What to look for in choosing a wood

    Hi Guys,


    After looking through this fourm for the last cople of days and reading alot of opinions on wood choice for blanks, im still undecided. I think alot of people use a certin type of timber just becouse others have.


    So simple question time


    What characteristics makes a GOOD choice for a laminated blank?
    What characteristics makes a BAD choice for a laminated blank?


    Strength?
    Hardness?
    Ease of machining/working?
    Stiffness?
    Ageing qualites?
    ???


    I dont want to know what wood I should use at the moment.
    I want to know what to look for in making a wood choice


    Hope a few of you more talented builders can point me in the right direction


    Also have any of you used any type of wood that didnt work? and do you know why??


    After I read afew replies Im going to try and find something local/native? that may do the job


    Thanks Heaps
    Mike

    wondering you dont have any answers,,


    i used bongossi density 1.2 and ash 0.9 both a bit heavy
    the gun became that heavy - you can t hold it onehanded! so actually it s lying in the corner waiting to get revised -getting rid of al lot of the bongos which i used mainly on the outside because it s a oily, hard wood.
    i would recommend a harder wood with a density about 0.7 like teak as most of the others do
    its not that prone to ditches and dulls, and it has naturall oils inside protecting ur gun
    no matter which wood you take (and theres a lot...) make sure you get to know in which way it s dangerous
    i made once a bokken out of palisander(rosewood) and had 2 days of scratching my .. yOu know where.. because of the dust..no fun!
    once i made an ax handle out of acacia,, pulling of the bark barehanded:laughing3:
    couldn t get away from the loo one day long!

    sometimes i m asking if the freaks know that they are in the majority..

    Hi Blankwalker


    Have been wondering about the no answer thing, but I am new I guess.


    Haddent realy thought about "health issues":cool2:,
    If the gun came out to heavy could you mill out and maby fill with something to make it ballence better?,
    Or do you think it would still be hard to track with, even being lighter.


    Localy iv found a few places selling wood flooring in all kinds of thicknesses 8mm - 19mm, non in teak but Matai, Rimu, Totara all natives to New Zealand and very nice woods with very few knots and tight grains.


    Also been looking at second hand flooring, Very nice aged (sum 50-100years old) 19mmx100mm lengths, thay do have nail holes 20mm in from each side, but if I trimm thoses off would still leave me with 60mm to play with. Only problem is that its for sale in bulk lots in auction starting at $1, most wave only gone for $5 but I would have to take a whole 10m2.


    Im waiting to hear from a freind of a freind who has made a few guns now and works in the timber industry, just to get some advice on what worked best for him.

    mh


    the normal way is to fit in lead getting a top floating gun in a balanced position -- horizontal!


    i ve seen also pictures of top-heavy guns which were balanced with cork..
    if u wanna spare - fell any tree with the right density and let dry slowly:D


    creets,,,

    sometimes i m asking if the freaks know that they are in the majority..

    [quote='flymike','http://spearfishing.world/forums/index.php?thread/&postID=61945#post61945']
    Have been wondering about the no answer thing, but I am new I guess.


    Well that is not the reason I did not respond , sometimes I wait a wee bit to let a more knowledgeable member
    give expert feed back on such a complex question. Phil, Woodguy and and Steve Veros all work in this field.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Edited once, last by Don Paul: SP ().

    OK mate, first some questions..


    1.When one is going to build a tool, craft, car or boat we need to ask: What do I want this creation to do?
    In the case of a speargun...what is the target species? as a dedicated Tuna/Wahoo gun will have different requirements than something for John Dory.


    2. What kind of duty cycle and abuse will it see? ...teak will take more impact abuse than Honduran Mahogany as a example.


    3. Do you want to have a oil finish or seal it in a Varnish or Epoxy?


    4. What tools do you have at your disposal ?


    Back later....


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    look for wood with no knots, tight grain (less than 1/8'' in width), also, look for grain that's as straight as possible from one end of the board to the other. knots and wide, wavy grain will cause the stock to bow even if you laminate. i go through dozens of boards looking for one that fits that description and if i cant find what i'm looking for i'll look at other types of wood although i try to stay between teak and genuine mahogany.


    flooring material is probably too heavy and your gun will not float properly making it difficult to use and easy to loose if it sinks with the shaft out. i don't like mixing wood with different density because they contract and expend at a different rate and will eventually delaminate.


    teak is expensive, mahogany is about half the price. if this is your first gun choose a wood that's cheap and practice till you are comfortable with the design and process , if you make one gun i suspect you will probably want to make more.


    have fun.

    steve veros


    in loving memory of paolo


    Well the plan is


    Round 130cm kingfish gun, 7-7.5mm shaft, twin 16mm rubbers


    Oil finish, I like the matt that comes out


    Between me and my mates I have most things available.


    Plan to have an enclosed track probably wood
    will use neptonics handle frame and reef mech, been toying around with a remote trigger or reverse trigger, to get the most out of the length.
    Break away line release


    Im quite picky over details so ill build the best I can the first time, and if it needs improvement I hope it will be in design and not in quality.


    Really I dont think Il use it much, once finished ill be to scared to damage it. But ya never know


    The flooring material Im looking at is just the cover type, to go over concrete or chipboard, hence the 8mm its not very heavy but probably not very strong either, which is why Im looking at laminating.


    The natural oils in teak do seam quite important in longevity. Can this be achieved artificially??, dose it also help with buoyancy??

    Edited once, last by flymike: More questions than answers ().

    You don't need a ET for a 7mm with twin 16mm bands, I would go deep open track mate. If one of those Kingies gets real friendly 3ft off the tip you wont blow the ET apart.;)


    The Tahitians just to your North love Hibiscus wood that is well cured, I have a few gun made from it...
    later need to sleep.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    [quote='Don Paul','http://spearfishing.world/forums/index.php?thread/&postID=61959#post61959']You don't need a ET for a 7mm with twin 16mm bands, I would go deep open track mate. If one of those Kingies gets real friendly 3ft off the tip you wont blow the ET apart.;)


    Good point, wasn thinking realy thinking of that!


    Back to the wood questions, I have a freind who has just milled up alot of eucalyptus, real nice stright/tight grain, would the oils in eucalyptus have similer propertys to those in teak?. Only thing with this stuff is it was live trees 3 months ago.


    Is there a minimum/maximum lamination thickness I should consider for strength? (I guess this depends on the wood propertys as well)
    I mean if I cut them to thick or thin would I loose something in the lamination process (to many layers of resin maby?)


    Thanks Guys :rolleyes1:

    sorry i don t have experience with eucalyptus- i only know it s one of the fastest growing up , and that might be no good sign.. better a slow growing wood i think..


    o k
    3 month is not enough i guess.. could be dry, that might be, but then it shouldn t be straight anymore or without flaws. in europe we say one year!
    regarding to the thickness i would recommend a middle course: u won t glue too much nor u won t have a stock that bends...grain direction is important so go on- we have a lot of pics here showing stock how it s glued,,



    creets,,


    p . s .


    notice.. natural oils are cool but not urgent necessary .. glueing gets difficile- u need aceton which holds away the natural oils about 15 minutes while glueing.

    sometimes i m asking if the freaks know that they are in the majority..

    Edited once, last by blankwalker ().

    Mike, since you want a oil finish I would lean toward teak, you don't even need to laminate on a short gun in the 110cm range. I have a few one piece barrel Teak guns that have 30 years on them and are still straight enough for a speargun. Seasoned and cured Burmese Teak is hard to beat as a DIY gun wood, it strength allows barrels of less cross section when compared to a softer wood.


    After you build your first gun you can dive deep in to the abyss of exotic hardwoods, each with different density's and time consuming varnish's or epoxy top coats.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Quote from Don Paul

    Mike, since you want a oil finish I would lean toward teak, you don't even need to laminate on a short gun in the 110cm range.


    I think Im going to have to make a laminated blank as the timber iv been finding is quite expensive, but offcuts of planks not so much. Iv found heaps of cover flooring offcuts for good prices, 8-10mm thickness and many diffrent lengths. Last night I found a local boat cabnet maker who works alot with high quality marine grade teak, giving them a ring today. If I could find a 50mmx50mmx2000mm peice Id be stoked:cool2:. Il let ya know how I get on.


    Question.....


    If I can get a single peice of teak..
    At what gun length would I have to consider a laminated blank?? (as opposed to a single unlaminated peice)
    My goal is a 130cm gun, Is that to long?
    Is it just a better practice to laminate the blank?


    Thanks Guys
    Mike

    Edited once, last by flymike: MORE QUESTIONS!!!!! ().

    Question.....


    If I can get a single peice of teak..
    At what gun length would I have to consider a laminated blank?? (as opposed to a single unlaminated peice)
    My goal is a 130cm gun, Is that to long?
    Is it just a better practice to laminate the blank?


    Thanks Guys
    Mike[/QUOTE]


    Here is a old pic of a 72' solid Teak barrel with 3 5/8 bands I built in 1980 that has taken hundreds of fish and is still going strong. The gun was hand sawed from one piece of timber,and shaped with a plane. The handle has a 6''x 3/4'' teak dowel glued in place to prevent the grain spiting. The rubbers are cut very long in this shot as I was nursing a injury.
    !30cm is not too long.
    Cheers, Don

    Right......
    So...
    Have been gifted a piece of eucalyptus hardwood, 15+ years aged,
    the guy I got it of and a freind who used the same wood for a couple of projects, both outdoor and in,
    have both said the timber has never worped or moved in years after said projects were compleated.


    I now have a solid blank 50mm x 40mm cut, sanded and sitting ready for the next stage. pics to come.
    looking at a neptonics reef mech and handle frame, once those are in my posetion il hit the bench router and fit it all up.


    My wood may not be the best choice (it was free) but after reading and listening, I can allways build another gun later on.


    Il keep this thread going as my build thread, so you can all watch me make mistakes


    Thanks Guys

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