbers or metal. Some of the early sticks were made from lignum vitae which, ironically, translates from Latin to ‘tree of life’. I’m using a timber called sand ash, which is one of a new group of hardwoods being imported into the UK as an alternative to some of the rarer timbers now being banned. Mount one end of your timber in your chuck and support the other end using a revolving centre in the tailstock. Create a cylinder using a roughing gouge then, if you choose to, use a skew cut to clean up
Woodturning process on a lathe with shavings
10. The stick needs to be sturdy and strong but is shaped in a way that the widest head section is able to deliver a swift, well-weighted blow while being able to be held securely when doing so. Use a spindle gouge to shape the priest as required
Wood lathe turning a spindled tool handle.
11. Here is the final shape. You can add some decoration at either end of the handle with a trio of V-grooves or beads if you like, then sand to 400 grit for a good finish
Hand polishing wood on a lathe machine.
12. Rather than trying to part the waste material away from either end, I’m removing any waste with my sanding disc. This disc is attached to my chuck using a faceplate ring and has a hook and loop system to allow easy changing of the abrasive all the way to the fine 400 if I need it. A disk sander will work well too
Wooden pipe being handcrafted with machine tool.
13. Most priests have a cord or lanyard attached to them – cord through the handle for safety so the item doesn’t slip out of one’s hand into the water. This requires a hole to be drilled. Use a V-block to steady the piece under a drill then drill a 4mm hole though the handle and use a countersink bit to clean the hole, creating a nice tapered opening
Woodturner holding a small wooden tool in workshop.
14. With all the holes drilled, thread your cord through the handle and cut to size. Don’t tie the cord yet as the next stage will be to varnish the stick and this needs to be done without the cord in place. Make sure you allow enough of the cord to easily pass over your wrist when the knot has been tied
15. I chose to coat the stick with two coats of lacquer for a really durable and water-resistant finish. This finish also gives a fantastic glossy surface which looks great
Wooden Indian club with wrist strap
16. The finished priest, fully lacquered with its wrist cord attached

Fishing a lure

Wood turned on a lathe with tool shavings.
17. I always use lime to make my fishing lures as it is easy to work, can be painted and floats well. For this one, mount your wood between centres and use a skew or spindle gouge to create a bullet-type shape with the widest end, the head, at the headstock and the smallest, the tail, at the tailstock. Once shaped, sand down to 240-grit abrasive. This will leave a good key for painting
Handcrafted wooden fishing lure on lathe.
18. These floats are designed to float on top of the water and, when retrieved, dance along making a splash and pop as they go, hence they are known as poppers. To do this use a drum sander to shape the fat end to have a curved end
Hand holding wood piece near drill press.
19. Once sanded, drill a small hole, using a V-block for safety, to suit your eye size, 5mm in this case, to a depth of 1mm. Now also drill holes for the screw eyes, which are fitted later. Three holes need to be drilled, 1mm in diameter – one in the tail using a centrepoint drilled to a depth of 20mm, then one 20mm deep in the centre if the curved face at the other end and one in the belly of the lure 20mm from the front edge and 20mm deep
Airbrushing technique demonstration on a textured surface.
20. Now for the decoration. The lure colouring and patterns will be based on a rainbow trout. Start off with a base coat of white all over. To get a scale effect, lay some netting over the lure and use clamps to hold this in place. Now airbrush multiple light coats of glitter green on the back and halfway down the sides of the fish
Hand holding airbrush with colour guides
21. To add the characteristic brown spots use umber colour and apply it with the airbrush, still using the net in place
Airbrushing fishing lure with paint
22. Remove the netting and spray the red flanks of the fish using many light coats
Crafting fishing lure with Z-Poxy resin and materials.
23. Glue on iridescent eyes, available online, using epoxy resin. Now apply a five-minute curing two-part epoxy resin with a disposable brush and with the lure held on the lathe as in the picture. Once the fish is coated, rotate the lathe at around 100rpm until the resin has set before taking it off the lathe and hanging to cure, usually for seven to 10 days. Once fully cured add the screw eyes. Use 25mm long ones with 6mm eyes, which seems long, but they need to be really strong to withstand a large fish. Add epoxy to the screw eye when screwing it in. I’ve also added some Bucktail and some flash to the tail hooks for extra attraction
Colourful fishing lure with dual hooks.
24. Here is the finished lure

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