Teak gun - laminate or not?

[KA68]

I've just come back from my local timber supplier with a beautiful piece of teak: 1.7m x 50mm x 50mm, straight & quarter sawn. I plan to make a 1.2m single rubber speargun for local fishing in Sydney, Australia.

I am trying to decide whether I need to laminate the teak or not. Conventional wisdom suggests that laminating is essential, but the following builder says that laminating is not required:

http://www.collinsspearguns.com/Prod...reefrange.html

If possible, I'd prefer not to laminate to keep the construction as simple as possible.

Has anyone had any bad experiences with single piece teak spearguns?

R

[socalspearo]

It is my understanding that laminating is done to prevent any warping of the barrell over time. As long as the piece of teak you are using has been properly aged, then cut straight, you should have no problem. You might want to check internet custom spearguns for the details (http://ic_spearguns.tripod.com/) , but basically the gun should be cut to within 1/8" of the size you want the barrell (in all dimensions) then stored vertically for a MINIMUM of 6 weeks. Aging for 2-12 months is better. Commercial gunmakers generally laminate to avoid this lengthy aging process. This allows any natural curvature to come out and then the barrell can be cut straight and to the desired dimensions.

Good luck and please post pics of your progress!
Logan

[jimdoe2you]

I don't know too much about building guns, but A.B. Biller and JBL are two American companies that build teak guns out of single pieces of teak. I have one that's a few years old and I have friends that have guns that are more than ten years old that are as strong now as they were when they were new.

Jim

[stoneshot]

Wood, Any wood is just that, it is inherently prone to warping,cracking, and waning. The straighter the grain the less prone it is to warping. I have gotten to where I can look at a board and tell if it is going to go south on me or not. To be honest the first dozen or so guns that I built were made of heart pine that I had recovered from a remodeling job in Williamsburg, Va. As far as I know the guns are still being used to slay huge catfish in the lakes and rivers of Arkansas. They were built of a single board of heart pine. But, those boards also were cut over a hundred years ago and had already waned or twisted all that they were going to, given the little that I trimmed off of them to make a gun. Wood is a strange enitity indeed, because the more you cut from a board the more that it generally wants to grow back to its general form(tubular). That is why most people lam. thier guns. because we as people are impatient, and it will take forver to find that perfect board that once cut does not wane, or warp. When you laminate two or more pieces together, you have different forces working against each other and kinda of equalizes the two sides. The reason that Collins says that, is because the price of Teak is so high and laminating is the best method to make use of the resources available. A speargun can be made either way, but the best and most economical method to use a lamination method.

Btw, It has been my experience that almost ANY wood can make an acceptable speargun. It all depends on the properties that you want in a speargun. Teak can last for years without proper care so as rubbing in some oil every couple of years. That is not to say that you should mistreat a teak gun by letting it go, and let the grain of the wood rise, this will affect your shots and your gun will be harder to take care of after that. There are many different woods out there that make great speargun woods such as: Jatoba, Jarrah, Bocote, and many others. The gun I use everyday is made of Ash, and is over 9 years old and has probably killed more fish than has ever been posted on this forum. It has been 60' deep in the Arkansas river killing 80 lb flathead catfish and in the gulf shooting snappers from 20' away. The gun has bounced around the granite rocks that face Murrey lock & Dam in Little Rock and been dropped from a boat over some sunken tanks in the Panhandle of Florida. I have never had to refinsih it or even replace the trigger. It has had the same Sea hornet trigger since I built it, the trigger has never failed even though I have had two 3/4" bands on it before. I wouldn't want to put that much pressure on it everyday, usually I use just one 5/8" 24"(soaked) band stretching the whole 48" to the first notch.

So, don't close your mind to different woods. They can be rewarding!

[metelin]

It's simple, how long do you want to wait before you build you gun? If you want to build it soon, and soon is a relative term, you should laminate and the more laminates the better. If your laminates are 1/4" thick or less you can start building in a couple of months.

If you don't laminate, your gun is going to warp, it doesn't make sense to go through all the work to build your gun only to have it warp on you at some point in the future.

I generally cut my pieces about 1/4" thick, let them sit for a month to dry out then I glue the pieces together making sure to alternate the wood grain and I let the block sit for another month. At this point I mill the block so it's square but not to it's final dimentions. Finally I glue another piece on the bottom in a inverted "T" configuration. If the final dimension are going to be 1 1/2''w x 1 1/2"h the final piece I glue on the bottom is about 3/8" thick by a 1 1/2" in width.

I know this sounds like a pain in the a** but you will be happier in the end.
Good luck and send us pics when your done.

Steve

[rifmaniac]

I havn't understood the inverted "T"

[rifmaniac]

BTW, I've just visited you're POSEIDON website; you're guns look great.

[metelin]

after you laminate enough pieces to get the width you want your gun to be, you laminate one more on the bottom to get the proper hight. wood warps after you cut it, so by laminating and opposing the wood grain you create opposite force in the block that hopefully counter each-other to keep the gun straight, otherwise you have to wait a long time for the wood to stabilize before you make your gun.
thanks for the kind words.

steve

[SEDATE]

Thnx info Metelin and Marry X-Mas!

[KA68]

It's been about 2 months since I started this thread. Based on the advice I recieved here, I decided to store the piece of teak to see if it would warp, before I made the gun.

Today I had a good look at the teak - it has warped slightly. No surpirses given the earlier feedback. The timber has a warp of about 2 or 3 mm in one axis (measured as the deflection of the timber at the mid point of its length, from a straight edge held to the ends of the timber).

At this stage, I plan to measure and note the exact amount of deflection of the timber in as much detail as possible. I will then store the timber in a dry place for further curing. After 2 months or so, I will measure the deflection to see if it has changed. At that point, if the warping has not changed, I will make the speargun. If it continues to warp, I will give it some more time.

Given that the timber has some warping, how can I re-cut it so that I start with a straight piece? I'd like to use a router to cut the channel etc, running off the side of the timber.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback.

R

[metelin]

Originally Posted by KA68

Given that the timber has some warping, how can I re-cut it so that I start with a straight piece? I'd like to use a router to cut the channel etc, running off the side of the timber.
R

You could try running it through the router on one side and then recheck it but I would do it on a table saw with a long fence.
Good luck.

Steve

[stoneshot]

This may help you out better than I could explain...





I have used this method for years...building furniture......When I build a gun...I try to take as little as possible at a time....the more you take off in one shot the more the wood wants to twist,wand, and bow.