# My new flea rake



## new2salt

Been trying to find a sand flea rake but having no luck. Even the local Basspro was soldout and the staff said they were changing suppliers and didn't know when they would get anymore in.  Now, I'm leaving for the coast in a week and I was determined to have one before I got there. That's when I remembered that I had a couple old aluminum signs laying around and after about 3 hours of drilling, hammering, and riveting, here is what I came up with. 

Had everything in my shop with the exception of a couple stainless steel bolts and nuts. Now that leaves my total investment at $2.61.  So what do ya'll think?















































Oh yeah by the way, I didn't steal the handicap signs. My brother-in-law worked for a guy that done parking lots and it was some they had replaced. :fishing:


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## sunburntspike

awesome,just plain awesome!!! i love making something useful out of thin air.that first batch of fleas don't stand a chance


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## timbo3875

Nice cooler. Which plant did you work at?


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## tjbjornsen

Outstanding!
Looks like the real deal.
(And it looks like that was a LOT of drilling!)
Gotta love turning unused stuff into Useful stuff!


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## new2salt

That would be plant #12 there timbo. Did you work for them?


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## surfchunker

as nice as any store bought one ... Great job


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## OBX_Rat

Great job


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## lil red jeep

Looks great. And besides, if any of the sand fleas are injured while you dig for them, they already have the handicap sign to utilize!


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## dstanley66

looks good, will ya take $5.00 plus shipping to mt. airy, going to kure next wk. need a new flea trap.


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## new2salt

Sorry d, I'm going to have to decline your substantial offer.  Even though it almost doubles my out of pocket expenses. However, I need it next week when I take our youth group down to Oak Island.  Even if we don't catch any fish, I figure that it will provide hours of entertainment for the kids.  

I really appreciate everyones kind words. My daughter-in-law said that she was impressed and I told her that I had even impressed myself with this one.


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## SNDFLEE

gREAT JOB EVEN LOOKS LIKE YOU GOT CULLING HOLES FOR THEM TEENY FLEAS!


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## timbo3875

Hey new2salt, sorry for the late reply, but I worked out of Corporate in Maiden. Actually, I still do. I am one of 12 that are left.


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## Smittroc

Nice!!! looks like it'll work just as long as the wing nuts don't undo themselves


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## tjbjornsen

We expect planty of pics from the trip with this beauty filled with Fleas!
You are probably right about it providing lots of amusement for the kids.
After we got tired of catching stuff with it we would just have resorted to seeing who could hit the other one harder with it.
But then again it was Jersey...


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## Loki

Nice rake New2salt !!! Good to see other folks projects. 
I wanted a small one and couldn't find it so I made mine to
last week.


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## OBX Rookie

Awsome job! I hope I am wrong about this but I would try to find something other than the copper pipe or maybe just use longer bolts so you dont have to flatten the pipe out, that looks like it will be the weak link. JMO


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## jbrady14

ok this might sound stupid. but what is this used for? were dose it come into play for fishing?


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## OBX Rookie

Its for catching sand fleas that are used as bait, sand fleas are the little critters you see digging back into the sand sometimes when a wave is going out.


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## new2salt

Good looking basket Loki. I wanted expanded aluminum screen, but had no luck finding any. 

Smittroc, I went with the wingnuts so that I had the option of removing the handle for storage and transportation. Appreciate the thought anyway.

OBX, pipe was laying around in my shop and I'm not really worried about it breaking. I'm more worried about someone stealing it when I'm not looking, just for the copper.

Thanks again for everyone's comments. Man, I can't wait to get to the coast to try it out.


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## plotalot

OBX Rookie said:


> Awsome job! I hope I am wrong about this but I would try to find something other than the copper pipe or maybe just use longer bolts so you dont have to flatten the pipe out, that looks like it will be the weak link. JMO


I would look into an alternate handle material, I don't think the copper tubing is going to work well for you. Other than that, it looks good and a fine use of free and cheap materials.


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## jbrady14

what do catch with sand fleas?


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## dirtyhandslopez

Nice job.
Hope no one with a limp tries crawling in it though...


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## new2salt

jbrady14 said:


> what do catch with sand fleas?


Just about anything that feeds in the surf (pompano, whiting, drum, etc). A friend of mine caught a 28'' striper on one a few weeks ago at the jetty walls at Hatteras.


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## SmoothLures

Looks like it'll dig deeper than most of the store bought ones since the angle is steeper. Now go catch some pomps.


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## jbrady14

new2salt said:


> Just about anything that feeds in the surf (pompano, whiting, drum, etc). A friend of mine caught a 28'' striper on one a few weeks ago at the jetty walls at Hatteras.



well i fish in buckroe hampton va. so can you tell me what i will get up this way


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## new2salt

jbrady14 said:


> well i fish in buckroe hampton va. so can you tell me what i will get up this way


Never fished the bay area, so I can't really answer your question.  You would be better off to post that on the Virginia board, unless someone else wants to chime in. opcorn:


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## eaglesfanguy

WHat size holes did you drill? Love the use of the handicapped sign.. That adds some cool points.


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## new2salt

eaglesfanguy said:


> WHat size holes did you drill? Love the use of the handicapped sign.. That adds some cool points.


7/16" just happened to be a bit that I already had in the press.


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## NCfisher

That is realy cool.


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## Reelturner

*new2salt*

Well, I just got back from Topsail Island and bought one from East Coast Bait and tackle. I got the smaller of the two rakes that they had in their store. The one I bought was around 2" narrower than the larger one but undoubltly made by a different supplier or the design was different. The smaller one was made using bracing strips of aluminum running across the width of the screen, it also was a few dollars less and I thought it appeared like it would last longer. It also had two bolts w/ nuts and lock washers holding the handle on where as the larger one just had rivets.

If your wing nuts want to loosen up I would add to yours some lock washers to help with the coming loose.

Your investment.....little over 2 bucks. I would brag about it with what I paid for mine you could have made 15 of yours. You do the math.

You did well.

Reelturner


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