First Little speargun(Teak Wood)

[Salehthefish]

yes brother here are some photos for lamination already glued up
ImageShack© - Gallery thanks for foxfish for sending me the gorilla glue appreciate was more than generous!!!

i will start making my gun next month waiting some one month to be sure wood will not have other form or wrap... i am sure you will test it with me as i hope...
http://yfrog.com/0jdsc04530hjx
Note: i have some deformation in the shape of the wood after lamination i will plane it later on after one month...

Thanks for all help everyone

 

[foxfish]

I glad you received the glue as the post office was not sure if it would get though because they dont like dealing with a chemical.
Anyhow you should have enough to build two or three more guns.

 

[Salehthefish]

add to this it came very fast!!! took like one week only... i have orderd recently blades from Spierre and took like 3 weeks to reach me... thanks again...

 

[Jewan]

wow Saleh... you are making me feel like to start my own project

 

[Salehthefish]

I am facing problem in ordering handle online I have tried https://www.apnea.co.uk/
SCUBALAND Magasin d'équipement et matériel de plongée sous-marine vente en ligne sécurisée , and ScubasWorld scubasworld showing error cart is empty eventhough i am selecting handle!!! other sites having problem in delivery they do not have delivery to UAE!!! anyone can help out?

Thanks in advance


Jewan Yes brother why not get teak and start yours all best

 

[Salehthefish]

Hello again

I will start machining the gun hope i will have something similar to a gun :blackeye

i need help in making the hole now i have rectangular cross section for the wood with 30 mm and 50 mm I am not sure if i will make hole of 16 mm the wood will hold with around 7mm each sides!!! or i am thinking of making the hole from 50mm side which will leave me with 17 mm thickness around the hole Note: The size of total wood now is 124 cm...

Thanks for your replies in advance...

 

[Salehthefish]

I have visited my friend he work at Riffe shop and i saw the rubber types where i found there are 12mm band which will be suitable to use...
So far this is what i did for machining the wood...

 

[Salehthefish]

Just and update for the progress

 

[Salehthefish]

One question came to my mind safety wise. Actually i have used handle for Omer excaliber 75cm is it going to bear the load given by 125 cm gun (given by the rubbers) i am using 2 14mm rubbers...

 

[jtkwest]

looks good, i got some questions though. why the three seperate holes for the bands? normally one elongated slot is used in wood guns. i really dont know WHY. but it does seem to be the norm. it would seem that when you load the bands, they would slide partially into the little slot and may damage them,,(maybe) second, how are you able to connect the handle to the barrel ? i tried this once ,(marrying a plastic handle,(jbl magnum) to a homemade teak barrel). the problem i had was aligning the handle perfectly with the track. then it came down to 2 little bolts holding the handle to the barrel. and since these bolts are only like 25mm apart, i t seemed like it was kindof tweeking the bolts against the plastic frame of the handle,(when the bands were loaded) it made me nervous so i s%#t canned the whole idea of plastic to wood marriage. i have seen a few people post pics of guns that ARE made like this.(foxfish made some that look good) i notice they are all short guns, therefore dont quite need to be as quite as strong,(maybe?) i'm not sure. last question,: why laminate horizontal? most guns are done vertically for more strength. yours looks strong so i doubt there would be a problem. i was just wondering why make that choice. anyway, it looks really nice, i am sure it will work well.

 

[Salehthefish]

Well my friend it is my first gun project i have seen some kind of guns made like i did (i do not know the reason) anyway when i try it i will figure it out which one is better i may switch to the other design... From my point of view to align it you need first of all to bring the shaft and fix it in the handle then put the shaft to lay down on the track then you can mark the area of your handle when you machine it you have to make the circle which will fit in ur handle = outer diameter of the gun handle - thickness of the handle... Omer excaliber handle coming with two circles inside the handle i broken the small one inside it so that the wood will goo deeper in the handle... About lamination first of all i decided to laminate it vertically but after having some mistakes and i planed the wood enough i have to use the horizental side of the wood to make a hole the other side was not enough to make a hole in it because it was thin...

Anyway tomorrow i am going to carefully test it because i am not sure about the handle and if it is going to take the load...

 

[Salehthefish]

Update for pics showing the machining of wood to insert the handle and hooking accessories for line rigging...

 

[Salehthefish]

Just update some pics...

I may change the length down to 100 cm since safety is most important or i will use riffe mechanism still need to test it next week this week vis was so bad i hardly could shoot to the sand... Recoil was negligble

 

[foxfish]

Wow, your gun is looking really great - first build & your first gun building success I would say!
Very well done I hope it shoots as good as it looks.

 

[Salehthefish]

Hey thanx a lot for these encouraging words though i know my gun is normal no artistic touches, but i have done some minor changes i will be posting pics for that one of them as recommended by jtkwest i have made instead of three holes one continues place for rubbers. I have reshaped the shaft fins in a way not to cut the rubber wishbone dunma type and removed some wood in that area to allow the wishbone to fix in the shaft properly, also i cut the stianless steel wire holder i make it smaller, and the last thing i have made deeper line for shaft wire to keep the wire in...

Thanks again for your support and help...

 

[ihab]

I'm a bit too late but here it is, for your next gun, I will supply you, for free, our new Nile-Tec trigger (100% stainless steel, holds up to 4 x 16 mm bands) & a wooden handle.

Will have pictures of the wooden handle in 1 week or so,,,,very comfortable giving you a secure grip.

Excellent job for a first build gun:friday.....Let us know what happens when you introduce it to your local fish.

Cheers,
Ihab​

 

[Salehthefish]

Wow this is too generous from you appreciate your help... and good job on ur products looking nice...

thanks again

 

[Salehthefish]

Gun was tested and so far it was success even with bad visibility today i could shoot 3 fish and 2 of them were shoot in one shoot by mistake!!! i aimed for one and i got 2 :blackeye shaft was fast enough to penetrate both easily... now my main thing is to balance it but i am not sure how to do that and i have searched on forums speargun balance with no results anyone help appreciate that...

One question came to my mind if i make holes in vertical and horizental sides of the gun which will make it easy to move underwater is it applicable and is it gonna make the gun sink?

Thanks for your help and support again guys

 

[ihab]

The easiest way to balance your gun is to unload it from the spear, get small increments of lead, Rubber band to tie the lead to the stock and start by adding lead toward the muzzle end till the gun floats horizontally….even better if the muzzle points slightly downward and the all the gun is submerged in about 5 cm of water….but this is only an ideal case scenario….balancing guns has only a very minimal effect on its accuracy & maneuverability.​

As for the side holes, I've tried it with several gun designs and found it has little effect………..actually ease of tracking depends on the barrel design…making holes creates a lighter gun…thus more recoil….making using a wooden gun pointless in which case you are better off using a tube gun (RA, Omer…etc.)​

I found the following barrel design makes the gun extremely easy to track.​

Hope this was of help.

Cheers,
Ihab

 

[foxfish]

Ihab has made a very good point about "mass" one of the main benefits with wood revolves around its high mass & natural buoyancy.
Not everybody gets the chance to try out a nice wooden gun but they have many benefits over the normal 28mm round barrel high recoil gun that the majority use.
You need to fine balance your gun then start the next one!!