If you chose to use a metal screw on lip there is a little more latitude in timing. Even with a metal lip that is going to be installed in a slot, thought preparation in slot placement is necessary. I have not used a lot of screw on metal lips but they definitely have there place and are easy to use. If you think about it ,as you progress there are a lot of little quirks and preferences you will acquire, good and bad.
This is the selection of lips I will be choosing from to go with my bait patterns.
My picks will all be an 1/8th inch thick. They do offer 1/16" and 3/16" but the selection of styles is limited. Unless you are cutting your own lips or custom order, I have not found a supplier for thicker lips with a variety of sizes to choose from in small quantities. The lips here are from the Musk Shop. There are metal and square lips also. Hit the link and you will be able to see all. If you find a better source please let us know.
I have made several copies of my patterns and copies of the lips, They are shown in actual size in the catalog. Then I make and cut out hard paper copies to play with. I will figure out how I want a particular bait to act, slot the pattern and see how the lip size and placement looks. Doing this, helps me in the visual aspect.
Once the pattern is selected I pick a lip for the type of action I am looking for. The angle is based off what you have or know. I have come to prefer a 45degree angle with both round and square lips..
If you are unsure, take a look at your collection of store bought baits. Pull them out of hibernation and lay them out or hang them up. Use a sliding T bevel ( about $8.00 at the Depot) or your kids plastic protractor to find the angles being used. From that you will be able to decide on what angles you want based on knowing the action of the baits. Remember that bible, this is where it comes in use. Hopefully you are making more than one bait, start writing done what you are going to do with each bait. Also think about sinking, floating and neutrally buoyant. You don't need to know right now but it can help with lip type selection, just make note of your intent.
Get some measurements on the distance from the nose of the bait to the lip. This will give you some benchmarks to refer to as your selection process continues.
Same bait, same lip,same angle with the lip moved forward or backward from the original point will impart a different action. Some times this may be very subtle and others it can be drastic. I think large mass flat sided baits are influenced the most by this.
The large 14" baits we make has a side to side flop, which is awesome but by moving the lip forward a 1/4" to 3/8" it changes the action to a tight figure eight wobble. Same everything except lip placement and you now have two completely different action. Normally, if we are going to change lip placement we only make a few, then see how they work.The lip angle has been tried with 40 degrees and 50 degrees, action was relatively the same and depth changed.
The depth of a lip inserted into the bait should be enough to secure it soundly but not deep enough to split it the first time it hits something. A lip protruding past the sides of a bait acts totally different than one flush to the sides. You really have to play around a little to see what you want to build. With a little practice a couple of errors and you can trim the sides of the lips to be flush with your bait. It's all about lines and accuracy at that point. It is a very doable task, if that is what you are looking for.
Play around with some patterns and lips now, and you won't be spinning your wheels when it's time to build.
This is where I got to with my bait and lip patterns. Mite be some tweaking before wood , but I am ready.
Now to figure out if I am going to do two or four of each. Just another decision!
( Keep it in the water )
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