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All About Guns What's your weapon of choice, and why? Discuss the beloved speargun here!

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Old 01-31-2019, 11:59 AM   #1
Calmete!
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61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Well Imitation is the best form of flattery. I have never seen myself shooting any other gun besides a ULUSUB. I love Jon’s Gun and have two I bought back when he was still in INDO. A 130 rh and a 165 mh. I work at a shipbreaking yard in Deep South Texas and I found some amazing Brazilian hardwoods on a drill ship we are dismantling. I identified one of the woods at blood wood and intended to make the entire gun out of that. That was until I took it down to the dock and found out it sank. I have a large amount of teak as well so I put the teak in the middle. Build is progressing well for having a 6 month old little one, I have a lamination issue in the butt of the gun that I am going to fill with some 24 hr epoxy. Not ideal, but I think my west systems epoxy was a little old during my glue up. The rest of the gun looks good.

Most of our hunting out of south padre island is mid blue water
I built this gun for 3 bands but tried to slim it down because I love the divability of my 130. We often run into big smart cuberas and lots of aps. I often get in a situation where I feel undergunned with my 130 and I was sick of taking both my guns out for the day. I have took some long shots with my 130 a big cuberas only to have the flopper not toggle.

Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated.
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Old 01-31-2019, 01:00 PM   #2
Mana'squal
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Re: 61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Best advise i can give is to work slowly and delay finishing until you are so sick of waiting it hurts.

More photos of the muzzle and rear section would help for more specific advise from more experienced builders.
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Old 01-31-2019, 01:10 PM   #3
Calmete!
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Re: 61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Thanks mana. Great advice. The weather will dictate how fast I will finish. When the water warms up and gets calm she will get finished real quick I haven’t shaped the muzzle yet, but I will post some picks when I do. Thanks.
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Old 01-31-2019, 03:04 PM   #4
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Re: 61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Cool, Looks like a lot of handshaping on this project, another way to refer to it is wood massaging. I'll give some pointers.
-Get some PVC pipes of varying diameters 3/4, 1, 1.25". You can use these for flashers too.. Cut some lengths of @ 10-12". Get some wood doweling like foam brush sticks in 3/8" and 1/2" or find some other round forms in those diameters. Get a length of Beltsander paper in 40 grit. Get some other papers in 60,100,220,320. Make up a Sanding Block @ 3" x 1/2" x 12". Make up a sanding block @1/4" x 2" x 6" and glue a softter surface on that one like some carpet or towel or foam. Use those forms for drawing out your lines and connecting your recesses so they are straight and you can easily adjust depths.
-before anything else. Put in some 1/8" guide holes accross that blank start at back near the end ie 1/2" and go every few inches. I think you should dowel that blank with stainless wood screws or maybe thin machine screws with a bolt on the other end. I don't trust that center lam. It's your own gun, no worries, but use both chemical (epoxy) and mechanical (screws) fasteners in this case. Once you figure out your shapes you can redrill to thicker diameter or countersink and then plug with wood or epoxy, but get the guide holes in on the square so they are true.
-Try taking off a little more height of the blank near the handle. It looks like there is room based on the Mech position holes. You want the mech almost touching the Handle frame. You could flat sand or use a belt sander, or whatever machinery. Those grips you could angle the whole handle so that it's a little more rake compared to a true flush with the track. just a little.
-Set up a good Shade casting light. Might mean turning all the other lights off in your shop.. I shaped so many guns in almost darkness. Like surfboard shaping. You need to see the shadows.
-With good lighting you can shape a lot by hand.. I've shaped entire guns with a hacksaw blade.
-Leave more tail on the gun than you are thinking. You can always cut it down. I'm worried about the Balance and floating the back end. The tail will add float.
-Those handles are uge and heavy. You can take a lot off those handles. Use those forms for sanding.
-Consider raising the Handle independent of the Reel at first. This gun the challenge is going to be in the Weighting and Ballasting because of the HArdwood SG of your outer lams. Once it's rough shaped you can throw it into the water and then shape it down according to how your balance and ballast shows. But leave yourself an escape route.. don't paint yourself into a corner. Easy to take away wood. hard to add it.
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Old 01-31-2019, 04:16 PM   #5
Calmete!
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Re: 61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Thanks Jon. I was pretty upset when I fist saw the cracks. Nothing has seemed to move since that initial split. 10-4 of the wood massaging. That bloodwood is tough stuff or whatever it is. The way I treat my guns it will be nice to have that hard layer on the outside. I got your idea of the wood dowel wrapped in sandpaper from one of your other posts I saw here on spearboard. worked like a charm. I ended up clamping a aluminum bar across the top of the gun at the ideal angle for the the band grooves. First I flattened out the corner with a belt sander then running the dowel back and forth pressed up against the aluminum to keep everything straight

So dowel the blank with wood crews and leave the screw in the gun counter sinking them, or let the epoxy set and then pull screws out drill large holes and fill with wood and epoxy?

After counter sinking the handle frame, I almost went too far. The trigger only sits about a mm above the handle frame as is.

I agree ballasting will be tough and great tip to only rough sanding it before taking it to the water.

My buddies blank I made for him is two lams of bloodwood on the inside and two teek on the outside. he is going to probably have to add some foam ballast in there somewhere.

Thanks again for the tips. Would do add the handle, reel, bands, shaft, mech to get that first ballast down after you rough sand?
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Old 01-31-2019, 06:02 PM   #6
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Re: 61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Hi, I would leave the Screws/Bolts in place. If you don't mind looking at them you can leave them countersunk and exposed or you can cover.

Since it's your own gun, I'd use an Oil finish. in this way you can continue to shape the gun after using it a few times.

Regarding ballasting. Yes, dress up the gun, not including bands, but reel, shaft, handle, include your screws atleast taped on. Find your neutral but try to leave some room to add or remove lead in the front and back. I would try to be aggressive with your shaping. the mistake most people make on their first builds is not being aggressive enough and leaving things a little boxy and with too much mass. put the thing in the water all dresse dup and see how much room you have ie how much lead you need to add. If you have some room to work with then relook at the gun and take out some of the mass.

I use my 62" RH for everything. I don't shoot into the reef, but I'll use it for bottom hunting. It is a litttttttttle big for that kind of deep reef diving, but at the same time I can also use the gun for Wahoo and Tuna.. Right now I'm testing out a new Deep Reef 2 Band RH because here in Hawaii we need to dive pretty deep for the snappers.
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Old 02-17-2019, 04:45 AM   #7
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Re: 61" RH ULUSUB wannabe

Hey Calmete.

It has been a long time since I have been on here.
I love the shape you are developing and the organic hand shaping is so aesthetically pleasing to me.

I do have some concerns regarding the integrity of the glue joints. They appear to have opened significantly and I would address this as a matter of good practice. It is possible to re-bond these but it is a challenge.

Metal wedges, thin epoxy (warmed to make it even less viscous) and some masking tape can work.

Alternatively you bite the bullet and saw the dry joint, separate the two halves and re-bond it.

Only my 2 cents mate.

You show a lot of promise.
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