Posts by JimCuda

Very nice report, band tying is one of those things I really don't care to do.

Been out twice, water is still very cold. I will be out this weekend. Hopefully it's above 55.

Brian! Oh yeah, I didn't recognize you from the picture. I will hit you up when I'm going to be in the area.

I just want to make it clear that I am in no way affiliated with the products or gear. I just happened to dive with him and he used that picture.

Hello! I saw a foil sailboat in Newport Harbor, seemed really cool as I am both a former sailor and an Ocean Engineer.

If you look closely on his front page, you'll see a tall asian-ish man!.

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/

Tone (that's his name) went out on my buddies boat and they shot up a bunch of hogs. He has interesting ideas, but I'm not sure how this will all pan out. He did do up that cool all clear gun.

You need a bigger gun! I know its late, but the Cobia will stay with the ray. If you don't lose it, you can take a second dive on the fish.

I find that they can taste strong if you don't bleed and gut them. Lastly, did the fish die from the knife? They are really hard to kill.

There are 2 RIBs in the garage!

Nice boat, and the inflatable means you can get in and out really easy!

Davie showed my how to dye monofilament similarly. You can buy Momoi mono from Bass Pro (or whatever) and put it in a bucket with RIT dye (laundry section of supermarket) and wait 24 hours or whatever, bingo. I used the powdered stuff as it was all I found.

The decongestants can solve the symptoms, but you might want to address the core problem. Keeping your ears warm helps a lot of people. The hood usually does it, but based on the severity of the problem, you might want to try Doc's Proplugs.

I'm not sure why water getting in your mask makes your ears hard to clear. It also sounds like you have suffered an Ear Squeeze, which is why you can't hear. Its caused by not equalizing enough and stretching the eardrum. I have to equalize every few feet so that I don't hurt my ears. Its more important early on, because the pressure change is so great.

Avoid Dairy to reduce mucous production.

Learn the Frenzel technique for equalizing as you can do it faster and easier, if you haven't already. www.spearo.republika.pl/frenzel.doc It's complicated, but I learned it a couple years ago and its what I do if I can't hands free clear (which is a work in progress, but was able to do it all day yesterday).

Quote from Dan

I agree, Jim has very good taste. I like the addition of the Bluewater hunters book, it supports the gun in just the right position and at the same time lends purpose to the composition. The Russian matryoshka doll in the background also adds a sense of the unexpected, as when finding a fish species on a dive that's completely not supposed to be there. The reel remains mysteriously nameless :atongue:

I added the reel name in the original post after you asked, but I guess, that's not very obvious.

The matryoshka dolls represent the progression of the diver. You start with the core of desire to submerge and progress to encompass increasing levels of skill and knowledge.

This is my living room. The other table is in the dining room. I took the photos here specifically because of you, Judah.

I actually finshed a speargun and it will be in full use tomorrow. I had it all done and successfully used it, but I realized I wanted some changes. I sanded it down and planed it thinner on the top and took off a bit off each side to reduce it's "chunkiness". It still has plenty of wood for buoyancy and I added some adjustable ballast by making a small pocket beneath the forward line wrap hook.

It is most certainly not perfect, but it will make holes in fish. I learned a great deal from doing this one. I also have a 57" gun curing at 78 degrees upstairs. It'll be ready next week.

White Chin
47" 3-vertical lam Padauk Midhandle. Band pull of 100cm gun, length of 75cm gun from grip to tip
7mm Pursuit shaft, 2 - 5/8ths bands. Neptonics reverse trigger + Tin Man Handle. Pearce 1911 grip.
Herranen Epoxy finish. Abellan Reel with a buttload of 2.2 mm dyneema (my buddy accidentally got the thicker one, so I just put it on this one)

Quote from greekdiver

You are building more and more guns. Wheres the fish?!??!?!?!? :crazy: :thumbsup2:

There's this thing called "fishing season" in RI. It started two weeks ago when the water got above 50 degrees!

You also have to make the blanks way ahead of time to allow it to settle.

I think I might go the epoxy or urethane route for my sapele/padauk Bluewater gun because of the mixed woods.

For my Sapele Mahogany gun, I'll try the teak oil.

I can guarantee that Padauk has a LOT of dust. Thanks for the info. Whats the benefit of Danish oil vs. Teak oil?

Epoxy is only a pain because it is difficult to get perfect, so I'd like to skip it at least once. I do like Dan's Penetrating Expoxy finish and I've had good success with Bristol Finish as well as Phil's epoxy, but they aren't "Perfect". Teak oil takes almost no skill in comparison to those as I've refinished a couple Riffes.

I'm putting together a blank that will end up being a rollergun (maybe). I want to do an oil finish, because it is easy and cheap and I have to contend with areas around the roller. That said, I only know about oil finishes on teak and padauk (Riffe). I'm not sure about sapele's oil content or if that matters very much.

I can always go the epoxy route if the oiling isn't a good choice.

I was wondering what this was going to be! :thumbsup2:

Quote from metelin

i like a band slot that's holds bands very tight. for 4 5/8'' bands i would cut it with a 1/2'' bit and make it 1 3/4'' long.

tigh in bands are a pain to make, load, you loose power and the front wishbone frays often even if you debur the hole well.

Thanks, thats what I was originally planning. I thought top tie in bands weren't going to be worth it, but it's common on many BW guns, so I asked.

My instinct was correct. I will go with the original plan of band slots.

What do you think about individual holes, one band slot, or two pairs of band slots for 4 bands?