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Old 03-19-2008, 03:23 PM   #1
mako6924
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good wood

I'm geting ready to build my own gun. Besides teak what is a good wood to use for this project. Thanks for the info
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Old 03-19-2008, 03:28 PM   #2
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Re: good wood

I have seen a nice Blue water gun made out of Zebra wood... very cool to look at.

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Old 03-19-2008, 03:55 PM   #3
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Re: good wood

I've seen Paduk, and Mahogany. But you want a wood w/lots of oil in it, The oil protects the wood and prevents it from absorbing water and warping. Some guys have made some real nice guns including Riffe, w/ laminated woods of two different kinds.

But invariably they wind up warping and de-laminating. When you use two different woods the molecular composition is different and they(the woods)
expand and contract at a different ratio, causing the warping and de-laminating. Hence the reason there are so many guns made entirely of teak.

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Old 03-19-2008, 03:56 PM   #4
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Re: good wood

Zebra and many other woods look nice but don't have a high resistance to water like teak and will crack, swell, warp and rot if not finished very very well compaired to Teak which doesn't even need finish. Another wood that does well in water is Padauk as like teak it only needs oil from time to time. I'm suprised it isn't used more.

If you go to Merlo Spearguns website it has great articles describing differnt woods that work as spearguns.
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Old 03-19-2008, 04:38 PM   #5
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Re: good wood

If you are in southern cal check out weber lumber. I searched high and low for teak and found they had 1) the best prices for teak 2) the largest selection of sizes of teak 3) let me hand pick the board myself.
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Old 03-19-2008, 06:40 PM   #6
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Re: good wood

Quote:
Originally Posted by QuentinDVR View Post
I have seen a nice Blue water gun made out of Zebra wood... very cool to look at.

Q.
zebra wood, though pretty to look @ is a horrible wood for aquatic environments. Sea Sniper did a special gun out of zebra wood and he describes his problems with it here "http://www.seasniper.com/archives/gotm1107.htm"
it's not impossible, just needlessly difficult.
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Old 03-19-2008, 08:29 PM   #7
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Re: good wood

Any thread with this title has got to be good.
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Old 03-19-2008, 08:56 PM   #8
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Re: good wood

Iroko, Afromosia, Padauk, Jarrah, Mahogany.
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Old 03-19-2008, 08:58 PM   #9
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Re: good wood

What about white oak??? I know they used to make old ships out of it. It might be too dense for some peoples taste, cause the gun to sink but its all a personal peference. Anybody out there know a bit more about white oak? I live in the mountains of NC and there is more than U can shake a stick at around here and I believe im gonna try using it.
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:02 PM   #10
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Re: good wood

I have have a friend who has made white oak guns. The buoyancy is good and it is strong. I think it tends to absorb water if it's not sealed well.
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:14 PM   #11
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Re: good wood

Teak, Mahagony, Bubinga, Iroko, Padauk, Purple Heart...and Ipe for the track

check this site out http://www.exotichardwoods-northamerica.com/index.htm
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:16 PM   #12
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Re: good wood

i've read cocobollo is a good water-resistant wood. i checked some out at a lumber yard, and it looks very dense, and has a strange waxy-type feel to it. i think merlo makes (made?) a few guns from it.
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:28 PM   #13
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Re: good wood

I also know a guy who made a white oak gun that he had used for 10 years. Cocobolo is super heavy.
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Old 03-20-2008, 12:38 AM   #14
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Re: good wood

you can hand pick at g nawl? probably spelled wrong not sure about the pirce tho
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Old 03-20-2008, 08:12 AM   #15
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Re: good wood

Phil Herranen is laminating a 60" blank for me out of Goncalo Alves, and I'll be building the rest of the gun myself using his hardware. He was incredibly helpful, and spent at least a couple hours on the phone with me over several days explaining his wood and adhesive choices for gunstocks, and the hardware and mechanics. Goncalo alves (tigerwood) is more dense, more stable in the lams, and cheaper than teak. Tiger has a specific gravity of about .90, teak about .60. The way I understood it, it'd take about a pound or more of lead to ballast a teak gun of that size, and only about 6-8 ounces for one made from tigerwood. Just keep your cutting tools razor sharp.
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