Well, This is going to be a little difficult to describe but I'll give it a shot.
I first get pre 1982 pennies because they are made with around 90% copper as apose to copper coated zinc that pennies are made of today.
Pound them out with a polished ball pin hammer on a thick piece of leather to dish out the penny over an anvil or in my case a piece of railroad track, untill you get desired thickness. dont pound them too thin because you loose allot of weight when you grind down & shape the sides. Don't dish it too deep either, It wont rotate correctly.Find a happy medium.
reason being,
It makes it hard to cast,you have to reel too fast & looses desired movement. Slower is better.
Also one side will generally be just a little bit thicker than the other creating direction of rotation in water.
this will normally happens on its own when pounding it out.
After that, with a bench grinder/polishing wheel grind the penny into desired shape.
(tear drop with a somewhat flat bottom with rounded edges works the best).
After that, drill a small hole in the penny as close as you can to the top.
It's not that important to drill it centered & will determine rotation direction.
Buy some small,small,small split rings, some treble hooks, big barrel swivels & small ball bearing swivels,
(with or without a snap). Just cut it off. (recommended use without snap)
put the ball bearing swivel as the top of your lure that you tie the line to.This is very important! dont use A barrel swivels for the top, only the body/shaft. the ball bearing swivel is needed to prevent line twist.
If it doesnt already have one on each end, (which most do) Connect split rings to the ball bearing swivel.
This is where the assembly begins.
Connect one end to to the penny & on the same split ring connect to the barrel swivel behind the face of the penny.
then at the other end of the barrel swivel another split ring & then desired size hook.
Polish up the penny to a mirror shine using blits silverware polish & be carefull not to get fingerprints on it, That dulls out the shine. I havent found a coating to prevent that sort of thing yet. Also wipe dry after using the lure because it will spot up.
It takes some doing before you figure out size of split rings, barrel swivels, ball bearing swivels & hooks.
Sorry I dont remember sizes of these things, Its been a while & I dont have packages to refer to.
I hope I was clear enough on instructions to help you make some, They are a fun rainy day project.
O, the black sleeve over half the barrel swivel & split ring you see in the picture is heat shrink to make one less moving part but had an affect on the movement of the lure so I don't use it anymore. I was having trouble with the hook swinging back, catching on the ball bearing swivel when It hits the water If I didn't instantly & I mean instantly started retrieving it!
I recommend getting creative & finding a substitute for the barrel swivel as the body/shaft & one of the split rings or you too will have this problem. On a good cast it works very well on a slow retrieve & catches ALLOT of trout & some bass. It makes a Perfect trolling spinner when able to fish deep.
