Care for wooden gun

[spicer]

I have recently purchased a totemsub pelagos and wanted to enquire how you guys/gals care for your wooden guns. I did purchase the care kit from them but wanted to know frequency and what else you did after each trip/ season as there are no instructions.

Many thanks

Chris

 

[Pastor]

The care kit is for major damage like deep scratches that go through the finish, then you put the epoxy part on first and the varnish top coat on last. The best way to look after the gun is to give it a good hosing down with fresh water after use and dry it thoroughly before putting it to bed, which should be somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight.

 

[spicer]

Thanks Pastor

Also what do you do with the line on the reel do you rewind it when dry?

 

[Pastor]

Cant answer that one I've never used a reel

 

[icarus pacific]

With all guns, not just wooden, give them a good rinse with out the shaft in and let dry. Give the shaft and tip a wipe and take a look at the tip for dings and file to reestablish the point. If you want, give the opening of the trigger a shot of silicone spray. With the reel, pull the line off and let the whole mess dry and then rewind. This is a ritual that you can follow or modify to suit, but at the least, a good soak in fresh water is a minimum. I do this whilst the others are tossing back a few and wondering why mine are bigger. :head

Store the gun out of the direct Sun and if it's going to be a long while before the next go, remove the bands and store in a zip lock baggie in the reefer.

 

[jimdoe2you]

................store in a zip lock baggie in the reefer.

I believe they call that a Freudian slip!!!

:friday

 

[icarus pacific]

Everyone is a literary genius all of a sudden.

just some antics with the semantics. :t

 

[spicer]

Thanks Sven,

I like to take good care of my equipment as it definitely pays in the long run.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Is the wood teak? If so, it needs minimal care. If you like to keep it pretty, then by all means restore any epoxy finish. But if you are just concerned with function, teak can take care of itself.

I know two different guys that pride themselves in having Riffe Islands that are bleached while and look like pieces of driftwood. I offered to rub some teak oil on one of them, and the guy almost hit me. Both guns work fine.

I have found that a coat of tung oil every 6 months or so is a nice compromise. It keeps the teak looking dark and may help preserve it.

As to taking the line off the reel and rinsing it, I have never even heard of such a thing. Synthetic lines like Spectra (Dyneema) or the kevlar stuff that Riffe sells need no rinsing. I've been using them for 10 years and never even considered rinsing the line other than the superficial rinsing it gets when I hose off the reel.

 

[icarus pacific]

As to taking the line off the reel and rinsing it, I have never even heard of such a thing. Synthetic lines like Spectra (Dyneema) or the kevlar stuff that Riffe sells need no rinsing. I've been using them for 10 years and never even considered rinsing the line other than the superficial rinsing it gets when I hose off the reel.

Then it must not exist... :hmm

That incidental rinse is all I give it, and it's from being dunked in the water-filled garbage can that everything gets douched in. Pulling the line off a couple times a year to re-wind it and if you get to use the gun a lot, reverse the line on the reel gives you something to do while you wait for the weather to get better and it makes you check the crimps, etc.

Not to belabor a point, but the guys that rely on the Spectra, Kevlar and carbon lines clean their lines, as in sheets and running rigging for sailboats so the salt crystals gon't get worked into the braid and cause chafing from within the outer jacket. That's more work than I care to give my gun's line, but when you start having to pay $10/ft for the stuff, yeah, you rinse it.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Not to belabor a point, but the guys that rely on the Spectra, Kevlar and carbon lines clean their lines, as in sheets and running rigging for sailboats so the salt crystals gon't get worked into the braid and cause chafing from within the outer jacket. That's more work than I care to give my gun's line, but when you start having to pay $10/ft for the stuff, yeah, you rinse it.

If I paid $10 per foot, I'd strip it off the reel and sleep with it, but I pay 25 cents per foot for 2 mm Spectra and 30 cents for 2.5 and 3mm Spectra. I've never worn any out yet, so I think I'll just leave it on the reel.