made my own teak gun

Sapporo was on sale @ $6.99/dozen    I do like Japanese beer.

When I said I had a little bit of woodworking experience, I really meant it. Built only a few small projects around the house, that's it. Learned basics from reading a couple books and a lot of Youtube. One important thing I learned was, if you want the final piece to come out straight, your equipment must be all square. I spent much time squaring up my table saw, drill press, router table, fences, and just about every piece of equipment I have. Once your equipment is all squared up, there's little chance your work piece would come out crooked.

The gun parts were mostly from NeptonicSystems. The rest were from Pursuit, and the spear was from AustinDiving.

The handle frame was from Pursuit. (Didn't like the one from NeptonicSystems because it was too bulky.) The wooden part of the handle was carved/sanded from scrap pieces of teak. You could buy the wood pieces already contoured to the frame, but I wanted to have something that fits my small hands better. It took about an hour to shape the handle.

To be honest, when I watched other people's gun making pictorials, I was overwhelmed by the complexity. There were many unknowns, and no one to answer my questions. When Geoff (alameda) cracked his gun, I offered to help fix it, but in the process studied how the different components work and how they fit together. I also experimented on epoxy using his gun. After fixing his gun, I felt pretty confident that I could make one from scratch.

I'd be happy to answer any question about making wood gun. I'd lend a hand to whoever needs it.

Again, thanks for the kind words fellows.

ernest

Very nice work.

Have you tested it for bouyancy?

It seems like there is a lot of mass, so the recoil shouldn't be that great.

I would recommend the enclosed tracks that neptonics sells.

Why an enclosed track for hole hunting?  A lot of time hole hunting you cannot get your shaft out of the end of the gun, and it can be a hassle.

You could probably overpower the gun, and use it as a low viz wsb gun in capitola/sc.

There are really some talented gents in this club. Be proud that you are so talented so one of these days you can pass on the tradition in working with wood. What a cool project.


John

Have you tested it for bouyancy?

I would recommend the enclosed tracks that neptonics sells.

Why an enclosed track for hole hunting?  A lot of time hole hunting you cannot get your shaft out of the end of the gun, and it can be a hassle.

Not yet, but is on top of my todo list.

I had a chance to work with the track that neptonics sells. I didn't personally go for it because 1) that stuff is extremely slick, so the epoxy does not stay on it very well; 2) I wanted to experiment with the epoxy/graphite material to see how well it handles the job, and I like the result. I did buy the ball cutting bit from neptonics for cutting the track, so either way they made money from me.

Why enclosed track? I wanted to try so many things on the gun, I ended up making it an enclosed track mainly because I wanted to experiment with pouring/cutting a track. I called it a hole-gun, but the reality is I can't dive that deep. Being able to reach the honey holes is just wishful thinking on my part. I think having extra reach is more beneficial to me. I have a couple of Hammerhead guns and loading is a bit of an exercise cause it keeps falling off while reloading. Besides, if I decide to open up the enclosed track, it would take me 10 minutes to do.


ernest

Have you thought about adding a spreader bar for the bands?  They make for a nice line of sight. 

How strong is the epoxy if you can cut it in ten minutes to open it up?  (I don't know much about epoxies, which is why I ask)  Do you worry about the shaft tearing the epoxy if you can cut it easily?

No need to dive deep for good hole hunting, there are lots of glory holes in shallow (Fuzz and can't remember his name right now, posted a big ling one of them got in shallow a while back).  Boundary layers are where everything compiles, and there is often more food in shallow than deep.