Old new guy here

[Vance Carriere]

Hi, I just joined this forum because I saw experienced gun makers are on here and I am seeking some info. I've been diving since '73 and have always made my own guns. I'm a Long Beach Neptune and live in Redlands, CA.
I am just completing these two Alexander tuna guns for myself and my 23 year old son. I've always used teak oil or tung oil but I'm interested in doing these in epoxy. Who here is experienced in epoxy finishes? Can you direct me to threads or videos? I want to learn everything I can before trying this, obviously. I would also love to see some pics of finished guns.
Want to know what grits of sandpaper to use, best sander for epoxy, how to keep the epoxy even (rotisserie?), how much sanding between coats, final grits to use in the last coat, etc.
Thanks in advance

 

[pumbaadeepdiver]

Hi! Welcome to the group Vance!

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Welcome Vance. Epoxy is pretty and I have both, but I think I prefer my oil rubbed guns. If it gets a ding I just rub some tung oil on it. When you break the surface of epoxy it's a much bigger deal to repair it and I end up just tolerating it. But I hope you get some good advice on epoxy.

 

[Vance Carriere]

Thanks Bill. I guess it comes down to just how hard the epoxy is to ding. I use the heck out of my guns but I try to avoid hitting or dropping them. Little bumps are inevitable but if the finish is brittle I'm not going to choose epoxy.
Where can I find some good pictures of teak guns finished with epoxy?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Most of the dings on my guns are from moving around in my boat's gun racks.With all the different guns that I and my buddies carry it's hard to make perfect spots for everything. I wrap bungee cord around them to keep them from moving, but a rough day to Clemente and back is hard on them. The only gun I have now with epoxy is a mahogany Abellen. I'm told that mahogany needs to be sealed. But I have some photos of Wong hybrids. You can't see much detail, but the epoxy actually did hold up pretty well. And the ones with a black coat never showed any damage. On the rear end of one you can see where the epoxy rubbed off from sitting in a gun rack that wasn't quite big enough.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

At least these were all mid handles. Now a lot of guys are going to rear handles which complicate things in the gun rack.

 

[Vance Carriere]

After exhaustive reading online I am currently inclined to use spar polyurethane. I've been working with wood nearly my entire life and have always had good results with it so seems like the safest route. I'll use multiple coats to build and then finish with polish. I'll post pics, of course.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Sounds like you know what you’re doing. Good luck.

 

[Vance Carriere]

I did 10+ coats of oil based poly urethane brushed on sanding between coats then about 5 coats sprayed on. Very happy with the result. Had some of my fishy graphics laser-engraved too.

 

[Vance Carriere]

Graphics

 

[GRAPHITE SPEARGUNS]

hi Vance not an expert with epoxy but when i epoxy my guns i usually sand with a heavy grit around 80, blow all the dust off, clean with acetone, i try to do a minimum of 6 coats all extremely light, by light i mean just barely cover the gun with epoxy. with a bit of luck usually end up with something half decent ready to either sand for matte finish or polish for shiny finish.

 

[fusepriva]

Thanks Bill. I guess it comes down to just how hard the epoxy is to ding.