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How to: build a Danny style swimmer.

49K views 45 replies 15 participants last post by  smulax 
#1 ·
This will be a multipost/part project, first a little history.
This stream line suface swimmer along with the Atom 40 and Pikie minnow is one of the most popular and consistant fish takers evermade.

The two men most accociated with the Lure are Donny Musso and Danny Pinkney, both men made a killer plug that could lure trophy bass to the surface both day and night.

Here is my build.
I like this plug early in the spring when bass are on herring.

Items I will use here are a 1 3/4 X 1 3/4 X 8 1/2" blank of western red cedar, white cedar,Alaskan yellow cedar or even pine all make fine specimins, you may have to alter the weight.

you will need a lenght of SS wire, two #1 barrel swivels ( I use Krok SS rated at 500lbs)1 , 5 gram belly weight,one large danny style swim lip two belly grommets, I am presently using . 341 for this application and one tail grommet .425 dia.

Hardware can be purchased at New Jersey tackle or Cape cod tackle, lumber can be bought at most "real" lumber yards, I buy 4"X4"X12' cedar posts and cut amd rip them to size.

A word about safety, secure all loose clothing,keep your lathe tools sharp, wear eye protection (face shield prefered) and protect your lungs....

You will need a roughing gouge, a skew and a parting tool, you will also need a pair of calipers and a set of verniers or a tape measure, a back or coping saw, an awl and a 3"X1/8 drill bit also a 1/8 X6" drill bit
a drill press and a drill chuck for you lathe are handy, but a hand drill will work, it just is ALOT more difficult, you will also need a 3/8 and 1/2 forshner bit.. there will be other Items, that I will think of latter








to be continued:
 
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#3 ·
I'm loving this, I just built a kit Danny, hanging the hooks on it today & will post pics, but a step by step from the Roc is like candy to a baby, I hope I can wait till the Fall to buy a lathe, I can feel the urge to spend money comin' on.
Especially since the weather has gone to S&%T for the foreseeable future.

I'm good with the first 3 pictures, the 4th has me going "Hmmmmm.............."
 
#7 ·
To continue, a few more items that you will need is a variety of sand paper, 80, 120 ,220 , and maybe some 400, you also need some filler, I use Elmer's 2 part epoxy wood repair, it's water proof and bullet proof.

I'll discuss sealer, paint and clear coat latter in the build...

Take your stock and find the centers, the jig I have in the previous photos shows a center finder made of a hacksaw blade sunk kitty corner in a block of wood, place any size stock, round or square on the blade and whack it with a hammer, rotate 1/4 turn and repeat, mark the center with an awl where the lines intersect, flip 180 and repeat.

Lets begin by chucking the blank in the lathe, using you roughing gouge ( the U shaped one) round out your stock.

Once you have rounded out your stock measure out 8" along the blank, I prefer to have the square end at the head and taper the tail to the tail stock...

Starting from the head you are going to make marks at 2 1/8,3 5/8 and another at 5 1/8, spin the lathe and lightly touch these marks with a pencil....

The finished dimensions of your plug (after sanding) should be 3/4" on the nose, first mark 1 1/4, middle mark 1 5/16 and last mark at 1 1/4 tapering the tail to 5/8 of an inch, using your skew rough out the tail taper, it doesn't have to be real close, just the basic taper, this will aid you in laying out the plug, now using your parting tool, bring each line into specs (be sure to leave approx 1/8 for final sanding, I can go to 1/16 with sharp tools) remember, you can take off more wood, you cant put it back on, using your calipers, set each thickness to your comfortable thickness, once that is done, rough out your plug with your skew.
you should now have something that resembles a plug, sand it with #80, then 150 to bring it close to specs.
Now lay out you marks one more time,adding a mark at 1 1/4" if you desire to add eyes, spin the lathe and touch the marks with a pencil....











 
#8 ·
Remove from the lathe and cut off the square end, clamp the plug in a wood workers vise ( or something to restrain it) locate the center of the nose, draw a straight line across (I use the lip) and also mark the depth of the cut, using a back saw or coping saw ( some guys use the band saw) cut the lip slot, now fit your lip, if your diameters are good, the width of the lip will be EXACTLY the same width as the lip, slip it into the plug, center it and mark the through wire slot/hole with an awl, at this point you will notice that the through wire hole is BELOW center... you didn't make a mistake, that position makes this plug a surface swimmer....

Now go to your drill press,looking at the pictures you will see a maple board mounted on my drill table, it houses a 1/4 dowel center that has been drilled in the wood, I use a 1/8 steel rod to line up the drill head and table, now I can drill my plug,I have a series of blocks that I use to "step" the plug so I dont have to keep moving the table, it also allow me to drill deeper into the plug ...
Starting with a 3" long 1/8 drill bit, place the tail of the plug over the dowel center(if you turned the plug the way I showed the tail stock already centered the hole) the belly of the plug facing you, bring the bit down to just touch the mark you made with the awl... start the drill (run at a slow to moderate speed) be sure to clear chips, once the drill bottoms out flip the plug and repeat....

Now you can put a 6" bit in the drill press( you may have to install the drill bit in the plug if your table is short) and again drill from each end, or you can drill it through with your lathe....

It's time to make you belly holes, I use a jig to hold my plugs, you can use v blocks or drill vise... the jig works better... now using a 1/2" forsner bit, spot face the two belly holes about 1/16 (depending on the style of your belly grommets) you will be spot facing the second hole from the nose, if you made eye marks, you will also be spot facing the line nearest the tail, make sure they are centered on the plug, by using a fence on my drill press and the jig, everything comes in automatically, no measuring or eyeballing, once you have you two belly holes spot faced, change to a 3/8 forshner bit, now drill your two "hook " holes just past center, drill the weight hole (the middle one between the hooks) about 7/16" deep...







 
#10 ·
now take you plug and fit in the belly weight, I use a 5 gram weight, it is around 1/4 ounce, it fits the hole snugly, I usualy set it on a a padded V block and press it into place using my drill press and a piece of 3/8 threaded rod...

Now fill the hole, I use the Elmers wood repair 2 part epoxy putty,it is water proof and is not affected by the sealing process, if you want to use regular wood putty, wait until after the plug is sealed and cement the weight in place with 5 minute epoxy....

let the plug sit overnight, then sand the putty with 80 grit until it is close to the contour of the body, then finish the entire plug with #220

There are several methods of sealing, I still use Boiled linseed oil, mixed 60/40 with mineral spirits, a word of warning here, any rags used to wipe up the oil must be put in water or dried outside then disposed of as they do offer a threat of spontaneous combustion... personaly I wipe with paer towels and flush them down the toilet....
some gys use Val oil, I have no experience with it and have no issues with the BLO....

the last picture is of te set up I use to dip and seal plugs... a 15-20 minute soak is good enough for Cedar plugs, I've cut open samples that had soaked for different lengths of time up to a week, after 15-20 minutes, the penetration is all the same...

after 4-7 days, the sealer will be dry, we will continue our build then, right up to the clear coat...:cheers:









to be continued:
 
#12 ·
I'm looking at all that nice equipment Joe has spread around his shop and I finally recognized one piece I already own.....the red plastic Folgers coffee can in the last picture. I love those things, use 'em, for everything.
 
#14 ·
The sealer is now dried, a light sanding with 320 or 400 paper confirms it.

I have added a step to my process, I now dip my plugs in binz sanding sealer, it is shellac based but very thin, I allow it a minute to soak in to the plug and wipe off the excess, I have found that by adding this step it leads to better adhesion of the primer, after drying ( an hour) I then dip the plug in primer, once the primers has set, I run a wire through the plug to clean out the hole, if you omit running the wire the primer will clog the through hole,and re drilling will be needed, thus negating the advantage of dipping the plug...

Once the primer has cured 24 hours,sand with #400 and then, you can then start painting..

I use mostly Delta Ceramacoat or Anita's... basically what AC Moor has on sale. Mixed 50/50 it serves my need... These are water based acrylics.

first 2 base coats of white, when the white is dry, I then paint the belly ( on this particular plug it's pearlized white) once the belly is dry I paint my lateral line.

to be continued.
 

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#15 ·
I ve been spraying my cedar and cherry plugs with auto . sandable primer , then dipping in easypoxy (petit) . iget a very glossy finish . ever tried it ?
i havent epoxeyed over any yet . do you think i need to ? I'll post some pix soon . your work is awesome .
GF
 
#16 ·
GF,
Welcome to the sight.
You dont even have to paint them if you dont want to... It's all about longevity, although no plug will last forever if fished...Sealing the plug from water intrusion is the most important thinng to do.
Are you sealing the plugs or just priming them? I've never used the petit paint on plugs, but do use it on the boat.. it's tuff stuff!

Try a few out and see how they hold up.. you might be on to something!
 
#17 ·
Back to the build:

with the lateral line painted, I am now going to apply a light shade of blue to the belly and a deep purple to the upper body, leaving just a subtle lateral line, the "blues" have dried I set the plug in a scale machine to be painted, lacking such a devise, you can wrap the mesh around the body and hold it in place with chip clamps or paper binder clips...

Netting can be onion bags, tule or my favorite ... scrunchies....

Now apply a THIN coat of silver to each side... keep this very thin, too much paint and it will run and smear....

I like to apply a kill dot to my Dannie's near the front hook, I often time spray this right through the mesh... the color will be black and black will be the color.

Once the paint is dry, remove the mesh and allow the plug to cure for 24-48 hour before applying a scratch coat, failing to do this may lead to a shortened life of the epoxy... I've seen it peel like a snake skin after catching several fish.

The scratch coat serves a few purposes, for one, it provides a binder between the paint and the epoxy, it also helps the epoxy flow for a smoother finish, It also protects the paint from the occasional "oops" when you drop the plug on the Way to the bench for rigging..

I use E-tex spray as my scratch, it is stinky but the results are worth it...
Prior to my discovery of the e-tex spray, I used minn wax spray poly, it worked satisfactory but tends to yellow with time.

once the scratch coat is complete, apply your eyes, and belly grommets,I use 5 minute epoxy for this chore...
 

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#18 ·
I use enviro tex lite, others use Devcon, all need to be rotated in sum manner, the easiest "set it and forget it" way is with a spinner, you can also hang you plugs and flip every 5 minutes or so until the epoxy set up.

Once the epoxy has cured and is no longer tacky, you can assemble your plug, some people assemble the plug first then epoxy, I prefer to assemble lipped swimmers after epoxy, it makes a neater job.

I dont bother trying to keep the epoxy out of the lip slot, if any get in, I clean it out with my coping saw....

Making the tail loop.. I hate loose and sloppy tail loops!
To make the loop, I bend the wire back to a 90 degree angle, I have a #0 phillips set in my vise and by holding pressure just abpve the bent I grab the wire and make a tight loop, I remove the screw driver and plug and clamp the preformed loop in the vise, I start my wrap, by bending the plug slightly to each side as the wrap goes on, I can tuck each one behind the other making a VERY tight wrap, I find a pair of needle nose visegrips to be the most usefull tool when working with wire.

Instead of cutting the excess with apair of cutters I use a dremal tool and score the tag ens, then using a pair of needle nose pliars, bend it back and forth until it breaks, leaving a smooth surface, besure to bend the wire slighly away from the plug or the vibration will leave a mark in your plug.
to be continued:
 

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#19 ·
Now to install your hooks, I use VMC 3/0 hooks for this plug, I dont like split rings on this plug because I feel they alter the action...

you can use Mustad, cut hooks but I find them to be trouble at times.

So using a cut off wheel on my dremal, I make a cut in the VMC hook, I clean up the bur with a file and rough up the area with #220 sand paper, I install my hook and gently pinch it shut with my needle nose vise grips, I then solder it shut with Rosin core silver solder... It must be rosin core, acid core will eat the hook, silver solder will adhere to the cut, making a smoother "repair"

while all this was taking place I trussed up a 6/0 siwash single hook in my vise and tied in a section of black hair, I applied several coats of Sally Hansen hard as nails (clear nail polish) to the threads...

Tomorrow, I'll take it for a spin and try and get some swimming pictures.
 

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#23 ·
I didnt seal the first 40 but i sealed tonights batch on your recomend. do you have trouble with them holding paint , once you get a chip on them ,if you dont seal them ? the cedar wont rot , and most of them will be down river by oct . any way. did you say u used bin ( shellac ) for primer , latex for color and envirotex epoxy for finish seal .
Thanks for your advice, GF
 
#24 ·
GF,

Two things happen to a unsealed plug, neither of them good.

first as the wood absorbes water (through the through wire hole and along the belly gromets) it begins to gain weight, as it gains weight, alot of the original action is lost.
Secondly, in the process of gaining weight, the wood is swelling, as it swells it will pop the paint/finish right off of the plug....This usaly starts at the belly gromets and spreads down the length of the plug.

As far as chips go, that is the beauty of epoxy, it tends not to chip as easily, it can and does, but not as easily....

Even the ones I varnish, still hold the paint, even after being scarred from the hooks, sometimes the more beat up they are, the better they fish...
 
#26 ·
I'm WOWed!
Went away a few days after this started and thought it wouldbe interesting.
Just read through and found it excellent.
I've a few "catch-ups" to do, then I'm gonna get started again (whittlin).
thanks for the effort you put in on this. I hope it's going to be "stickied" or somehow available as newbies (like myself) want to get involved.
EXCELLENT instructional material, you should write a book!
 
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