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Old 08-27-2018, 04:56 PM   #1
portinfer
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Opepe / Bilinga wood : potential build for a friend

So a friend has some free Opepe wood kicking around outside in his yard....

I think that it's an old board walk across a marine pond where he grows shellfish. Anyway, it is in 'weathered' condition.

I ran it through my planer (with old blades) and it looks like this now:





I'm storing it in a warm shed by the boiler as I think it has been outside for a while.

Questions...
Is it suitable for building a speargun?
I usually use iroko / sapele/utile / teak etc
This Opepe / Bilinga is heavier than those woods.

Do I need to make a high mass gun? So more wood is used in the design?

The gun he wants is based on a 130cm x 7mm shaft.

How long to let it dry for?

Any health issues with the dust? (I know iroko is bad, how about opepe?).

Or is it better to keep the opepe as a central laminate with several outer laminates of a lighter wood like iroko?

He's given me some boards. I like the colour. Might use it in the garden for furniture though.

Thanks,
Ed
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Old 08-27-2018, 10:49 PM   #2
doyenofcastle
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Re: Opepe / Bilinga wood : potential build for a friend

read this http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=191931

bilinga very hard wood with category 4 can be used in direct contact with water and its very heavy ,my experience with that wood was bad however at the end I used it after I covered the gun with kevlar/carbon fiber to stop the cracks in glued lines between laminates,may be I used it before it get dry and that's why it cracks ,it take long time in the drying process (datasheet attached ) ,its look like the mearbu version of africa ,if I can't get it KD dry I won't laminate it and keep it as one piece ,for spear 140*7 I shaped it like cuttlefish maxi width was 7.5 cm near the handle and 5.5 in muzzle with height of 4.5 cm near handle and 4 cm at muzzle and still sink slowly without any lead ,I was searching before for anyone tried that wood but no one answer me ,after epoxy the bilinga orange color will look bright .
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Old 08-28-2018, 02:22 PM   #3
portinfer
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Re: Opepe / Bilinga wood : potential build for a friend

Thanks for the info,

So better to alternate laminates of opepe with iroko I guess.
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Old 08-28-2018, 10:16 PM   #4
doyenofcastle
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Re: Opepe / Bilinga wood : potential build for a friend

most important to check the moisture in the wood ,should be in the limit ,for me I make a small sample laminated piece with the epoxy I am going to use , cut it for 2 after epoxy drying ,put one in my car (38 C in my area ) leave it a week ,other piece leave it in a jar full of water for a week ,if no de-lamination i ll use the wood (I don't follow scientific test procedure ) ,in my opinion bilinga and makore is the best of africa for speargun beside padouk ,they doesn't required any treatment only oil .
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Old 11-22-2018, 07:24 AM   #5
portinfer
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Re: Opepe / Bilinga wood : potential build for a friend

I made a gun with my friend from opepe and iroko.

I'll try and get some pix of it.

It has a 130cm x 7mm Hunt shaft with a Ermes sub double roll trigger and 105cm of band stretch. Has a little Ermes Colibri reel with 30m of line. Probably 1.5mm dyneema as we don't get massive fish (although blue fin and bonito were sighted and caught on rod this summer )

I helped him make a central laminate of iroko to help with the buoyancy - guess work but it has worked out and he is sea balancing / ballasting the gun today.

He wanted a thin top laminate of opepe so that from the top it looks like a solid opepe gun.

He's South African so likes the idea that this wood is African!

It's a lovely orange colour.

He's into aspetto and wanted a little more range and stability than the standard aluminium guns. Should be a keeper
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Old 11-23-2018, 01:55 AM   #6
e.m.p!
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Re: Opepe / Bilinga wood : potential build for a friend

Keen on seeing some pics - sounds like a cool setup
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