Posts by Wood Guy

Hi Y'all,

I was gluing up some teak blanks the other day and I got to wondering just how thick the glue joint is between lams. So I did a little test. I was gluing up a blank with 4 vertical lams so I thought I'd just measure the overall thickness before and after the glue up, then divide the difference by the number of glue joints.

I clamped the lams with 2 squeeze bar clamps about 6" apart and measured 1.622" with the lams dry. Then I proceeded with the glue up. After the glue was dry, I measured 1.640", for a difference of .018" for the 3 glue joints, or .006" for each joint.

Admittedly, the scientific protocol wasn't all that great. I can't really say that the pressure generated by the clamps is equal to that generated by my glue up device since I couldn't figure out an easy way to measure it, or calculate it. I'm not sure it really matters, anyway, other than the thinner the better, based on a breaking test I did on some glued up lams awhile back. That test showed a planed joint between lams was much stronger than leaving the sawmarks in the wood, resulting in a thicker glue joint.

I was just wondering if anyone else has tried to check the thickness of the glue joints on their blanks. It might be kind of interesting to compare notes.

Bill

Hey Jeff!

I finished your hybrid blank yesterday. Hope to ship tomorrow. Do you have the horizontal boring attachment ready yet?

We decided to go with thicker lams and to not hang the blank since it will be so short (30"). I made the blank 60" so if anyone is interested in using the other half for a hybrid pm me. Dimensions are 2.5" wide x 2.35" high x 30" long. Price is $100 + $15 shipping.

As I recall, it bent at the jack and was 1-1/2 or 1-1/4" pipe. I may have been trying to use too small a radius but I only used it the one time. I gave the conduit bender away that we used on the boat- wished I would have kept it now. Guess I'll have to figure out how to use the one I have the next time I need to bend some pipe- which will be about when I get back to working on the boat.

Jeff,

The pipe bender you showed is similar or identical to mine. I haven't used it much but I had problems with the pipe flattening when I tried it. I think you are supposed to fill with sand to keep it from flattening but I haven't used it much so I can't say for sure.

By the way, I cut out the pieces for your hybrid stock today- 2 glue-ups ahead of you so I will probably glue it up Wed/ Thurs.

Hey Chad,

Onthe boat. I got the aft casting deck finished, and have the forward casting deck finished except for the latches on the hatches. It's the same thing as the teak blanks- it's all about sweating the details. The decks have overboard draining gutters under the hatches to make sure they are really DRY storage, and the hatch latches are recessed into the hatch so a bare foot doesn't hook the latch. It all takes time, but when it's finished I'll be glad I spent time on the small stuff! Once I get the blanks done it will be back on the boat--finish the bow platform, then the gunwales, the built in fuel tank, console, wiring, plumbing. maybe I'm not as far along as I thought. Oh well, when you live in paradise, you have to expect the little distractions. It's all good, though. I may be too busy to finish all of the things I start as soon as I'd like to, but I'm working on the important stuff- like building furniture for the grandkids and taking them crabbing and fishing when they visit. You know, the important stuff!!

Nice sketches, Jeff, and the explanation is more easily understood than mine!

Chad, each week I set each blank on my straight edge and measure any deviation along the side and top and record it on a spread sheet. I've been doing that since I started making the blanks. It turns out that people want to hang the blanks just to make sure. Because of the attention to detail you mentioned, the blanks don't move during the month or more that they hang. People just feel better about it so that's what I do.

By the way, I hung your blank from 5/20/08-6/16/08, and checked it 3 times with no detectable change along the side or top. I checked it again this morning just for grins- still within .008 along the top and .005 on the side, although it"s hard to imagine that behemoth bowing or warping. I think it could be the lever Archimedes was referring to! (Wasn't he the one that said if he had a long enough, strong enough lever and a place to stand he could move the earth?)

The new jointer is a Grizzly G 0586 with a 8" x 76" bed. I didn't get the carbide inserts because I had read that the hss knives cut smoother, and I don't expect to be working with any more pecan any time soon. I built a jig to sharpen my surface planer knives using a diamond wheel on my mill, and I think I can adapt it to the jointer knives when they need sharpening. I have some vibration issues that I'm working through with the Tech. support guys at Grizzly, but so far they are working with me so I'm cinfident we'll get it resolved.

By the way, your blank was made before I got the new jointer, so I made yours using my little Craftsman 24"
or so jointer.

Laminations can be bent very easily in the thin direction, but are obviously harder to bend the thick way. I plane the wood flat on the piece I cut the lams out of before I cut it so the lams are perfectly flat in the thick direction. It doesn't matter if they bend in the thin direction since when I lay the lams together I arrange them so the bending offsets. You can't do that in the thick direction, though. The lam has to be straight to start with or you actually introduce stresses when you bend it back straight. This is what results in warping or bowing later after glue- up.

More, thinner lams also helps since the stresses are more easily offset. Guns with a single piece of wood are much more prone to warping. Think plywood versus a single piece of wood.

Warping usually happens when the lams aret straight to begin with, or stresses in the wood aren't relieved when the lams are arranged for glue- up, or aren't straight during glue-up. I very seldom have warping with my blanks, which is mostly due to the device I made to hold the blanks straight during glue-up. I hang them for a month just to make sure, then plane to final dimensions.

Leaving the gun in a hot car could cause warping since it probably heats one side of the gun more than the other. I would think it would be temporary but since I've never had it happen to me I'm only guessing.

It's the 76" bed on the beast that makes all the difference. I was planing a piece of teak 2" x 4" x 72" today. Wicked straight! Alvin's gonna love this gun- Thanks for helping with the handle- I can't wait to see it!

Hi Y'all,

CORE and I have been discussing his getting a blank from me, and after discussing several options, I will be doing more than building the blank. Being from Puerto Rico and being in the US Military, he doesn't have access to the tools to build the gun since he is currently stationed in Georgia. So, I will be doing most of the build here in Alabama, with participation from the Tin Man on some parts of the gun.

I think the three of are going to end up with a pretty interesting build, some of which I haven't seen the likes of anywhere so far.

We'll start with one of my blanks (what else?). It will be FEQ (Burmese) teak, 56" long overall, tapering from 2" wide at the butt to 1.75" wide at the tip, and tapering from 1.75" high at the butt to 1.5" high at the tip. It has 6 vertical laminations and 1 horizontal lam across the top. After planing the excess glue off the blank, it is dead square and absolutely straight across the top and sides (I can't get a .005" feeler gauge under any of the blank while it's sitting on a straight edge.)

I'll cut an enclosed wood track with a 6" dovetailed delrin muzzle reinforcement for the 5/16" shaft The gun will use a Neptonics trigger mech and handle, with the mech and handle being mounted 2-3" from the butt end.

The blank was finished today, so now I'll hang it for about 4 weeks, checking it each week to see if there is any warping or bowing along the sides or top. After that, the fun part starts. I'll start with the track and go from there.

Now comes the hardest part- waiting a month before we can get to the fun part! I'll post the progress as we go!

Bill

Hi Y'all,

CORE and I have been discussing his getting a blank from me, and after discussing several options, I will be doing more than building the blank. Being from Puerto Rico and being in the US Military, he doesn't have access to the tools to build the gun since he is currently stationed in Georgia. So, I will be doing most of the build here in Alabama, with participation from the Tin Man on some parts of the gun.

I think the three of are going to end up with a pretty interesting build, some of which I haven't seen the likes of anywhere so far.

We'll start with one of my blanks (what else?). It will be FEQ (Burmese) teak, 56" long overall, tapering from 2" wide at the butt to 1.75" wide at the tip, and tapering from 1.75" high at the butt to 1.5" high at the tip. It has 6 vertical laminations and 1 horizontal lam across the top. After planing the excess glue off the blank, it is dead square and absolutely straight across the top and sides (I can't get a .005" feeler gauge under any of the blank while it's sitting on a straight edge.).

I'll cut an enclosed wood track with a 6" dovetailed delrin muzzle reinforcement for the 5/16" shaft The gun will use a Neptonics trigger mech and handle, with the mech and handle being mounted 2-3" from the butt end.

The blank was finished today, so now I'll hang it for about 4 weeks, checking it each week to see if there is any warping or bowing along the sides or top. After that, the fun part starts. I'll start with the track and go from there.

Now comes the hardest part- waiting a month before we can get to the fun part! I'll post the progress as we go!

Bill

OK, so it kind of sounds like what is happening is the longer the shaft the more the sighting plane coincides with the shaft plane, so if the tip of the spear is on the fish, the shaft is somewhat more likely to hit the target. Something like a longer barrel on a shotgun. That probably explains it- I can't hit shit with a shotgun either!!!

What purpose does more than 12" of overhang on a gun serve, other than muzzle ballast? Addmittedly, I'm a dirty water hunter and use short guns for close shots, but I don't understand what the advantage of lots of overhang is.

Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Bill

Tin Man:

I was thinking about clamping in drill press with the right sized forstner. Might not be deep enough or accurate enough, though. My lathe would probably only handle about 20" if I had a forstner in the tailstock. How long would yours handle?