Question on making poppers

[newtier 0]

I have a few, and I can buy some,but is it possable to make them with a round wood dowll rod,or is this too heavy.

[Piker20 0]

As far as I'm aware balsa dowels work well. You need something soft enough to work that won't fall apart on a fish. The pencil popper is tied using balsa dowel in a book I have. Very simple to tie. Depends on how good you want them to look.

[newtier 0]

Thanks: I am not too conserned right now with how they look,just gathering ideas,for the snow days.I'ts time to use what I tied in the winter.

[Piker20 0]

I've got a book by C. Boyd Pfeiffer called Tying Warmwater Flies. He has a lot of patterns using cork and balsa and the plastic fake corks wine bottles sometimes have. A good source of info.

[ditz2 0]

cork, balsa, and possibly white cedar. I have never used white cedar but a lot of floating baits for spinning used to be made out of it. It will hold screws which cork and balsa will not. I am sure it is heavier though. Cork is probably the best but balsa will also work.

[deeky 0]

The others have the materials covered. My only note is regarding finding balsa dowels. I searched long and hard for them and only ended up finding one online supplier that seemed quite high priced if I remember. On the other hand, you can find bala square-stock quite cheap at most big-box hobby stores and smallers ones that deal with rc airplanes. Some people will handcarve them, or you are going to have to set up a dremel lathe to turn your own bodies. Even if you use cork or the synthetic, you are going to need to turn them down smaller anyway.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Deeky

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

also closed cell foam and basswood should be added to the list of materials that can be used

[Gene L 0]

Flip-flops make excellent poppers. They ain't pretty but they're cheap and very effective.

[rockworm 0]

Flip-flops make excellent poppers. They ain't pretty but they're cheap and very effective.

 

I beg to differ with your statement they ain't pretty. Some flip-flops are made of 10 or 12 sheets of different-coloured foam laminated together. You take a short length of copper tubing, file the end to make it thin and sharp, and then push it into the flip-flop to produce a perfectly-striped cylinder which can be further modified to your design. They make killer-beautiful poppers. I think there was an article 6 or 10 years ago in one of the fly fishing/tying magazines showing the process.

 

My own preference is balsa. Its easy to cut and sand to shape. I also use old wine corks- but you have to fill the voids with putty or epoxy if you want a smooth surface.

[CoachBob 0]

See: http://www.flytyingforum.com/pattern6910.html

The important aspects of that article for your inquiry are the ability to carve with a dremel tool and a good source for foam.

Artificial "corks" found in many wine bottles require a more aggressive bit than the 8215, something more like the DRE409 cut-off wheel you actually use (VERY CAREFULLY) the flat side of like it was a grinding tool. Actual corks often crumble with grinding.

[CoachBob 0]

See: http://www.flytyingforum.com/pattern6910.html

The important aspects of that article for your inquiry are the ability to carve with a dremel tool and a good source for foam.

Artificial "corks" found in many wine bottles require a more aggressive bit than the 8215, something more like the DRE409 cut-off wheel you actually use (VERY CAREFULLY) the flat side of like it was a grinding tool. Actual corks often crumble with grinding.

[perchjerker 0]

To go directly to your question, though woods other than balsa 'can' be, and may have been, used. My concern would be about the total weight of the finished bug. They 'may' be too heavy to cast readily. Especially if made from 'standard' wooden dowels. The reason both balsa and cork are primarily used is due in large part to their weightlessness.

 

You can make balsa dowels all day long using a piece of brass tubing; preferably chucked into a drill press. It can be driven through the balsa block using either a wooden or a rubber mallet if you don't have access to a drill press. A hand drill will also work. The downside is that to make them three feet long may not be possible.

 

There is a very fundamental trick to drilling them out with a drill press in a timely manner. Let us assume you want a body that is 2 inches long and 3/8 inch in diameter. You make your 'bit' out of brass tubing that is five (5) inches long (to allow for a chucking portion). Grind or file an angle edge on the bottom end of the tube. Get a 4" X 4" block of balsa and cut it to 5 1/8" long. Draw a line around one end exactly 1/8" up from that end. You drill from the opposite end!!! Start drilling as close to the two edges as you can in one corner. Proceed across the block, drilling as close together, and to the edge, as possible. NOTE: the 1/8" extra length will prevent you from drilling all the way through! It also enables you to withdraw the cutting tube from the block, leaving an empty tube for cutting the next "plug". Once you have drilled as many "plugs" as possible in the end of the block, you now cut the bottom 1/8" off the block, letting all of the 4" long 'dowels' fall out! These 4" dowels can now be cut in half to give the desired 2" X 3/8" bodies you want. The next step is to shape as you desire, using any of the many methods for doing so.

 

HAVE FUN!!

[Wavey1988 0]

I've found a source of almost rubber like foam. It's the stuff that's used on the pads, that you kneel on for gardening? Can get them for £1 here, it floats, is very very hard wearing, the only problem is working with it, it needs sharp blades to shape it, or possibly heat

[CoachBob 0]

Punches are here: http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-hollow-punch-set-67030.html for $10 or $6 if you catch them on sale.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

The hardwood dowels you are likely referring to would work but would be heavier than the same size balsa and much harder to shape. They would not float as well either being heavier/denser. There are some woods other than balsa such as Tupelo that works really well, is lightweight and very workable.

 

Keep in mind that a bug body does not have to be cylindrical.

 

Below is a bug made from a chunk of Tupelo that is squarish in shape, I do many of my balsa bugs this old shape. Then the foiled minnow is a chunk of balsa. Both were glued on the hook and then carved to rough shape with a knife and then sanded to final shape with emory boards.

 

Kirk

 

The round one on top is from a bottle stopper, the square faced one is the Tupelo body.

 

Balsa glued to the hook and shaped with knife and sandpaper/emory boards. The top and bottom edges are rounded but the sides are pretty flat; nothing wrong with that.