KES: Refurbishment

A mate has a classic KES speargun that is around the 4 years old and was a little tired. The original coating was compromised in several spots and water had started wet rot.
He had touched up some bad spots but the coating degraded rapidly so he left it with me to see what I could do to the old girl.

So I started by stripping it down and then the fun of sanding it down.
I removed the bulk of the large surface areas using a random orbital connected to a dust extractor (You really don't want to be breathing this dust in).
I then hand sanded every where else except the handle as it was not the be coated.
The mech pocket was a mess, it looked like a beaver tried to gnaw its way into it.
I used a router to clean it up a bit, being careful not to take too much out.
I finished it off with a sharp carving chisel and more sand paper.
Dusting it down with dry compressed air it was ready for coating.
1 coat of penetrative epoxy and 6 thin coats of epoxy later it was ready to be cured and rigged.

This has added years onto its life and will also aid in future refurbishments and should only require a light sand and further coats.

I am very pleased with how this project turned out and i am sure my mate will be stoked with his go to gun again.

Cheers guys, love these older styled guns and to be able to breath new life into them is satisfying.

Quote from Reefchief

Nice restoration job and beautiful gun. Is Kes a popular aussie builder/brand?

KES are a great gun but they do not seem to be as popular as they once were. I suspect that may be due to no new designs / models being released for a very long time. Mind you these are classic guns and those who use them love them.

I hope my mates with guns that I have made will feel the same way in 20 years.