South Florida Bluewater Build.

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    For what it's worth xylene added makes a penetrating epoxy that is very light on the woods surface. Nice protection with out needing a ton of work


    I did the xylene thinned epoxy coating on my hole gun. Its a nice easy finish that looks really nice. But I wasn't very happy with my inability to brush on a perfect thin coat. I also dont like that minor scratches cant be sanded and oiled with a bit of oil, but instead you need to mix up some epoxy and coat the whole gun. Plus I just really like the looks and idea of oiled teak. Although that may change after owning one.



    Edited 2 times, last by Reefchief ().

    Quote from Dan

    If you have a scratch you don't need to refinish the whole gun with penetrating epoxy. You can do a spot touch up.


    The problem I found was that to achieve the effect I desired (still feel and see the grain very well) the coat had to be thin and even. When I tried to touch up part of the gun with a second coat it hid the grain and totally changed the texture of the spot I doubled up on, so I had to sand and do the whole gun again. The steel wooling helps even it out, but only so much. I feel like I would have the same issue trying to fix up scratches.


    You can see in my photo the tip of the gun had a little thicker coating and is more "shiny" then the rest because I painted it tip down and it dried thicker there.

    So I havent posted much in the last week. I have been a bit busy, as well as still gathering parts and building up the confidence in my decisions to start cutting.


    Tonight I finally starting building.


    First I cut the gun to length (exta will be wood for grips). I also cut the track.


    Measured about 90 times and got everything perfect. The first cuts on my new router table were absolutely amazing. So much control and confidence in my cutting.



    I also picked up Speardiver 5/16 shaft from Dan to fit it. Its quite the spear.

    The first and the last shavings :D


    Couldnt stop. Cut the pocket. Turned out rather nice. Last time I spent a long time on it. This time I was a lot better with the chisel. Using a router to plunge the hole instead of a drill left me a much cleaner pocket to work from as well.


    I used a half inch bit. But the mech is a bit wider then .5. So I had to widen it by hand. I messed up and over widened the top a little bit too much, so the top of the mech is kind of swimming in the pocket. But the bottom fits Snugly. So I think it should be good when I pin it.

    Edited 2 times, last by Reefchief ().

    Quote from Reefchief

    Measured about 90 times and got everything perfect. The first cuts on my new router table were absolutely amazing. So much control and confidence in my cutting. .


    Love this quote.
    My first one , I still own -and it's far from perfect. Measure 50 times....drink a beer to think about it.....forget what I was doing and remeasure. Drink another beer trying to figure out what I was originally thinking.
    If those f-up's where not there they wouldn't be my first gun. My guns are now built much finer, but I Love the the ugly O.G.'s like no other. :thumbsup2:
    In fact, my tuna gun has an old line release in the wrong side-because I got too excited (or drunk) building it. Epoxy and wood filled it in ...story is it will always be special to me-will throw up pic after I go back to the office to show you just what I'm talking about. Couldn't sell that one if I wanted too, but I love it.
    Bottom line:
    You've built a great gun, shoot fish with it and enjoy it. There are few more precious accomplishments IMHO.

    "Whiskey don't make liars, it just makes fools. So, I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said."
    -James McMurtry

    I figured if its a problem I could build up a thickness of graphite colored epoxy on both sides. I was planning to epoxy the mech housing anyways. Would just need a few extra coats on the side.

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