PorknBeans

for those of you wondering, i took the instructions on how to make some cool jigs off another forum....you have to register to look at it online so i copied and pasted it here so yall didnt have to do the whole login routine

-Vince



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Thought folks might enjoy a basic how-to on making ‘knife jigs'. Making these jigs ain’t rocket science, and anyone can make some. But they do catch fish plenty good, so you might want to give it a try.

That's right, cheap tableware isn't just for picnics anymore. I’ve been making and fishing these jigs since about 1994, and they catch all sorts of fish. Initially, I used them for toothy tropical species like sierra mackerel, Pacific and Great barracuda, snapper, and pargo; but also snook, roosterfish, all manner of jacks, etc. In our waters they put the big hurt on tuna, rockfish, lings and cabs, and they’d probably work great for salmon jigging-- if anyone does that any more. Some of them even swim just like a krocodile, although that hardly seems possible at first glance. I use 'em for both casting and vertical jigging.

First thing to do, is to head down and raid the local thrift store or Salvation Army store. They’ll have a couple boxes full of old stainless tableware. Price will run from 5 cents to 25 cents a piece. Generally, the best stuff for making jigs is gonna be tableknives or butterknives that have heavy, undecorated handles. I have seen some tableknives that had a nice hammered finish and even a scale finish, so get whatever looks good to you. Spoons and forks usually have much lighter handles, so you want nice, big tableknives. I also only select the knives with handles that will require a minimum amount of work to turn them into a jig. Almost anything can be turned into a lure…… if you put enough work into it. That’s not what this is about. We’re looking for something that’s easy to turn into gear to kill fish with. Tableknife handles are already sorta ‘baitfish-shaped’, so turning them into an implement of fish-killing destruction is a pretty straight-forward endeavor. A few examples of tableware with a high-level of fish-killing potential are pictured below.



Getting started.......

OK, now that you’ve got your mits on a handful of raw material, the next step is to drill a few holes. If the knife edge is even a little bit sharp, cover the edge with a piece of duct tape before drilling. Wear eye protection! Secure the knife in a vice, or clamp it down to the bench with C-clamps. Use a sharp 1/8” ‘split-point’ bit, put a drop of oil on the tip, use plenty of steady pressure and drill slow. For the hard-of-learning, I’ll say that again: drill slow. If you try to crank up the rpm’s when drilling stainless, you’ll just dull and ruin the drill bit-- and you’ll make yourself frustrated and generally grumpy. Slow gets it. The Vermont American "XTEND" bits available at OSH are heap big juju for drilling stainless. Drill the holes before you cut the blade off, it just works easier that way. I often drill the hole for the hook on the very base of the blade itself-- that way I only have to drill through about 1/16” of metal there, and it makes cutting off the blade just that much easier too. I use a variable speed electric hand drill. If you have a drill press, so much the better.

If you run into a piece of exceptionally hard stainless tableware that resists drilling or even sawing, heat the spot you want to drill/saw through to an orange glow with a propane torch. Let it cool slowly, and it'll be soft enough to drill easily.

With the holes drilled, the second step is to lop off the blades. Just clamp the handle securely in a vice, and cut the blade off with a sharp 32tpi hacksaw. Again, a drop of oil on the sawblade will make the cutting easier. Try to make the cut about 1/16” to no more than an 1/8” from the hole. That’s pretty much all there is to say about that.


Profiling...... no, it's a good thing....

Step three is to round off the ends, and give the chunk of steel it's 'baitfish' profile. An abrasive-disc grinder, abrasive-belt grinder, or bench-grinder with stones makes short work of this. Keep a cup of water handy to cool down the steel when it gets hot, and please don't grind your fingers down to nubbins. For the hard-of-learning, this is where I have to repeat the order to wear eye protection, goddammit!

Or you can actually round the ends with a file, if you know what you're about. I grind the ends down to about 1/16” from the holes, and then round ‘em off. If you leave the holes any more than about 1/16" from the edge, you'll have trouble putting split rings on.

After grinding the edges to the profile I want, I usually hit the ends quickly with a file to remove any burrs or sharp edges, and call it good.

Pretty much there......

At this point, if you add hooks, you can fish ‘em. If you want to shine ‘em up a bit, you can polish the jigs with some 400 grit wet/dry paper. I usually do, but that’s just me, and you sure don’t need to polish these jigs mirror-bright to catch fish. If you have a buffing wheel in your shop or garage, you can polish them up easy-peasy, you lucky bastard. Otherwise, it's mano-a-sandpaper for the rest of us.

OK, add a couple split rings and a hook, and you’re set for fishing. I don’t try to make my jigs “fancy”, but I like ‘em to have a lot of flash, so I usually put some prism tape on there. This as well, is optional. Looking at my knife jigs, you can see that I like both chartreuse and silver prism a lot. Those colors work for me, so I just keep using them. Use what you like and works best for you. You may find that knife jigs embossed with pretty flower designs work best for you............ not that there's anything wrong with that. Cabela's has rolls of high-quality prism scale tape for cheap-- check the "Tackle Craft" section. Or if you're the instant-gratification type, and who isn't, click here: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0053541320042a&navCount=1&podId=005354 1&parentId=cat20360&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&c mCat=MainCatcat20166-cat20360&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=index&inde xId=cat20360&hasJS=true

You'll have to excuse some of these pics, I seem to be learning-disabled myself when it comes to taking photos of really shiny things.


Whew! Break time!

That’s it, you’re all done. Snap your suspenders, have a beer and sit back and congratulate yourself on the magnificence of your handiwork! Yup, you done good. Folks will applaud your labors, you'll feel right proud, and fish will die........ or swim to die another day. Ahhh, the world is your oyster.

Pictured below are some of the jigs I’ve hacked out of thrift store stainless tableware. I like to put a welded ring on the nose, so you might notice that. Some of them have large circle hooks on there. I use those for lings, as the c-hook won’t snag the reef, but does snag the lings and rockfish. Works like a charm. Some of the jigs have a small ‘flipper’ blade attached to the split ring by the hook-- makes for a little more movement and sound. You can even go really disco and tie some flashabou or tinsel on those hooks to spice things up to your preferred level of spiciness.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the pics, and I hope you make some killer thrift-store knife jigs. Good luck, and good fishing.

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PorknBeans

more pics

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PorknBeans

and more pics

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lastcast

P&B, have you used these yet? If so what for and how deep? Reason for questioning is they're usually pretty light, and also using split rings for attaching hooks. Something to look at is how the verical jigs are rigged. Use a split ring to attach a solid ring and tie the leader and hook on the solid ring. That way all the pulling force is on the solid ring. Just a thought. Skip

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saltwater redneck

headed to the goodwill right now .

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PorknBeans

yes i do the hooks on these just like a butterfly jig and sometimes i keep the blade on them and just drill through the blade...same hook set up as a butterfly jig...i used them in over 100ft of water to jig for amberjack and had good luck with them...but in making my own direct hook to splitring connection, i put about 5" of that green sun glass tubing over the hook leader and put the hook through that...almost like one of those Cuda lures

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flappininthebreeze

That is cool. Can't wait to try it out.

osborne311

I do not believe those things work! You will have to take me out on your boat to your super secret fishing spots and let me land some fish before I will believe you!

I like yours better - the whole butter knife just looks better.

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We need a bigger cooler!

saltwater redneck

ok how did you get the solid rings on the jigs ?

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PorknBeans

just noticed that...those arent my pics...i just use the split rings tho....i think he has the single rings that are super heavy duty and you gotta bend them open and closed with pliers