Posts by Reefchief

Quote from Wrasselin

Nice table! I think that it will see quite a few guns being made on it. Just wait till you're finished with your first one.

For a shark spike, I used a ss stand off one time that Woodguy clued me in on for use on roller guns. It was only 1/4" but it is able to be screwed on and off. I think McMaster might have them in larger diameters. The guy I built the gun for says that it's working out fine. He has had to fend off an unwanted visitor already with it. Don't know how it would hold up with a PH though.

Thanks, I hope to see the same. Ive made one other short holegun before. It was a good learning experience. But the track and edges were already routed, so I didnt need the router. I really enjoyed it a lot and started thinking about building another gun as soon as I finished.

Thats a very nice way to attach the spike. I was thinking about making it detachable but Im gonna go with permanent and a cap I think. Nice looking gun too

Does anyone have any opinions on how to oil the gun for the first time? Tung or teak or both? Which brands etc? Any advice in this department is appreciated.

My current plan from what ive read is Tung oil first (not sure on brand) and then watco teak oil on top.

Quote from sdeisen

sweet, let me know when I can drop off the plans to build me a gun <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

If you ever make it back from hawaii hell yeah. Lets see what happens when I start actually cutting though :@

Thanks Dan. Im a little worried about it warping eventually, but all the plywood/hardwood at home depot was already warped as a mother. So its the lesser of two evils I guess. My only other option would be starboard or something and a 2x4 3/4 piece would be $$$. This was 8 bucks. I plan to brace it with some angle or something to help.

Quote from Dude george

I think you are missing plenty <img src= " class="smiley" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x" height="23" width="23" loading="eager" data-tooltip="biggrin" aria-label="biggrin"> just kidding, that was 2 easy <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
Spliced(edited as I was writing whipped by accident not spliced) properly there is no bulk and nothing is as strong as a proper spliced line, knots can make line lose well over 50% of the strength of the said lines rated strength, glue makes a hard spot and hard spots are week spots.
I think the reason why most dont do as you suggest is that we use pre built terminal ends and plugs for our blue water floats and bungees, so doing the splices then attaching them to the ends would create 2 big a bulge for the tube or bungee to go over if I am reading what your saying right... We have inner core inside tubing then plugs as ends... I may be completely misunderstanding what your getting at though.
Whipping is easy and also creates no noticeable bulk

Exactly. My floatline plugs from neptonics came with the swivels welded on with a large ring. It was so nicely done I didnt want to cut the rings off just to pass the plug/line through the knot. So the first one I could do a burmmel (the other plug wasnt on yet) but the second no.

Still gathering some tools and supplies.

Got pretty much all my stainless parts from Dan including the new Speardiver handle frame (its awesome) Got the rubber from McMaster Carr for the butt. And it came in a 3 pack so I can mess up twice. Also got a nice cheap set of router bits and a few expensive oversized ones. As well as an inexpensive digital depth gauge.

I dont think I got nearly this much stuff for Christmas. Luckily my wife really loves fresh fish. :thumbsup1:

My dad also came over tonight and helped me build a table extension for my router table. We used some 3/4 MDF that we Mica'd and cut to fit perfectly. It sits on bolts coming out of flanges on the table and pops on and off easily and nicely.

Time to start building soon.

Quote from hotstepper

I use lots and lots of the samson spectron rope at work as often as possible I try to use a brummel splice. Its impossible for it to come undone. If you cant do it just make sure the end is tapered properly and it should never come out. I think samson suggest doing a 5/3/2 splice for regular eye splices. I have not made my own float line yet so this info may not be helpful at all. But i do splice lots and lots of this stuff.

I used a brummel on one side. But I had to do a different splice like Dave recommended Spectra Single Braid Lanyard on the other end. Since my floatline ends had large rings welded between the swivels.

Also ive been using them for over a year and my DIY floatlines have held up really well. Still not sinklines.

Sorry I thought you meant the clear stuff they are sticking the flashers to. Those looks like some good ones though.

Amazon.com: Grafix Clear 0.005 Dura-Lar Film Roll, 40-Inch by 12-Inch: Arts, Crafts & Sewing

would probably work well

Got a valentines day present a little early today.

GoPro Hero 3 Black.

Super pumped to use this thing. Hopefully the forecast for saturday holds.

Nice, A parro.. uh I mean uhu. And maybe just in time too.

Popular parrot fish could soon be off limits permanently | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader

Nice work. Some impressive DIY fabrication there. Thats really "building" a speargun. I am interested to hear how it performs.

Is there a reason for the lack of ergonomics in the handle? Why not go with something angled to allow for better aiming and tracking?

I also think 2 bands on the reef is more then enough. My hole gun shoots to the end of a double wrap with 2 bands. And even with my 120 pipe gun 2 bands is plenty.

Yeah routers themselves are useful but mostly just scare me and ensure im going to screw up what im working on. Ive always drooled over router / saw tables but didn't have a good enough excuse.

But even including the 400$ for the router and table, building my own bluewater gun will be less expensive then a riffe blue water or a low-end custom bluewater gun. And now I have all the tools to make more guns

Thanks Tufal. Ive seen some before they are very helpful. I plan to watch them again before getting to work. Plus any others I can find. Routing beyond the typical in hand rounding corners is pretty alien to me.

Went to Home Depot to pick up some wood to make sides for the router table and create a 2x4 test blank. Decided to take a look at the routers since I wasn't really pleased with the precision of the router I was planning to borrow from my dad. It was a bad idea. Once I saw you could adjust the router through the table I couldn't hold back any longer. Happy early birthday to me.

Awesome fish, beautiful water. Thanks for sharing.

I love diving on weed lines. Its like an upside down undulating reef.

Got the router table today and just finished assembling it. Its a very nice solid table with a lot of heavy machined surfaces. Going away for the weekend. But next week im gonna get started on the 2x4 mockup.

Got a nice sharkfin style line anchor from dan. As well as a small piece of 5/16 shaft for the shark spike.

Also ordered a big rubber stopper to shape into a butt from mcmaster carr

Quote from Dan

On my gun the spike sticks out 1.5" from the muzzle, the wood from the end of the muzzle to the first band hole is 1.5", the length of the spike in the wood I guess is about 1". I seal the hole with penetrating epoxy, but I don't epoxy the spike in there. It's a friction fit, so as to be able to just pull the spike out gripping it with a vice.

I think you may have enough wood in the stock to put the spike below the band hole, so there may not be a need for extra wood in front.

I make the spike the same diameter as the shaft I'm using. It still hasn't been determined whether a hand push is enough to detonate a Speardiver powerhead, but I want to have the option of putting the powerhead on the spike. 1.25" of shaft is necessary to deploy the powerhead, so a 1.5" spike is sufficient. I don't want it so long that it can put leverage on the gun and yank it out of my hands if it somehow gets really stuck in a shark.

Great point, I will want larger powerheads and will want the spike to match so they can be used on both. Do you have 3 inches of 5/16 shaft laying around?

I will see if I can fit it under, or maybe do something like judah was saying with a rotated hole. I will plan for 1 inch of overlap into the stock.

Thanks Dan

Was thinking a piece of 6.5 or 7mm shaft. The spike about 1.5-2 inches long (out of the gun)2.5-3.5 inches total. Long enough get good poke at something and long enough to put a cap on it. But not any longer.

A water ballasting hollow shark spike sounds cool but im freaking out about cutting an open track so I will leave the prototyping to the experienced guys lol.

Xan, I meant to message you. But I was a little mixed up on the blank dimensions when we spoke. In hand I realized the actual height of this blank is 1.5 inches. So I have a little more room/bulk to work with and I think the additional .25 puts me in the safe zone.

Even at 1.5 inches tall, there isnt really much room for a shark spike without moving the bands. My thinking was leave 2 extra inches on the gun making it 65" and adding the sharkspike. Epoxied in 1.5 inch stainless rod style.

Here is my plan for the shaping. Planning to use a 5/8 roundover on the top, a 3/8 roundover on bottom (giving me a flat surface for my handle). Back will be flat with a Rubber butt. Front will be a little pointy.

This will only be for Wahoo and Mahi. Spectra it is.Thanks for the prompt reply Don.

Im considering a shark spike. But it would need to be capped. I feel like without a cap I would spike myself when I am carrying the gun working a fish on the floatline. Im also wondering how far back I would need to move the bands to epoxy a spike in.