made my own teak gun

I had a bit of experience working with wood, so I thought I would mess around with making a gun. Finally got my act together and finished up my first teak gun. Pretty excited about it. Thought I'd share with the folks here and show the steps along the way. Not much in terms of style, but it's got all the features that I wanted in my first wood gun. The build from start to finish took over 9 months during my spare time.


First off, I found myself a local supply of teak. Not great quality stuff, but at least it's cheap enough to get my hands on some...



Before I could make the blank, I need a jig so that I can make sure the blank is straight, so I built this. With it, I can rely on the result being straight on two sides. With two straight sides, I can square up the blank for sure...



I'll need a router table to shape the gun, so I built this...



and for finishing the gun, I would need to make sure the gun dries evenly, so I built this...



Then, I can cut planks for the glue up...



and the glue up...


What I heard other gun maker say was you need to let the blank sit for at least a couple of months because they tend to warp. I made two blanks and they came out straight immediately. I waited 3 months and they were still straight. I think my glue up jig works great. Next time I would start building as soon as it comes off the jig.


Once the blank has been trimmed and squared, I cut a groove where it would end up as an enclosed track...



then I poured the track with West System epoxy mixed with graphite...



In fact, I didn't know how the graphite is gonna turn out, so I made two blanks and poured tracks differently. The one on the left was over-poured til it spilled out. One on the right was poured just to the top and slightly above the top. It turned out that after they dried, I was able to clean up the messy one nicely with no issue. The neat one had small bubbles on the top edges, which I needed to touch up with more epoxy. Next time, I'd over-pour it.



After clean up, I cut the enclosed track, and opened up the front 4 inches for easy loading...




Then cut the gun to shape...






next comes the handle, which forms to my hand...




I didn't take pictures of the epoxy finishing process, but I put on at least 6 layers while trying different process. Let me say that this is probably the most frustrating part of all. It is a P I T A to try to get a flawless glossy finish. I finally gave up and just stick with whatever turned out. Next time I would go for a semi-gloss finish. Much better result and less work.
Anyhow, here's a clip of the final assembly after the last layer of epoxy dried. If you just want to see the final result, skip to the last 30 seconds...



After all the time and money spent in making this gun, I now think those off-the-shelf deals for $300-$400 is well worth the money.

Next up, learn how to dive so I can actually use the gun 

Thanks for reading,
ernest

Wow Ernest! Thats amazing man.

ERNEST!!! That almost made me cry! Mad friggin skills bro!! Beautiful job!!! ......

That is off the chars. Nice job nothing better killing something from what you made!

Thanks for sharing Ernest.  You got great skills!

That is beautiful work.

I saw your video on YouTube a few days ago and was hoping you would post a step-by-step!!!

Absolutely beautiful bro!!!!

I have ZERO skills when it comes to stuff like this and am super impressed at you and other guys on here that can fabricate and create works of functional art like this!!!

Would be super stoked to get out with you diving whenever you want...just let me know!

Congrats again and THANK YOU for sharing!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

that gun is too shinny...
go out and get some fresh fish blood stains on it... 
great job!!!

Right on Ernest, it's a masterpiece! Nice video too. Let's get out soon and shoot the "lucky13" model!
That means you gotta get 10 fish rcg, 2 lingcod, and a perch?! Awesome dude!

Nice I enjoyed the pics and video. 

Nice looking gun.  You definetely have some skill.

After all the time and money spent in making this gun, I now think those off-the-shelf deals for $300-$400 is well worth the money.

Awesome job. How much did you end up spending in materials?

Did you go off plans, or model it after another gun?

Personally I think making something by your self is far more rewarding then just buying it.

Ryan

That is beautiful work.

+1.  Just Awesome !

Thank you for the kind words everyone!!! Since my diving skill sucks, this is one way to make me feel like I'm in the game 

After all the time and money spent in making this gun, I now think those off-the-shelf deals for $300-$400 is well worth the money.

How much did you end up spending in materials?
Did you go off plans, or model it after another gun?

The raw material on the gun is probably around $300. It is the stuff you don't see that cost a bundle. I probably spent around $2k for parts and stuff like the router table and tools and other prep work.
There isn't a plan out there. I stole ideas from all over youtube. It was a bit intimidating in the beginning, but after I prepared all the equipment, the gun kinda just take shape by itself. I didn't plan on how it would look. I just knew what functionality I wanted. Put thing together and gave it a shape that doesn't interfere with the function. That's all I did. Next time, I would incorporate a predefined shape into the process.

Right on Ernest, it's a masterpiece! Nice video too. Let's get out soon and shoot the "lucky13" model!

Buddy, you're the motivation that got me started on this journey. You know that, right?

I have ZERO skills when it comes to stuff like this...
Would be super stoked to get out with you diving whenever you want...just let me know!

but you've got mad skillz diving killing fish, which is way better in my opinion. Your videos take me to places that I couldn't go. Many times I hold me breath while watching your videos and pretend I was there  I would love to be able to dive with you. I gotta get over the ear clearing problem first, though. My max depth is 15' at the moment. Ears just don't equalize beyond that depth. 

ERNEST!!! That almost made me cry! Mad friggin skills bro!! Beautiful job!!! ......

Don't cry my friend. I'll let you play with it  I'm learning how to weld. We can trade skills 


I don't think I'd be in the water any time soon since the whiteys are around. I actually still need to work on the buoyancy of the gun. Anyone here wants to borrow it and play with it is welcome. Just help me test out how much weight I need to add to it. PM me if interested.

Also, since I have the equipment, and I just gain a bit experience with building this gun, I would be more than happy to help my brothers here to build your own gun.

Again, thanks for all the kind words.
ernest

With the way the gun came out you could recoop the monies in no time! Id buy A gun from ya! Can you imagine how sick it would be with abalone inlay!