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All About Guns What's your weapon of choice, and why? Discuss the beloved speargun here!

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Old 03-09-2015, 11:25 AM   #16
Behslayer
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Wooods...

Merbau. I started using Merbau in Indonesia as we would use it for our Fences and it sat outside all day all year and stayed straight. Merbau is a very different wood than Teak. It's heavier. SG is @7-8. It's Much Harder. 1800+Janka. It'a not particularly Oily. It is Very Dimensionally Stable. Merbau Trees grow huge and the lengths of wood available are usually very clear i.e. no knots.

Merbau can excrete a silica, which turns golden and can make for some very cool looking Gold Flecking. Merbau smells good enough when working it. It's HArd as heck on tools. If you plan on doing any Profile sanding.. eat your spinach.

If I'm in the shop and a Big Merbau gun Falls over on the floor, I'm not concerned. Maybe the floor cracked, but the wood won't dent or split.

Merbau is not a good choice for very thin guns. They will sink.

I had a Merbau gun get ripped out of customers hands and spend 9 months bouncing along the reef in 100ft of water. Gun stayed Straight. No Delamination. Very minimal Water intrusion (around some of the screw holes which I did not finish with Epoxy.) Gun was sanded down, refinished and good as new.

Big guns take less lead if any.

I've finished several Merbau guns with Vacuum Impregnation of Oil and those came out nice and last well.

Merbau Glues very well. I've never glued it up with Epoxy. (I am not a big fan of Epoxy in general, mainly because I suck at it.. and I find myself in places that are either very hot or very cold.) We glued up Merbau with Resourcinol and have never had even a hair of delamination.

If I were going to build 3 Big Gunstocks. Teak, Merbau, Padauk, and drop them off the roof onto a Concrete slab and then pick one and load it up with 4 bands and go out and use it, it would be Merbau..
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Old 03-09-2015, 11:36 AM   #17
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Awesome thread!Thanks, A lot of great info here
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Old 03-10-2015, 12:54 AM   #18
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Thanks for the insight everyone. I recently finished my first build with was made up of teak and padauk laminates. As far the design goes the gun tracks, floats well, and is fairly well balanced. It shoots great with minimal recoil. So I canʻt complain.....

Since I mixed woods however, I applied an epoxy (neptonics) finish. I brushed it on then wiped off and did that about 6 times. The finish is nice but as you guys know diving in Hawaii can be brutal on your gear and my gun got its expected scuff marks. Now I am contemplating whether or not I have to epoxy the gun after every single time small scratches expose the bare wood..... If anyone has any insight on that, that would be great....

Because of this I am trying to decide on what wood I should use for my next build which will be a 58ʻʻ gun. I donʻt plan on mixing wood this time around. I want to avoid an epoxy finish if I can. I am leaning more towards padauk just because its cheaper than teak and overall I like its properties. I know its harder then teak but it seems to dent,chip, and splinter easier. I will have to take it on a few more dives to be sure...

Phil Koa and mango would be awesome to use. Such beautiful woods! I dont know that I could bring myself to make a gun with them though I think I would rather use the wood for a furniture or a frame. Teak cost an arm and a leg here in Hawaii... but it seems to me that teak or padauk of the best all around options.
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Old 03-10-2015, 12:57 AM   #19
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Behslayer merbau sounds tempting too! When you say thin guns how thin do you mean? My next build I want to make between 1.7" and 2" wide and oval shaped.
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Old 03-10-2015, 01:15 AM   #20
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kona*06 View Post
Thanks for the insight everyone. I recently finished my first build with was made up of teak and padauk laminates. As far the design goes the gun tracks, floats well, and is fairly well balanced. It shoots great with minimal recoil. So I canʻt complain.....

Since I mixed woods however, I applied an epoxy (neptonics) finish. I brushed it on then wiped off and did that about 6 times. The finish is nice but as you guys know diving in Hawaii can be brutal on your gear and my gun got its expected scuff marks. Now I am contemplating whether or not I have to epoxy the gun after every single time small scratches expose the bare wood..... If anyone has any insight on that, that would be great....

Because of this I am trying to decide on what wood I should use for my next build which will be a 58ʻʻ gun. I donʻt plan on mixing wood this time around. I want to avoid an epoxy finish if I can. I am leaning more towards padauk just because its cheaper than teak and overall I like its properties. I know its harder then teak but it seems to dent,chip, and splinter easier. I will have to take it on a few more dives to be sure...

Phil Koa and mango would be awesome to use. Such beautiful woods! I dont know that I could bring myself to make a gun with them though I think I would rather use the wood for a furniture or a frame. Teak cost an arm and a leg here in Hawaii... but it seems to me that teak or padauk of the best all around options.
do thicker epoxy coats , the wipe on wipe off method needs a lot of coats to be thick enuff to protect a gun . the whole point of epoxy coating it it adds a sacrificial layer so you never scratch the wood or have to sand to wood to refinish . if you brush on 5-6 coats of epoxy you will need to try to scratch to wood . koa and mango look awesome on guns .
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Old 03-10-2015, 03:51 AM   #21
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Thanks Phil! I will probably take apart my gun this weekend and apply some thick coats of epoxy on it. This was my first attempt at adding an epoxy finish on a gun so I wasnʻt sure how thick it should be. I wiped it down pretty good every time I added another layer.

This time I will brush it on, keep an eye out for drips and let it cure until its hard enough to allow me to put another coat on. If I can get the epoxy finish down there would definitely be some cool woods that I would not mind trying to use.

If I can get my hand on some of the local Hawaiian woods here I may just have to give it a try.
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Old 03-11-2015, 08:30 AM   #22
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Behslayer View Post
Wooods...

Merbau. I started using Merbau in Indonesia as we would use it for our Fences and it sat outside all day all year and stayed straight. Merbau is a very different wood than Teak. It's heavier. SG is @7-8. It's Much Harder. 1800+Janka. It'a not particularly Oily. It is Very Dimensionally Stable. Merbau Trees grow huge and the lengths of wood available are usually very clear i.e. no knots.

Merbau can excrete a silica, which turns golden and can make for some very cool looking Gold Flecking. Merbau smells good enough when working it. It's HArd as heck on tools. If you plan on doing any Profile sanding.. eat your spinach.

If I'm in the shop and a Big Merbau gun Falls over on the floor, I'm not concerned. Maybe the floor cracked, but the wood won't dent or split.

Merbau is not a good choice for very thin guns. They will sink.

I had a Merbau gun get ripped out of customers hands and spend 9 months bouncing along the reef in 100ft of water. Gun stayed Straight. No Delamination. Very minimal Water intrusion (around some of the screw holes which I did not finish with Epoxy.) Gun was sanded down, refinished and good as new.

Big guns take less lead if any.

I've finished several Merbau guns with Vacuum Impregnation of Oil and those came out nice and last well.

Merbau Glues very well. I've never glued it up with Epoxy. (I am not a big fan of Epoxy in general, mainly because I suck at it.. and I find myself in places that are either very hot or very cold.) We glued up Merbau with Resourcinol and have never had even a hair of delamination.

If I were going to build 3 Big Gunstocks. Teak, Merbau, Padauk, and drop them off the roof onto a Concrete slab and then pick one and load it up with 4 bands and go out and use it, it would be Merbau..
AND, my Merbau Ulusub is BEAUTIFUL.
Thank you Jon.
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Old 03-11-2015, 08:45 AM   #23
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

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Originally Posted by Kona*06 View Post
Behslayer merbau sounds tempting too! When you say thin guns how thin do you mean? My next build I want to make between 1.7" and 2" wide and oval shaped.
I have a 66" padauk gun that is only 1 5/8" wide and 1 5/8" tall at the handle
this wood is super strong compared to teak
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Old 03-12-2015, 11:46 AM   #24
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

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Originally Posted by phil herranen View Post
I have it's fine for smaller guns but is a little unstable .but it works fine if the lams are thin and it is epoxy coated

As far as using teak as a baseline for proper sg of a speargun wood ,For any non hibrid / or a gun with any real mass teak is way too light , you want a sg somewhere around .80 . A solid teak tuna gun takes a little more than 4# of lead to be neutral , where the same gun made out of paduk needs under 1# and is 3x stronger .
Padauk 3x stronger than Teak?
I thought it was something like 20% stronger
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Old 03-12-2015, 02:38 PM   #25
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

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Padauk 3x stronger than Teak?
I thought it was something like 20% stronger
Yes it I remember corectly , I will look up the psi numbers when I get home .

Here is a list of woods and basic propertys

http://spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=100459
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Old 03-12-2015, 11:42 PM   #26
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Kona use a rotessarie unit off a outdoor grill. It makes it a lot easier to get a good even coat and control the drips
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Old 03-16-2015, 05:26 PM   #27
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

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Originally Posted by phil herranen View Post
Yes it I remember corectly , I will look up the psi numbers when I get home .

Here is a list of woods and basic propertys

http://spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=100459
Hi Phil,
Did you ever have a chance to look up the properties of African Padauk and Burma Teak?

What I see on the wood database site is equal modulus of elasticity...would be relevant for buckling.

Padauk 20% stronger than teak for modulus of rupture...which I believe is what they are calling the ultimate tension/compression stress. 16,830 lbf/sq.in vs. 14,080 lbf/sq.in.
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Old 03-16-2015, 07:43 PM   #28
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Aside from using a rotisserie... what is the best way to get nice even coats of epoxy on the gun. I tried to do a thicker coat but the epoxy kept sagging. I would brush it every 10-15 minutes to keep it as smooth as possible but it didn't quite work out how I wanted. I was hanging the gun from my garage ceiling.
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Old 03-17-2015, 04:16 AM   #29
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Kona, I tried that method and had drips etc. I went to K Mart bought a 20.00 rotessarie unit and made the supports out of 2, 4 x 4 blocks. It works great.
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Old 03-17-2015, 04:45 AM   #30
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Re: Top woods for speargun builds (teak alternatives)

Thanks Kevin that sounds like it's the best route to go. Do you by chance have a pic you can upload of your set up when you put the finish on your gun while it was on the rotisserie?
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