i have been experimenting with "ipe", (brazilian walnut) in gun building with excellent results. it is denser than teak, more resilient, and bonds well WITH teak! plus teak oil works great as a finish.the boards are almost always true. The problem is 2 things: it sinks by a little, and it is so hard that it is hard to tool,( CAN be done , just need SHARP router bits!) , Incidently, i get all of this wood free at my job,(trim carpenter) that is why i am experimenting,(also WHEN i am experimenting, if you know what i mean) but as i am sitting here with insomnia, i am looking at my night stands that i made last year from material off a job. They are made of "Kumaru,(spelling?)" the way the guy explained it at the lumber yard, is there are 3 grades of "IPE" Walnut, i forget the name of the lowest grade, but the medium grade is "kumaru" and the high grade is referred to as just "IPE" or true IPE, (i guess kumaru and the other one are not real? well whatever the case, i dont really care about wood that much but the reason i mention this is that kumaru DOES float! and has super resiliency with oil only,(we use it on oceanfront decks of multi million dollar houses on key west in place of teak , or true "ipe", which is more$$ anyone ever heard of this wood? what about other suitable hardwoods?
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suitable hardwoods?
- Thread starterjtkwest
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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I've heard of Ipe but I've never seen any to my knowledge but Kumaru is a complete new one to me. It does sound OK, is it stable? That's the most important thing to me, I will live with non oily woods (they can be sealed) but stability is paramount.
Other than Teak I quite like Sapele for gun making. It's reasonably dent resistant, stable and as long as it's well sealed it is as good as anything else with the added bonus that it costs next to nothing. The lightweight woods (less dense) have the advantage of allowing you to be more flexible in the way you ballast the gun E>G> a mid handled gun with a heavy shaft could be balanced by putting more lead at the back of the gun. Try that with a dense wood and you would either have to put up with a sinker of a gun or have it permanently nose heavy.
Check out Scott Merlo's info on woods woods
Other than Teak I quite like Sapele for gun making. It's reasonably dent resistant, stable and as long as it's well sealed it is as good as anything else with the added bonus that it costs next to nothing. The lightweight woods (less dense) have the advantage of allowing you to be more flexible in the way you ballast the gun E>G> a mid handled gun with a heavy shaft could be balanced by putting more lead at the back of the gun. Try that with a dense wood and you would either have to put up with a sinker of a gun or have it permanently nose heavy.
Check out Scott Merlo's info on woods woods
oh yeah, definitely! ridiculously so. perfect in that respect.i will straighten out my pic posting problem today. probably the most stable,(good word) wood i have ever seen.too bad you live so far, i would mail you some. but postage would be alot because it is heavy.
You might want to read some of Daryl wongs post, Daryl is one of the better known professional custom gun builders. http://forums.deeperblue.net/homemade-spearguns/60291-custom-spearguns-pictures-4.html#post535019.
It is good to experiment with different woods but there are reasons why the popular gun building woods are used.
Modern low viscosity epoxies will work with many woods but bear in mind that the denser the wood the less the glue will penetrate. Polyurethane glues work well with dense hardwoods but you need plenty of clamp pressure.
Professional builders tend to stick with tried & tested construction & materials - you dont want a bent gun or a delaminating stock when your reputation is at stake!
Mixing woods looks cool but is not a preferred method because woods of different density's & oil content will no be as stable as reversed laminates cut from one stock piece of wood.
However If you are not selling your gun you will have some leeway as long as your construction methods are sound - good luck & get some pics up.
It is good to experiment with different woods but there are reasons why the popular gun building woods are used.
Modern low viscosity epoxies will work with many woods but bear in mind that the denser the wood the less the glue will penetrate. Polyurethane glues work well with dense hardwoods but you need plenty of clamp pressure.
Professional builders tend to stick with tried & tested construction & materials - you dont want a bent gun or a delaminating stock when your reputation is at stake!
Mixing woods looks cool but is not a preferred method because woods of different density's & oil content will no be as stable as reversed laminates cut from one stock piece of wood.
However If you are not selling your gun you will have some leeway as long as your construction methods are sound - good luck & get some pics up.
I agree with Fox, but will add, I've made a few guns with Teak/Ipe (using the Ipe as the center for enclosed track) laminates and they are arrows, of course they got some carbon snuck in, also these modern day poxies are just amazing, the wood will break before the bond...as for Cumaru-Ipe I always thought they were the same, the fact that the Cumaru floats might just be that it is outer layer vs the denser inner layer coming off the tree...and Sepele (also called Ribbon Mahagony) as I know it is a Mahogany (just prettier) so it and of itself holds well to water
foxfish;698 Mixing woods looks cool but is not a preferred method because woods of different density's & oil content will no be as stable as reversed laminates cut from one stock piece of wood. However If you are not selling your gun you will have some leeway as long as your construction methods are sound - good luck & get some pics up.[/quote said:
