im thinking of making my own wooden gun, can anyone tell me what i`ll need for this or where i can get some technical data or measurements?

i`ll buy a whole handle cause making one will be to hard for me i guess
i know that you gyus have a lot of experience with woodies so please gimme advice!

ps: does it have to be laminated or could i work the speargun out off one piece off wood?

thx in advance

Hi harpune,
Building your own gun is not that hard if you have the time and patience
For info you can go to http://www.arbalegno.com
IMHO this is the best site for DIY spearos It is in Italian, but the pictures and graphics there are more than enough to get an idea.
You can also check this thread at another forum: http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread ... =scrapping

Read all this and if you still have questions I'll be happy to help
Good Luck!

Making a gun is not too hard - I would suggest reading alot about it - there are some good threads over at deeperblue ...

In the meantime here is some basic info to whet your appetite:::

Wood choice
----------------------

Teak --->
Good resistance to water as has a high silica content.
Not too dense / heavy.
Works pretty easily but can chip a bit and tends to blunt tools due to high silica.

Mahoghany --->
Another popular choice - works a bit more easily than teak in my opinion.
Tends to have a smoother grain than teak and is less prone to chipping.

Loads of other kinds of wood - personally I would choose teak - it requires a bit more work but this is negligable (it is a bit 'oily' so care needs to be taken with gluing - not an issue really).

Construction
---------------------
Definitely laminate.
Buy a lump o' wood and either hand cut the laminates or get the lumber yard to band saw it for you.
You could use a solid piece but wood moves when you work it and moves after you have finished it too - there are natural stresses in wood - you laminate to counteract these.
Smooth/square the edges and glue.

Glues
---------
Use a good epoxy like West System slow cure.
Dont use a standard wood glue....

Shaping
-----------
Look at alot of wooden guns and decide on the type you are interested in making.
80cm ? 100cm ? 105cm ... etc
The gun is often dictated in part by the configuation - ie a 7mm/140cm spear might not match a thin 80cm gun.... do some research or look at manuf. sites.

Handle
-----------
You could buy a plastic one (personally ... and this is my opinion... it is a crime to go to the time and effort of making a nice woodie and then spoil it with a lump of plastic on the end ). However there are strong arguments from gun representatives in the US that plastic is far superior....
It is pretty straightforward to cut / shape and join a wooden handle - also looks better (IMO).
Choose a wood that has a nice figure and maybe is a bit heavy / higher specific gravity so it balances well / looks nice.

Trigger
---------------
You can buy a trigger from many sites and companies - popular ones include the totemsub ones and the abbelan ones - from totemsub and from subprof respectively....

Finishing
-------------------
Couple of coats of the epoxy you bought for laminating (agree with Dos - scrape inbetween - buy some cabinet scrapers - cheap as chips and last longer and better finish than sandpaper) and then a couple o' coats of UV varnish (traditional oil yacht varnish (may yellow with age) or a more modern polyurethane yacht varnish with UV inhibitors).

Rig.... dive .. point .. shoot ...

Hope that helps - ask any more spcific Q's after you have done some reading ...

THx so far really good input.

I thought about a 100-110 cm gun using 2x!7mm or 3x16mm rubbers with 7mm spear dopple flopper and either an omer T20, beuchat, imersion and if i could get aywhere from id like a rabitech Handle.


is this setup possible or will the omer handle explode

Is 7mm spear enough for this rubbers or do i have to get a thicker one?


I thought about 5 pieces of laminat reeinforce with carbone (between th laminates)
All in a sepia shaped form,
the ony thing i worry about is drilling the holes for the rubbers do they need to have an specific ankle to where the spear comes in the trigger mech, for best performence?

i thought about getting trigger mech and the holes on one even line would be the best , iguess?

thx

Ps: has anone heard of bankirai wood?
is this any good, i was at a lumberyard yesterda and they told me thy only sell teak in 3mx1m plates!!! That was way to much for my little car(and to expensive )

which would be the best way of connecting the wooden handle to the wooden barrel ??

Use epoxy with a fat screw

Eric - you can go the Abellan route and 'use epoxy with a phat screw'...

Or go the Totemsub route and make a joint that slots together (looks nicer in my opinion).

Or go the Gimansub route and make a beautiful curved join (in my opinion the best / most aesthetic).

Depends a bit on the wood you use - maybe mahoghany glues better than teak (teak is 'oily') ?

Check out a basic book from the library on right angle wood joints and use one of them - glue and a screw is strong.

Ed

I personally think a curved joint is the best way to go. If you use a right angle joint to attach the handle to the gun the recoil or any knock can split the wood at the angle. The curve joint on the other hand dosent have an edge so its practically impossible for the wood to split.

[img][500:1]http://www.amator-balikcilik.com/galeri/data/media/2/DSC01407.JPG[/img]

(Memo I took this picture from your gallery)

10x guys i think it would be better to make a curve joint, more patience and time, but pays back in the future