Best wood for spearfishing float?

Off the top of my head, I don't think you can beat balsa for a low density wood, but you may want something a bit more durable. Perhaps basswood or Pine?

Hmm. Here's a link that may help in terms of densities:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html

what are some of the things you want the wood and the float to do?

balsa is extremely light and has long been used for floating fishing lures/plugs but it is not that strong..if the float is epoxied and foam filled, i suspect it would be fine.

here is a table i found of the densities of various woods

Solid Density (first number is 'kg/m3') (second number is 'lb/ft3')
Alder 0.4 - 0.7 26 - 42
Apple 0.65 - 0.85 41 - 52
Ash, white 0.65 - 0.85 40 - 53
Ash, black 0.54 33
Aspen 0.42 26
Balsa 0.11 - 0.14 7 - 9
Bamboo 0.3 - 0.4 19 - 25
Basswood 0.3 - 0.6 20 - 37
Beech 0.7 - 0.9 32 - 56
Birch, British 0.67 42
Box 0.95 - 1.2 59 - 72
Butternut 0.38 24
Cedar, red 0.38 23
Cherry 0.7 - 0.9 43- 56
Chestnut 0.49 30
Cottonwood 0.41 25
Cypress 0.51 32
Dogwood 0.75 47
Douglas Fir 0.53 33
Ebony 1.1 - 1.3 69 - 83
Elm, American 0.57 35
Elm, English 0.55 - 0.6 34 - 37
Elm, Rock 0.82 50
Gum, Black 0.59 36
Gum, Blue 0.82 50
Gum, Red 0.54 35
Hackberry 0.62 38
Hickory 0.6 - 0.9 37 - 58
Holly 0.75 47
Juniper 0.55 35
Larch 0.5 - 0.55 31 - 35
Lignum vitae 1.17 - 1.33 73 - 83
Locust 0.65 - 0.7 42 - 44
Logwood 0.9 57
Madrone 0.74 45
Magnolia 0.57 35
Mahogany, African 0.5 - 0.85 31 - 53
Mahogany, Cuban 0.66 40
Mahogany, Honduras 0.65 41
Mahogany, Spanish 0.85 53
Maple 0.6 - 0.75 39 - 47
Myrtle 0.66 40
Oak 0.6 - 0.9 37 - 56
Oak, American Red 0.74 45
Oak, American White 0.77 47
Oak, English Brown 0.74 45
Oregon Pine 0.53 33
Parana Pine 0.56 35
Pear 0.6 - 0.7 38 - 45
Pecan 0.77 47
Persimmon 0.9 55
Philippine Red Luan 0.59 36
Pine, pitch 0.8 - 0.85 52 - 53
Pine, white 0.35 - 0.5 22 - 31
Pine, yellow 0.35 - 0.6 23 - 37
Plum 0.65 - 0.8 41 - 49
Poplar 0.35 - 0.5 22 - 31
Redwood, American 0.45 28
Redwood, European 0.51 32
Rosewood, Bolivian 0.82 50
Rosewood, East Indian 0.90 55
Satinwood 0.95 59
Spruce 0.4 - 0.7 25 - 44
Spruce, Canadian 0.45 28
Spruce, Sitka 0.45 28
Sycamore 0.4 - 0.6 24 - 37
Tanguile 0.64 39
Teak, Indian 0.65 - 0.9 41 - 55
Teak, African 0.98 61
Teak, Burma 0.74 45
Walnut 0.65 - 0.7 40 - 43
Walnut, Amer Black 0.63 38
Walnut, Claro 0.49 30
Walnut, European 0.57 35
Water gum 1 62
Willow 0.4 - 0.6 24 - 37
Zebrawood 0.79 48

I had the same suspicion about Balsa. Of the other two I mentioned, I believe Pine is the Harder of the two, but I'll have to check.

hahaha, nice shred..you are faster and more efficient than I...the table I copied is the same source as his link

i think balsa will work for most applications Dan

Does wood have the buoyancy characteristics (lift lbs) to act as a float? I mean in the event you tagged a nice cobia or something similar. I ask because I had though of that as well and discarded it because I couldn't think of any.

Quote from LunkerBuster

hahaha, nice shred..you are faster and more efficient than I...the table I copied is the same source as his link

i think balsa will work for most applications Dan

Balsa has my vote as well, if your doing a board type look for end grain sheets, fab than epoxie.
Cheers, Don

From:
http://woodworkingnetwork.com/Basswood/2010-04-07/Article.aspx?oid=1037556&fid=WWN-WWP-ARCHIVES&aid=62
Basswood is apparantly a little bit harder than pine, but I think it might have better woodworking properties for making into a float as well (Just a guess there).

Shallow, the buoyancy available from a wooden float depends pretty much on the density of the wood and how big of a float. From the link I provided, a cubic foot of basswood typically weighs from 20-37 pounds, while a cubic foot of water I believe weighs around 62 pounds for freshwater. Thus, a 1 cubic foot float would give about 25-42pounds of lift if made from basswood and in freshwater, and even higher if made of balsa.

Lots of labor to get it to look nice and good Balsa and glass will put the materials alone close to the price of a
commercial one that comes complete with cup holders.:D:D;) Plus the dogs could get splinters.:@

Cheers, Don

Quote from theshred

Shallow, the buoyancy available from a wooden float depends pretty much on the density of the wood and how big of a float. From the link I provided, a cubic foot of basswood typically weighs from 20-37 pounds, while a cubic foot of water I believe weighs around 62 pounds for freshwater. Thus, a 1 cubic foot float would give about 25-42pounds of lift if made from basswood and in freshwater, and even higher if made of balsa.

Yea, I figured I was revealing my lack of engineering/physics skills with that one. :laughing3: I was sure if Dan was considering it it probably did. Good to know though. Perhaps I will revisit the idea later.

As Don mentioned... if used for marine applications, go for the end grain balsa.

Quote from Dan

This shall be revealed in time Essentially I need a material that's easy to cut and glue.

This is not a board type float.

Approximately how much would a solid piece of balsa the size of the 11L Rob Allen float weigh? I suspect this is going to be too heavy. Maybe wood wasn't a good idea.

Depending on your crush requirements, divinycell is the good stuff for tuna floats. H60 is a good all-around starting point.

Balsa, also read some time that is almost crush proof, here is a pic of a tuna board made out of balsa and covered with fiberglass,

Dan, while I don't know the dimensions of the RA float, 11 liters of Balsa would weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-3.5 pounds.

Quote from fuzz

Depending on your crush requirements, divinycell is the good stuff for tuna floats. H60 is a good all-around starting point.

I agree here, why do you want wood?

Divinycell is the quality core, and I have personally seen divinycell bend a bit with tuna on a deep dive.
So unless you want it for something that would not be too big or places were is not too deep, this is the stuff to use.

Something along the lines of what you had mentioned Dan. Teak core, foam float, fiberglass covered.

The "football" float. A prototype made by a friend some years ago based on sufboards. Very light with ~ 18 lbs of lift. I don't recall how deep it was taken to test the crush effects, but I think it was somewhere around 200'.

I like to use this float with a 60' bungee on paddies or weed lines for Yellowtail and Mahi. Obviously not for bigger fish, but very nice for making investigatory drops. Makes it quick and easy getting in and out of the boat.

Ahhhhh!!!!!! I remember those John, great looking float, I almost got my hands on one of them.

I thought you might!;)

Very nice float! I love it! it still looks brand new. I was concerned about the glass cracking, but it never has.:thumbsup2: