First Little speargun(Teak Wood)

[Salehthefish]

Hello there

I have just today put the first step in making a wooden gun... as mentioned before i am not experienced at all in this matter and i will need much of your help guys to be able to make it...

SO far i have bought piece of African teak wood this is what i could manage right now...

Size is 2 inch x 4 inch... i.e 5 cm x 10 cm and 192 cm long at the wood factory i asked them to cut it to 130 cm as FoxFish recommended to make starting gun of total length of 110 cm so i kept 20cm more for finishing...

Next step will be tomorrow as i hope where i will cut the wood to three parts where the middle wood piece will be the thinner one i am thinking of making the middle one of 2cm thick and outer ones 3-3.5 cm depends on the wood dimension after plane it...

Please so far any recommendations i am hardly a newbie at that!!!

Thanks for your help in advance...

 

[Salehthefish]

Here is just an update of what happend with me so far i took the wood to carpentry shop and they plane it and cut it into three pieces i would manage to cut it two pieces with 3 cm thickness and 1 piece 2 cm thickness...

What i could see that there were seeds in the wood and some bends thats without gluing them up...

Below are the points i have doubt about them:

1- Having the seeds in the wood does it mean that i have to through that piece?

2- Are the bends in the three pieces normal after cutting the wood?

3- Can i glue them now or i have to keep them for two weeks for getting more dry?

Need a help regarding these question so that to proceed or to buy another piece of wood... Pictures below showing what i mean...

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers...

 

[foxfish]

That is not the straightest piece of wood I have seen & the grain is not very straight either but teak is very often like that.
The workshop should be able to plane the wood very straight but it looks like you will have to get you plane out (or take it back to the workshop).
However all is not lost as you will be rotating the laminates when you glue them up so the grain will be going in different directions & the blank will be strong.
(1) Plane the three lengths true - not that difficult if your plane blade is very sharp.
(2) glue up the blank & clamp well against a flat surface.
(3) leave in clamps for thee days.
(4) remove the clamps, plane up a square edge & plane all sides.
(5) inspect the blank & test for flex & strength by placing on two chairs or such like & pushing the middle with all your strength.

Not sure about the "seeds" as I cant quite see the detail but it just looks like a small knot? can you use that one for the center lam?

 

[metelin]

don't worry about the "bends" in the wood, glue them like fox said with the grain going in different directions and let the it sit for about a month (the longer the better). after this, straighten the piece and proceed with making the gun.

laminating wood with the grain opposed counters the forces in the wood that cause it to "bend" and once the laminated piece is straight it will hopefully (not always) stay straight but wait before you start cutting.

don't worry about the "seed", if you could cut it out do so otherwise it may chip as you have seen but it's mainly cosmetic.

good luck, steve

 

[Salehthefish]

Thanks a lot for your both answers, but the main thing is that this piece of wood was 100% well planed with automatic machine i saw the process with my eyes and was more than accurate but this blank came after cutting on piece of wood into three. Regardi9ng choosing the wood i did choose myself but honestly i do not know how to choose the good one appreciate if you explain this somehow in case there is way to choose the good one, and fox my friend what i understood from what you are saying that after cutting one piece into smaller 3 pieces again i have to re plane these 3 pieces then glue them?

Again thanks for your reply guys...

 

[foxfish]

Most important is that the three wood strips are even in thickness down their length so that they will sit flat against each other when you glue up.
Do a trial run & clamp them together without the glue, look for any gaps, if you find none then you wont need to plane.

 

[Salehthefish]

Hello again

Back from lebanon and was bit busy here in Dubai i couldnot follow with the gun!!!

Before yesterday i have put together the three woden pieces and clamped them i will wait like one weak to get dry then i will start making the rail and the holes for bands...
for the bended areas i have put all piece of wood together and the bend was gone and i will plane them in machine to be sure that they are straight 100 % is this way gonna work?

Thanks in advance for your comments...

 

[foxfish]

Goods news, keep us informed.

 

[Salehthefish]

Hello again

Before going further i was reading another threads and i have checked the epoxy used for bonding the wood i think it is much more stronger than the glue that i have used if i am not mistaken i just used one wood glue and it is not epoxy is this makes difference shall i remove the wood again and check if i need to rebond the wood? add to this my wood section is thick as compared to other threads mine are 3cm thick anyone can help shall i proceed with this or do some changes!!! sorry for this mess

 

[cousy]

I hope you used a glue that is 100% waterproof! Epoxy glue will give you the strongest bond but any wood glue bond is stronger than the wood fibers. This means the wood will fail before the glue bond will unless you are trying to bond the end grain of the wood.

I like to use a urethane glue like Gorilla Glue because it is easy on edge cutting tools.

 

[foxfish]

Cousy is right about most glues being stronger than the wood its self but teak is not the best type of wood to receive glue due to its high oil content.
I also use polyurethane glue & find it works very well as long as you use plenty of cramping power & dampen the wood surface first.
Epoxy is also a great glue & undoubtabley the most popular for gluing up spearguns, sorry mate but if you really want to do it properly then you need to use epoxy or polyurethane glue.
Ref the 30mm thick laminates, yes those are very thick for a smallish gun.
I would take your stock to a saw mill & get them to cut down the glue lines & re cut into 15mm lams!

 

[Salehthefish]

I have checked the West Systems epoxy and i have found one but for 6.25 liters they ask fro about 200 US dollars!! and they do not sell it in small amounts!!! anyway i will sort this problem out thanks heeps for you guys...

 

[foxfish]

Crumbs, you could build a small boat with 6 liters! if you cant find any look for some polyurethane glue.
Boat chandlers normally sell small tins of epoxy.

 

[pvilela]

1/2 liter is enought for glueing
if you use polyurethane clamp it very strongly
for epoxy don´t clamp it so strongly, glue may go away
good luck

 

[Salehthefish]

Hey thanks for all the info...

After all the notes i've seen and since id o not have any info about carpentry work i could understand how important it is laminating the wood before the work to be done.

Actually i could not get west systems epoxy because they sell it here in big amount and also i couldnot get gorilla polyurethane so i have attached picture for the glue that i have used it is made by company name Asmaco!!!

Right now i cut the wood into smaller pieces each was 7mm and glued them with the glue with the attached picture when it will dry i will keep it for 2 month then i will start building the gun aint this right?

I have one more question in case i will buy the west system epoxy which hardner shall i use with the base resin 105?

Thanks for all the help you gave

 

[foxfish]

I cant tell from the pic if that type of glue is suitable but most glues that are - are normally two component.
I can send you some polyurethane glue in the post if you think I could?

 

[pvilela]

my first laminate wooden gun was made with araldite, two components, the two components epoxy glue thay you can buy on any supermarket, is still in a great shape.
if you have problems with the glue go for thisd kind of solution you can have till 300kg/cm2 , of gluing force
i hope it helps

 

[Salehthefish]

Thanks for the help Mr FoxFish appreciate sending me plyurethane thats so kind from you...

Thanks about araldite advice i will try it also but i saw thread about using epoxy i have to use acetone pre bonding the wood...

 

[pvilela]

Yes , use acetone to degrease the wood, better you clean it, better the result
Araldite is a epoxy glue
i hope you have a nice result

 

[Jewan]

Hey Saleh...

any pics of your future gun
i can't wait to see it bro