shaft retrofit

[coccobill]

Is it possible to retrofit regular euro shafts to sharkfin shafts? (Saldering the fin ahead of he notch). Can a regular shaft be used with bands with dynema line instead of wishbone? Will the notch need to be smoothed in order not to cut the string?
thank you

 

[azapa]

lots of questions! welcome.

I have seen some clever welders put blobs of solder onto regular shafts to turn them into sharkfins (with grinding and filing) but in general it seems a little pointless. Spears don't last for ever (say a year of every weekend shooting?) so just buy a sharkfin version and keep your regular as a spare?

I love and only use sharkfins, mainly because i have bent a notched shaft at the notch trying to get a grouper from a cave, and they can never be straighten there because the point is weak.

 

[hteas]

Some shafts do allow the use of a dynema cord, and some don't.
Rob Allen Shafts have the notches rounded and smoothed so that dynema is fine. Many other makes will quickly cut dynema, since there are plenty of sharp edges on them. If you look at your shaft, it will be obvious whether the notches were just cut, or whether they were rounded and polished for dynema.
If they are just notches, you can round and polish them, but it is slow work with heat treated steel, so don't be in a hurry.

 

[coccobill]

Thank you!

 

[spearsniper]

I have welded longer tabs across the cut notch in a Rob Allen spear. It stiffens up the spear, removing the weak point at the cut notches. Doesn't take a skilled welder to do this, but just make sure they put the tabs on straight.
Only downside is that it does not look pretty like a shiny new 17/4ph riffe spear.