Teak 80 - Part one: The stock

[portinfer]

Yeah it is pretty strong - I put it in a vice and bounced on it for a few minutes Dave - it is my gun true, but I doubt it would have happened without your help - both myself and Pete are very grateful for your knowledge and expertise. I just need to finish it now and shoot a fish or two !

Dobs - what dimensions do you have for your gun ? 30mm by 30mm ?

What do you think the minimum depth and height are before you start weakening the stock too much ?

I might have another hack at it today.

Ed

 

[Dan Man]

I don't mean to distract from your gun but this is one of my thinnest guns I have made. The stock is 25mm high and 22mm wide. It has a single 16mm rubber and a 6.6mm rob allen shaft with an undersea mech. I wouldn't use any more bands than this on it...it doesn't need it! Oh and its a 1.1m gun

 

[portinfer]

Thanks Dan - Looks like a nice light bit of kit - mahoghany I guess ?

I took it down yesterday from 35mm high to 32mm at the butt end and 30mm at the nose. Still looks fine. My gun is alot wider so it moves from side to side better but still has a bit of mass to cope with recoil in the vertical plane from the 17.5mm band. Some people have been recommending a 20mm band for the 80 but I will try it first with this configuration (with a 6mm Devoto shaft that is 115cm long - filed the notches for the dyneema wishbone already - so nice and smooth).

Just need to do some more work on the nose - I am going for the tucked in bands approach (like the Gimansub guns) for maximum hydrodynamics.

Ed

 

[Dobs]

Dobs - what dimensions do you have for your gun ? 30mm by 30mm ?

What do you think the minimum depth and height are before you start weakening the stock too much ?

I might have another hack at it today.

Ed

Hi Ed,
My gun is wider in the middle and thinner at the muzzle and at the handle. The widest part is about 40mm and the thinnest (muzzle) about 28-30mm.
The height of the body is 35mm, but I'll reduce it to 30 as soon as I can. The gun has so much mass that I fell no recoil at all with short 19 mm band. By short I mean 42 cm.
As for the minimum depth I think Dan already answered that.

Dan, your gun looks beautiful

 

[portinfer]

So Dobs - you can see my gun is fat just infront of the handle and then tapers to the nose - do you think this is a good idea ? I was looking at the Dapiran guns and I think alot of his guns are like that - especailly the medijedi...

 

[Dan Man]

Its actually silky oak and western red cedar Both Australian timbers. Its got 5 laminates.

Here you can see the wood a bit better.

I'm not sure what type of fish you are hunting over there with an 80cm gun but isn't a 20mm rubber on a 6mm shaft a bit overkill? I think thats way over powered. I use a 7mm shaft and a single 16mm rubber on my 90cm gun and that works a treat. Probably Australian fish are probably a bit more stupid and not as fast

 

[portinfer]

Hey Dan - so you live in Australia ? Where abouts ? Yes, I think the same with the power question but other people have suggeested a 20mm band... personally I think my set up should be fine - 17.5mm bands with a 115cm 6mm shaft. Just need speed rather than punching power.

The 80 is for bass over here in the Channel Islands and for the occasional night dive for red mullet - with bass the largest is about 10 pounds (so far only managed nine and a flick over half) and with red mullet up to two and a half pounds so far...

Murky water and strong currents, either hunting in the shallows or aspetto style. Either way a gun that tracks really well for fast moving bass in shallow water....

Nice handle on your gun. Did you have trouble balancing it due to the thinness ?? Looks like you freeshaft with it ? (The shaft guide on top) - Does it have a rail ?

Ed

 

[Dobs]

So Dobs - you can see my gun is fat just infront of the handle and then tapers to the nose - do you think this is a good idea ? I was looking at the Dapiran guns and I think alot of his guns are like that - especailly the medijedi...

Ed, I think the design of your gun is very good. The more mass in front of the handle will help reduce the recoil and the thinner front end will ease the up-down movement. BTW you know that you can always try the stock in water and see if it tracks well or needs more wood to be removed for a slimmer and more manoeuvrable profile.

Don, at the beginning I also though that 19mm band with 6 mm/115 cm shaft will be an overkill but then I tried it and I hit a fish with my first ever shot with the gun. Then four out of the next five shots were deadly too, and I’m talking about 0.5-1 kg fish at a distance of 2-3 metres. I suppose that the heavy teak wood absorbs recoil very well so the shaft flies strait and there is also very small whiplash effect on the shaft due to the railguide.
Bottom line - I’m happy with this set up on a wooden gun. On an aluminum or carbon euro gun it would probably be an overkill.

 

[James T]

Hey Ed, if you were doing this again, how many laminates would you go for, I am inspired by your work here - am talking to a local Teak supplier in Bristol about getting some lengths cut to glue for my own attempt. I suppose you need an odd number of laminates - maybe with the centre laminate at least wide enough to carry the shaft guide?

James

 

[Dan Man]

I live around the boarder of NSW and QLD on the east coast of australia. Supprisingly it is balanced great! I didn't have to do anything to it. I don't freeshaft but I wanted to try out the closed muzzle wooden gun, plus I wasn't using a shaft with shark fins so I could do it. It has a full length rail and is dead on as you can see by the pictures - that was after about an hour in 5-7m vis.

That handle believe it or not is actually plastic. I'm sure anyone in the USA could get a hold of one! Its a stanley plane handle! I just got a length of stainless threaded rod and glued it into the handle and then bolted it to the stock. Strong cheap and a great grip! I suggest you guys try it one time if you can find a handle somewhere.

I saw about 10 handles on the UK ebay for about $20 one time!

Cheers guys.

 

[azulll]

great!
nice work and nice pictures
:wave :wave :wave

 

[portinfer]

Well I managed to find the time to slap the first coat of epoxy on.

I thinned it 15% with acetone - I reckon about 10ml of epoxy will do a good coat on a gun this size.

It isn't finsihed yet - I was planning on sorting out the metal fittings and taking it for a swim to see how it balances.

Then take off the fittings and rub down or scrape the coats allowing a week inbetween adding another thin epoxy coat. I was aiming at two thinned coats of epoxy and then one coat of non-thinned epoxy. After this I was planning on using two coats of marine varnish with UV-inhibitor. If anyone has any suggestions on finishing a gun let me know

Ed

 

[portinfer]

And the handle... I am still working on the metal trigger guard but HAD to go diving this afternoon ... might finish it tomorrow in between putting up Christmas decorations.

 

[portinfer]

And the nose...

 

[Memo]

Looks beautiful . Just a friend's advice for balancing, try to balance it as close as possible to bottom to make your gun stand still when neutral in water (not upside down). Put lead on the last 2cm of the handle and also do not drill the front section too much to add lead (drill 3 shallow holes instead of 2 deep).

 

[Mr. X]

...
I'll cut a hole maybe but I'll be using dyneema wishbones so they come off really easily (matter of seconds - it is a special 'loose' knot/friction knot) so I won't have the same trouble as you (I think).

As you have put so much effort to make what looks to be a beautiful speargun, you might want to consider the Rabitech quick fix wishbone.

[ I think Spearo Dave is importing Rabitech stuff now.]

. Let me know when you start taking orders!

 

[portinfer]

Thanks mate - but am just tying it traditionally (2mm dyneema loops and bridle and 1.5mm constrictors).

Made a scraper out of stainless today and scraped the first coat of epoxy on the gun. Then when it was smooth I put on another thin coat (12ml of resin). I guess it will take a week to cure fully and then I will add a small piece of stainless on the nose to hold the line; add the trigger pins; add the rubber and head for the sea.

I am guessing that it will be absolutely perfectly balanced but in the extremely unlikely event that it needs an ounce of lead on the nose I will be using monsieur Memo's advise. (So nearly finished... oooh need some stainless bolts from Dave's shed too...)

 

[ROBERT REYES]

Nice Work.

 

[IvarNelson]

I am also making my own speargun, and my own mechanism.
check: http://egy.nu/~u86nnir
But i really wonder how should I fasten my mechanism in my wooden stock?!
How do i seal the wood? Can someone please explain to me how to make it waterproof, since there are steel bolts going through the mechanism an the stock?
Send me an email i you know how to, really appreciate the help.
ivarnelson@hotmail.com


Ivar Nelson

 

[ajwaverider]

Most people use either bolts and nuts or pins to secure the mech in the stock.I prefer pins myself because it looks alot better than bolts.The stock is sealed with thinned epoxie on the first 2 coats and followed by sanding and more coats of unthinned epoxie and finished with a uv
resistant varnish.the pin or bolt holes are finished the same as the rest of the gun but spar varnish probaly isn't needed.


Here is an article that has helped out a few people on starting there first speargun.As stated in the article it is just a primer to give you the general idea on how to go about it not a manual or measure here and cut there type of instructions . From what I seen you are building your gun a little different than the norm but don't be discouraged .There are plenty of threads on the subject if you use the search function.You can start your own thread
(if you haven't already) and ask for help or ideas from other members but ultimately You are building it for you to use so you will have to build it to your
needs.

http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/307/41