Thinking of a gun build

[joeyeppy]

Originally Posted by spearo #uno

A. If I was you I would stay away from Lowes AND Home Depot as far as the lumber goes for your gun.
B. IF you had the right wood, looking at your drawing..why not dump the little pcs. and replaced them with full length pc. better yet get all full pcs.
Better still...get a pc. of some nice Mahogany (not bad to work on) and start there.

this guy is talking some sense brandon

[Benny]

Originally Posted by Freediver_Geide

Since I'm doing oak I can get it at Home Depot in sheets that are 3x1/2x36 and I was thinking that if I lay the wood right and layer it I can make it 72" (if that makes sense) idk if anyone has every tried that but when I get home I'll draw a pic and post how I'm thinking

Where are you located? If you have a home depot, there's got to be a place to get some decent hardwood. If you go to a hardwood supplier, I'll bet you can get the same amount of paduak or mahogany cheaper than all those pieces of oak at home depot.

Just my two cents worth on the drill press. I got one off craigslist for 50 bucks, works great, faster setup, and drills straight as can be. If you go down the hand drill path you do take the risk the holes not lining up perfectly. If that happens, you can blow out or crack the wood when you go to bang in the mounting pins, or the mech or other parts can sit out of alignment. And if you're doing a midhandle, its just that many more holes to roll the dice on. If you cannot get a press, you could use a hand drill to spot all the holes on one side of the gun, maybe an 1/8 or 3/16 inch deep. Then go to a buddies or someone with a drill press and finish drilling them through.

Good luck buddy

[Freediver_Geide]

Im in the Florida Keys we only got like 2 places that are straight lumber and the one closer to me closes at 4 each day and is closed on the weekend so its hard to get there but I will try, if anyone has a blank for 100$ that is around 65" I might just buy that instead

[Benny]

Originally Posted by Freediver_Geide

Im in the Florida Keys we only got like 2 places that are straight lumber and the one closer to me closes at 4 each day and is closed on the weekend so its hard to get there but I will try, if anyone has a blank for 100$ that is around 65" I might just buy that instead

If Home Depot is you're best option, you can try this, website says it ships to local store free:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sure-Wood...z0towuZ1z11xlt

3 of those would be more than enough, and you'd end up with excess for handle grips, inlays for covering ballast, etc. No way to say what quality is going to ship in, but maybe they could order extra and you could pick out the best ones

[Freediver_Geide]

Dang?! For 12 dollars each why not buy 10 and make a couple extra blanks ��

[Freediver_Geide]

Could I just put 3 together and make it 3"x2"x6'

[Benny]

Originally Posted by Freediver_Geide

Could I just put 3 together and make it 3"x2"x6'

If you're building a straight tuna howitzer. Have you popped in here:

http://spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=104583

Not sure what you are looking to shoot, but 3" seems huge. If you get a nice blade for your table, and some feather boards, you should be able to rip those into lams. I use a Freud glue line and its like butter

[spearq8]

Originally Posted by Freediver_Geide

It won't let me put pictures so I can't show you how I was thinking of making the blank

Why on earth would you want to setup your laminates like that? A speargun stock needs to be able to take a structural load and thus you should make your laminates straight single pieces. I think rather than laminate the way you have it in your drawing, you are better off just using a well chosen stock without laminates. I have several guns with non laminated stocks that are more than 20 years old and still shoot well. You just have to choose your wood carefully and then protect it well. As a first gun it might be a good idea to use a scrap piece of wood to practice on ... especially practice cutting the mech pockets and drilling the mech holding pins and if needed the slot for line release, and also routing out the track where it is absolutely center. Laminating a stock is the most time consuming and boring part of a gun build ... and I like to keep a laminated stock settling for a couple of months to make sure it has settled (probably not necessary). Also remember that laminating wood adds weight to the gun, so the denser the wood the higher the chance that you will end up with a gun that is negatively buoyant.

[Freediver_Geide]

Probably for wahoo, permit, kingfish, blackfin tuna. I was picturing making the gun wide and skinny(3x1 1/2" or so)in the back then bring it to a square in the front (1 1/2x1 1/2)

[Wood Guy]

I wouldn't say splicing can't be done, but on a gun that long I would avoid splicing if I could. I've been thinking of splicing some of the colored plywood I've been using since it comes in a max length of 41", but I think I will build a gun with a colored plywood muzzle and stock with a cf barrel instead. I think splicing can be done, but it will definitely weaken the stock, so If I did splice, I would avoid putting the splice in the high stress areas such the middle 20% or so of the gun. A couple of options would be a hybrid such as I mentioned, or a cf sleeve to stiffen and strengthen the gun- both add complications to the build compared to using longer wood, which simplifies things instead of complicating them. Simpler is usually better.

[phil herranen]

if you are going to do end joints ,do them correctly with finger joints with a bit like this, or with long keyed scarf joints

phil

[mc diver 36]

Originally Posted by Freediver_Geide

Im in the Florida Keys we only got like 2 places that are straight lumber and the one closer to me closes at 4 each day and is closed on the weekend so its hard to get there but I will try, if anyone has a blank for 100$ that is around 65" I might just buy that instead

If your anywhere near Key West,Manley Deboor lumber has rough sawn Burmese teak in 4/4 boards.its a little pricey,but the board I picked out was real nice.they also have some mahogany as well.I actually have that same POS table saw,and you can get in to work well enough if you change the blade.I bougtht a 24 tooth diablo ripping blade,28 dollars at home depot,and that blade cuts much nicer than the stock blade.plus ,as someone else said make a little table extension,and use feather boards and go slow,but never stop when feeding lumber.Im no expert,but I had a similar situation so thought I would pass along what would work for me.good luck.also another thing on that tablesaw:when setting the fence,measure the distance from the front and back of blade to the fence,and make sure both distances are equal,sometimes the fence on mine wouldn't be square to the blade when I set the fence.Dont rely on the built in measuring gauge,measure from blade to fence front and back with caliper,if you have one

[spearo #uno]

and another thing...Don't forget before you start cutting the wood lay a blanket or a clean tarp under that saw and yes collect all that good sawdust, strain it, lable it and keep the very super fine stuff for later use. For what you may ask...well...there is a lot of things you can do with that material but that is call tricks of the trade. Save it trust me Good luck with your built.

[lordyaussie]

I've built my 9 guns with less than what you have ( i use a heap of hand power tools) , your fully rigged imho Go get em!

[Freediver_Geide]

Originally Posted by mc diver 36

If your anywhere near Key West,Manley Deboor lumber has rough sawn Burmese teak in 4/4 boards.its a little pricey,but the board I picked out was real nice.they also have some mahogany as well.I actually have that same POS table saw,and you can get in to work well enough if you change the blade.I bougtht a 24 tooth diablo ripping blade,28 dollars at home depot,and that blade cuts much nicer than the stock blade.plus ,as someone else said make a little table extension,and use feather boards and go slow,but never stop when feeding lumber.Im no expert,but I had a similar situation so thought I would pass along what would work for me.good luck.also another thing on that tablesaw:when setting the fence,measure the distance from the front and back of blade to the fence,and make sure both distances are equal,sometimes the fence on mine wouldn't be square to the blade when I set the fence.Dont rely on the built in measuring gauge,measure from blade to fence front and back with caliper,if you have one

Thanks for the help man, I'm up on ramrod I go to school in kw, my friends say the teak that Manley deboer has is insanely expensive, I'm gunna get the mahagony from Home Depot someone mention earlier on this.