Posts by Reefchief

:does Hawaii thing with pinky and thumb:

Which island you on?

The viz looks killer.

Paging Don...

Was looking for some slip tip expertise. The question is. Spectra or cable?

Lunker its only the table so not the best deal ever. However the router/table combo's for anywhere under 200$ seem like absolute innacurate junk. For now I plan to borrow my dads router and mount it on the table.

Dan probably gonna make a cheap 2x4 table for the sides.

Quote from Don Paul

A beautiful blank and Mech, just take your time on the wood work, think about it, sleep on it and carry it out slowly.

Cheers, Don

Not only will I ponder it a while. But Im going to practice on a 2x4 blank first. Going to take the build real slow and obsess over the details.

Just bought this:

Amazon.com: Bosch RA1181 Benchtop Router Table: Home Improvement

Been eyeing a router table for a while. Its a requirement for this thing.

This week I got the first two parts of my build. Yesterday I grabbed a Speardiver BLR Mech from Dan So I can figure out some dimensions. The new ribs make the mech look awesome.

And today I received a large tube in the mail filled with wood.

Woodguys blank is beyond exceptional. Its almost a shame that a brutally unrefined craftsmen such as myself gets to hack up something so beautiful. Hopefully I do it justice.

Quote from Nate

Beautiful conditions this morning. As I was launching, I felt bad for you guys who had to go to school, work, fly to Hawaii......... ~50ft vis in 40+fsw. Hardly any current. Wind picked up as the day went on, but it was still beautiful when I got out. 3 hogs and 2 mangroves. I counted 8 man-o-wars on the paddle out.. be careful guys.

I could see the reef on the beachcam. Hoping it sticks around through the weekend.

Quote from LunkerBuster

So you are not going to raise the handle?

Probably not doing any fancy shaping to it. At its current size its on the minimum end for a 4 band gun. So I am just going to leave it as is besides a nice routed bevel and a shaped muzzle. Its probably for the best, the taper and inset handle were mostly for aesthetics. But complicated the build quite a bit. Now I wont screw up woodguys blank trying to cut a taper.Although I am thinking about carving bevels for the bands though.

So it went from Cali Bluewater to sort of an Ulusub / Nates build type gun.

I was thinking about an ulusub or AR-15 Handle But Dan showed me a really nice stainless frame he has coming. With dremeling some custom teak grips I think its goint to look and feel way better then a simple black handle.

Here is a quick mockup of the current configuration I am considering.

Specs they are a changin'. Here is the current plan:

63" 160 Teak laminated stock, no taper
4 5/8" bands
5/16" Speardiver shaft
Speardiver SlipTip
Hawaiian Style Breakaway rig with 400lb mono shooting line to bungee to floatline.
Speardiver American Bottom Line Release Mech holding Hawaiian breakaway.
Rear mounted Speardiver Stainless handle.
Speardiver Sharkfin line anchor.
Deep open track (still considering an ET but leaning away)

The bottom line release mech is necessary in my uneducated opinion because im left handed. I feel like a right side line release will cause the breakaway and floatline to get in the way and obscruct my vision. With a bottom release the floatline can come out from either side of the gun.

Any taper is out of the question but its looking like untapered my blank is going to be adequate for 4 bands.

I just got the tracking from WoodGuy and it looks like its going to be here Wednesday. I inquired Friday and paid him Sunday night. Now that is some quick turnaround!

Quote from Marco

Looking forward to see the progress of your build. However, I've taken more wahoos with a 96 cm single banded speargun than with all my other guns together.

If you learn how to make them come closer, you'll not miss any shots.

Here's a pic.

Marco, that is beyond impressive. Even if I one day become to wahoo whisperer like you. I wont mind A little extra insurance. Plus I need a reason to build a big speargun!

Seeing the riffe bluewater mid-handle gives me some more confidence in my dimensions.

Riffe Blue Water speargun

I wish I knew the dimensions of it. But it looks similar in height but much less thick. And its 67" and shoots 4 bands.

At this point i think the taper is out. It more a question of maybe adding wood.

Quote from tufual

why not follow the minimum thickness of an adequate Riffe standard model like the #5 Baja Plus

Wishihadgills helped me out. He used the riffe euro to guess that even at its full dimensions im pushing the limits for 4 bands. The riffe euro is 1.6" W x 1.0" H and uses 2 bands. As he said, im not nearly doubling the wood, but im doubling the bands. So I may need to go thicker.

Im sure many of you are familiar with the thread on the bluewater gun I am building. I am currently planning the shape of my blank and I am running into some Unknowns. I would like to incorporate a taper into my gun. But I am pretty much at a loss for determining the limitations of a laminated teak speargun blank and how much I could get away with tapering.

The first gun I built was simple fat and short. So it was easy to build it robust enough. Now I am planning a 63" 4 band gun, with a blank thats starting out 66"L x 2.25"W x 1.5"H

I know at that height a vertical taper isn't possible. I am wondering if I can taper it 1" along its width and go to 1.25 x 1.5 at the muzzle. But im guessing that with 4 bands Its going to need to stay close to the size its at now and any taper will give me a bow. But this is just a safe assumption.

Can anyone give me some advice on determining the strength of the vertically laminated teak blank?

Edit: Also this thread title was not meant to be funny <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">

Quote from Andrewk

Like that recessed handle setup there reefchief. Ever since I saw nates gun after he built it (even took it out but didnt shoot it while he was out of town) <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> ive been getting the custom wood gun halfchub. curious to see how your build turns out, im planning on something a little bit similar but nates going to make it for me, rear handle plus similar to a riffe euro x but a little bit more beef to it. how much did you blank run ?

I may not end up tapering the gun and recessing the handle as I expected. With the blanks 2.5 x 1.25 profile I am not sure I will have as much height to work with as I originally planned.

I was planning rear handle plus but realized I would hate it. Im not going to be swinging this thing around on tuna and my hunting style is to only bring my gun up to shoot. So I think the rear handle will give me more range plus no learning curve. It also simplifies the build a bit.

The blank was about 170 before shipping.

May 1st. And its Not soon enough. I love hunting grouper.

Great report, beautiful pictures, awesome diving. The snappers you catch are the ones in my dreams.

Whenever you feel old just remember the majority of us much younger mere mortals you dive circles around.

Thanks for posting Hank.

Here is some gopro pics from yesterdays dive with frank. A few came out nice but the hero 1 is def lacking. I cant wait to get the Hero 3 Black and get some nice high res pictures. It may bring back out my freediving tendencies.

Thanks guys, very excited to get started quickly with an amazing piece of wood. If not for woodguy I would probably be spending months trying to do my own without the right tools. I plan to practice all cuts on some scraps before hand and treat any work done to this blank like surgery.

Quote from Nate

Beautiful blank! You won't be disappointed, Woodguy's work is amazing.

I noticed you used a blank from him as well. Its a beautiful piece of wood for sure. Between the blank, length, bands, finish, etc, our guns are going to be like cousins lol.

Don, You couldn't mess up my thread with the wealth of history and information you always provide.

I just ordered the first part to the gun. A blank from Woodguy.

Its a 6 vertical laminate 2.25" Wide 1.5" High and 66" Long blank.

Thanks Bill looking forward to my package arriving soon.

It was my wife so she already knows it lol.