3 new guns in the making

[blaiz]

Got three new blanks, two are glued up and the third going into the clamps today.

Blank on the left is "scrap" teak and blood wood, I say scrap because its the cut offs from the quarter sawn pieces that I didnt want to waste so I glued them up with some extra blood wood. The blank turned out really nice and is going to be a 130 rear handle enclosed track.

The blank on the right is teak, blood wood, and wenge. This gun is going to be a 120 enclosed track euro gun, well at least an "american" style euro as spaghetti and foxfish would put it.

The third bland is teak and wenge and is going to either be a 110 or a 120 enclosed track.

Ill try to keep uptdates on the builds, right now Im giving the blanks some time to hang while I wait for the components from Josh.

 

[Don Paul]

Great looking blank lay up, those wenge splinters can be nasty. Looking forward to watching your build mate.
Cheers, Don Paul

 

[blaiz]

those wenge splinters can be nasty.
Cheers, Don Paul

Thats the same exact thing the guy that sold me the wood said, And thats kind of why I kept the wenge laminates so small. Just an accent.

 

[foxfish]

Lovely wood blanks, seems a shame to just round the corners though.
If you could just put a little taper down the length they would look even more amazing.
Dont do anything you are not sure about though because you dont want to spoil all that wood, it might be worth making a model in soft wood first.

 

[blaiz]

Not to worry there foxfish, these guns are going to have some sexy lines. Thats not what I meant by "american" style euro. To be honest Im not really sure what i meant:blackeye I was planing on putting a slight taper into the gun though the enclosed track sets the shaft a bit deeper and limits the amount of taper that I can do. possibly even on the sides as well.

This was my latest build and I really like the way It turned out,

But as you can see with the enclosed track there isn't really a whole lot of room for the taper beneath the band slot. The profile on these blanks is a bit taller on these blanks but not much. I might save one blank for an open track and put a bigger taper in the stock... choices

 

[foxfish]

You could always buy a muzzle for one of them a hammerhead maybe.
And yes lovely looking gun mate!

 

[blaiz]

Well, I ran in to a major problem with the first two blanks pictured... after truing them up and starting to cut the trigger slots and so forth I noticed that smaller pieces of the teak were splitting from the blood wood. Fearing future de lamination I started to tap a chisel inbetween the blood wood and teak... and the blood wood pealed off like tape! You sure you could hear my curse rant from Lanai! The wenge and teak all bonded wonderfully but anything next to the bloodwood just pealed off leaving the epoxy.

Has anyone experienced this with bloodwood or similar woods? I did prior research and read that it glues up nicely! I cleaned all laminates and even did an acetone wipe prior to gluing and clamping.

I think I can still salvage enough from the two blanks to make one with wenge and teak only, but it was an expensive lesson!

Anyone have any tips?

 

[foxfish]

You could try a polyurethane glue & high clamp pressure.
I use the the 310ml cartridge that fits into mastic guns.
I have never even heard of bloodwood, is it an oily wood, hard, soft?

 

[blaiz]

Thanks foxfish, maybe Ill try it, though Im hesitant with using that stuff ever again. Im sure its more than likely user error. Apparently it would have been better if I would have sanded the laminates with an 80 grit sand paper or wire brush prior to gluing, achieve more of a "mechanical bond".

These are other names for bloodwood, Muirapiranga, Satine Rubane, Cardinal Wood

And yes... its a very dense wood with a tight grain. When plained it has a very smooth and finished texture, the wood also has a natural oil or resin as well. I think I just should have taken a few extra steps with gluing up.

 

[jtkwest]

when i am laminating, i sand with 60 grit for a second or two. then wipe with acetone, then take a razorknife and make criss croos cuts all over both sides of every laminate. then you can try heating the stocks up in a hot car with the windows closed for an hour or so, then bring inside in ac and glue up, and let the thing cool as it hardens, while clamped tightly. ,(phil herranen told me that) thats pretty much all you can do. or dowel it. with hardwood dowels. is the only other thing i can think of. you know, you could just stain various layers with different colors. would have a similar effect.

 

[JCooke]

If you can get the air bubbles out drill 10,000 1/8 holes in it that will grab.

jason

 

[blaiz]

Well, even though the other two blanks were a bust the third one came out great and I even got to do some shaping on it the past few days. This gun is going to a guy in Canada who will be taking it on his yearly trips to Costa Rica for some reef diving. Its a 90 rear handle euro with all neptonics components.

 

[blaiz]

Well, Im just about finished with the gun. Now I need to do some ballast tests on it, some final finish sanding and oil coating but here's a few pictures.

 

[blaiz]

One more picture.

 

[azapa]

That is a very nice looking gun!

 

[foxfish]

Lovely job mate,the plan view shows a nice taper, I hope it balances out ok.