Quote:
Originally Posted by foxfish
kjflyfish, just out of interest if the track was cut straight from the wood how would you finish the inside of a enclosed track designed to take a 6.5 spear?
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That's a good point. Most commercially available ball-end cutters aren't sized perfectly for a 6.5mm shaft, but if you could get ahold of one in 9/32" diameter, that would be perfect. As for finishing, one coat of penetrating epoxy followed by two thin coats of epoxy will do the trick nicely. The track on my 53" black gun was cut with a 5/16" bit for a 9/32 shaft. I only put one coat of penetrating epoxy in the track, and after some
hard usage, the surface of the finish has worn away. It's actually pretty cool - bare teak track on a gun coated in black epoxy.
As for epoxy vs derlin/UHMW PE - I think epoxy arose as an alternative to the more expensive plastic tracks. I think the first commercially made gun to incorporate an epoxy track was the Deathstick by Ken Jones. His customers are as loyal as they come and from what I've read, many have sold their Wongs in favor of the Deathstick. So basically, epoxy tracks have been proven. I'm not sure about the rigidity of the two, but epoxy certainly doesn't allow much flex - Steve Veros of Poseidon uses epoxy tubes in his Voodoo Stick to mitigate stock flex.
I poured an epoxy track last night on my latest creation - 63" ultra slim bluewater gun. I'll post pictures soon.
