how to heat shrink wraps?

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

I put a knot in each end to make it easier to grab, and then put one end in a vice and grab the other end ... wrap ...end around a screwdriver or pliers handle to get a better purchase and pull as hard as you can.

That's what I do. Nice tutorial Bill. Interesting to see how you grind the ends. Was surprised that you just use a knot at the end; the RA Dyneema wishbones that I use have a nylon toggle at both ends, sort of conicle in shape. Other homemade wishbones I've seen use round beads. Your Dyneema looks considerably thicker than the RA ones -- so I'm thinking your guns have sharkfins rather than the smoothed-out grooves of the RA spears. I don't think dyneema that thick would work with my spear.

I like the idea of using superglue to lock the cinch knot. I usually smear the knot using a soldering iron but superglue would be less likely to weaken the knot. I notice one of the Italian speargun makers puts an extra half-hitch around the rubber after the cinch knot - which strikes me as a good idea, esp if you plan to melt/smear the knot.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

That's what I do. Nice tutorial Bill. Interesting to see how you grind the ends. Was surprised that you just use a knot at the end; the RA Dyneema wishbones that I use have a nylon toggle at both ends, sort of conicle in shape. Other homemade wishbones I've seen use round beads. Your Dyneema looks considerably thicker than the RA ones -- so I'm thinking your guns have sharkfins rather than the smoothed-out grooves of the RA spears. I don't think dyneema that thick would work with my spear.

I use 3 mm Spectra, but I do have shark fins on the shafts.

However, Riffe uses some kind of much thinner cord for his wishbones, and he uses a knot. I used to use his wishbones before I started making my own, and the wishbones never pulled out.

I like the idea of using superglue to lock the cinch knot. I usually smear the knot using a soldering iron but superglue would be less likely to weaken the knot. I notice one of the Italian speargun makers puts an extra half-hitch around the rubber after the cinch knot - which strikes me as a good idea, esp if you plan to melt/smear the knot.

When I used the waxed whipping twine that I got from West Marine, I used to tie a square knot on the other side of the band from the constrictor knot, and then another square knot over the constrictor knot. But that stuck up quite a bit, and was one reason I used the heat shrink to protect it from catching on something.


But now that I'm using this Brim electrical whipping twine that Daryl Wong suggested to me, I'm not using the square knot. After I tie the constrictor knot, I just go around to the other side and tie a double half hitch. Or I guess that's what its called- I just pass one side of the twine around the other side twice before tightening it. And then I go back around and do that again over the original constrictor knot. A touch of glue insures that it doesn't start to unravel, and it doesn't stick up. On the last couple of sets of bands, I haven't bothered with the heat shrink.

This photo shows the Brim tape with no heat shrink. Also note that I didn't bother to taper, since these heavy wire wishbones hold the bands apart so that there is no concern with visual clutter where the bands pile up on each other as they do with cord wishbones.

Years ago I got turned off to wire wishbones because the ones that came on American guns such as JBL tended to break. But now I'm trying these much thicker ones made by Masahiro Mori, and I like the way they make for a clear line of sight down the shaft. The only problem is that I can't use them on my enclosed track guns because they tear up the finish on the top of the gun.

[foxfish]

Originally Posted by Magpie

Never used heat shrink on me bands but have on lots of other things and all I do it poor boiling water straight out of the kettle on it. Means you get an even temperature distribution and I doubt it'd affect the bands.

Nobody seemed to comment on this but surly it is the best way?

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by foxfish

Nobody seemed to comment on this but surly it is the best way?

Just turning on a heat gun seems a lot easier to me than boiling water and then having to have the band over a sink or outside, but whatever works.

[ihab]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

My heart gun has two settings, and the low heat seems to work just fine.

Can I ask what type of Dyneema do you use and where to get it.


Cheers,
Ihab

[ILDiver]

Any spearfishing supplier should have Dyneema, check with any retailer you normally go through. Normally is comes with a nylon sheething over it. Straight Dyneema with no covering is slick and you will have trouble with knots pulling out and it will also pull through a constrictor knot.

I need to find whipping twine to see if it works better for tying the constrictor knots.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by ihab

Can I ask what type of Dyneema do you use and where to get it.


Cheers,
Ihab

I'd like to get some too, thin stuff to work with Rob Allen grooved spears, and possibly some thick Dyneema for loops to go in the toggles. Nearest source of genuine RA dyneema I have found is Bulgaria & shipping is prohibitive. Would prefer to buy something from UK (failing that maybe USA/Fr/It). Wondering if eBay might offer something suitable?

(The hot water idea sounds good to me too).

[Søren]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

I'd like to get some too, thin stuff to work with Rob Allen grooved spears, and possibly some thick Dyneema for loops to go in the toggles. Nearest source of genuine RA dyneema I have found is Bulgaria & shipping is prohibitive. Would prefer to buy something from UK (failing that maybe USA/Fr/It). Wondering if eBay might offer something suitable?

(The hot water idea sounds good to me too).

First of all - the cigarette lighter always works for me when shrink wrapping. Just imaging its cigarette paper instead of plastic and you should be home safe
Second - what do you mean "prohibitive"? Like taxes or something? I just got a gun from them and the procedure was like any other euro country except cheaper

[Bill McIntyre]

The Spectra I use for wishbones is 3 mm Spectraspeed. It has Spectra filaments in a dacron sheath, and is made by Marlow, a British company. The guy I get it from is Masahiro Mori (morifish@aol.com) in Montebello, California. He makes and sells all sorts of spearfishing equipment, and became a Marlow dealer simply so he could offer this line for use on reels. The company makes it in 2 mm and 3 mm thicknesses, but he got them to make him a special run of 2.5 mm as a compromise between ease in handling and reel capacity.

For those of you in Europe or the Middle East, a British source might make more sense.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by ILDiver

...I need to find whipping twine to see if it works better for tying the constrictor knots.

Got mine from a chandler/rope maker, included it free when I bought some rope & bungee. A local canal boat chandler also tries to sell it at 10x what it is worth ($9).

Originally Posted by Søren

... Second - what do you mean "prohibitive"? Like taxes or something? I just got a gun from them and the procedure was like any other euro country except cheaper

No tax issue, minimum shipping charge to UK was something like 22 euro (or was it pounds?!). Crazy. The US Mail does a much better job shipping across their larger continent than european shippers and mail services, and MUCH MUCH CHEAPER.

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

The Spectra I use for wishbones is 3 mm Spectraspeed. It has Spectra filaments in a dacron sheath, and is made by Marlow, a British company. The guy I get it from is Masahiro Mori (morifish@aol.com) in Montebello, California. He makes and sells all sorts of spearfishing equipment, and became a Marlow dealer simply so he could offer this line for use on reels. The company makes it in 2 mm and 3 mm thicknesses, but he got them to make him a special run of 2.5 mm as a compromise between ease in handling and reel capacity.

For those of you in Europe or the Middle East, a British source might make more sense.

Probably not available in the UK then. I think the RA wishbones use 1.8mm dyneema, possibly thinner, in order to fit the grooved notches of the SA spears.

[Søren]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

No tax issue, minimum shipping charge to UK was something like 22 euro (or was it pounds?!). Crazy. The US Mail does a much better job shipping across their larger continent than european shippers and mail services, and MUCH MUCH CHEAPER.

.

When ordering from US there is an import duty here in Denmark. Isn't there something like that in UK?
It really makes it a hassle ordering from abroad as prices can DOUBLE if your parcel is picked for control.
Are things different in the UK?

[irtrogdor]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

Years ago I got turned off to wire wishbones because the ones that came on American guns such as JBL tended to break. But now I'm trying these much thicker ones made by Masahiro Mori, and I like the way they make for a clear line of sight down the shaft. The only problem is that I can't use them on my enclosed track guns because they tear up the finish on the top of the gun.

I don't like the articulated wishbones because they tend to break fingers. Someday your hand will slip and even if it heals it will likely ruin a day of spearfishing. Or at least hurt like ***.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Søren

When ordering from US there is an import duty here in Denmark. Isn't there something like that in UK?
It really makes it a hassle ordering from abroad as prices can DOUBLE if your parcel is picked for control.
Are things different in the UK?

Yes a rather strange Kenyan engineer living in Denmark complained to me about how awful taxes were in Denmark. He was planning to leave for the USA.

There probably are - and I've heard of people being stung with excessive charges when placing fairly large orders with Carbalas for example -- which is horribly protectionist & non-productive in this day and age (how do they live with themselves?). I tend to buy small items and/or used items, which don't seem to attract additional charges (costs more to collect than they'd collect) - I think there is an £18 limit, at least there is for the Channel Islands. I did buy a couple of very large items from the USA but they were classed as commercial samples which apparently didn't incur additional charges. Ditto Malaya.

When we lived in the USA people used to send us birthday and Christmas presents and, depending on how they declared/documented/valued them, we'd often end up paying extra taxes on them, sometimes quite large. Silly really considering how much more expensive stuff was/is in Britain to start off with. It all seemed pretty random though. We learnt to tell everybody to ensure they write "GIFT" on them, apparently they're not supposed to tax gifts, or have some higher limits. We also told them not to over state the price (folk think it's for insurance purposes but it is for taxing purposes, or possibly both - best to be fairly accurate).