Newbie speargun help

[roughwake]

Hello folks, I've been lurking on this forum for a little bit now, and it's time to build a gun since I'll be moving to St. Pete in a few weeks. Currently I have a neptonics trigger mech and (2) 9' x 1" mahogany boards. I'm itching to laminate the boards so I can start work on a 50" gun, but I need some advice.

What is the maximum thickness of laminates you would recommend for a gun this long? Currently I have 1" thick x 5" x 9' pieces, do I need to rip them to 1/2" or 1/4" inch? Or can I just glue up two 1" boards? One of the guns this guy is building seems to be two 1" thick boards glued together http://forums.deeperblue.com/diy-homemade/85671-5-time.html

Also, maybe if I go with 1" laminates I should glue a board flat on top of them to route in my channel?

My problem is that buying more mahogany at 1/4" or 1/2" is expensive and I don't really have a means to rip what I have (unless someone can tell me how to do that with a table saw).

 

[devondave]

Hello and welcome to db.
Ripping with a table saw is fairly straight forward.
I always use feather boards to avoid kickback and keep the board pressed against the fence.
If you rip 5" in half you'll get 2 1/2" - half the saw cut (kerf.)
Similarly 1" ripped in half will give you 1/2" - half the kerf.
If you do laminate like this don't forget to alternate the direction of the grain for maximum strength.
Do you know if your boards are flat sawn or Quarter sawn?

 

[roughwake]

Hey, thanks for the advice, I'm afraid I don't know if they are flat or quarter sawn. Do you think I can rip them to 9 ft by 5 inches by 1/2 inch on a table saw by flipping them over? Or perhaps I should cut the width in half and then rip to 1/2 inch? That way I'd have at least a ~ 2.5 inch high gun by however thick I want. Is this a good height to start with?

 

[devondave]

It's possible to rip it the 5" way but a bit of a fiddle.
If you think 2 1/2" will be enough I'd saw the board flat first.
Don't forget, even with 2 1/2" after gluing the blank will have to be left to warp, anything up to six weeks, and then 'trued' to square the blank.
Blanks can be squared by hand but it's not easy.
Better to take it to a workshop with a planer/ thicknesser, pay them to do the work.

Quarter sawn boards warp a bit less than flat sawn.
Can't find any pictures of quarter sawn or flat sawn, but if you google it you'll get a good idea of the difference.

I hope someone with some gun-building experience chimes in, I know a little about wood but have never built a gun.
Good luck with your project.