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Old 12-01-2017, 04:38 PM   #1
RichT
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Is your shaft straight and hard?

Most likely it is neither!!
Spear shaft that is...

Spearshafts are to spearfishing like tires are to cars. Nobody gives them much thought but you wouldn't go out and put cheap Wal-Mart tires on a Lamborghini would you?

That is precisely what most spearfisherman do! They put inferior spears in their fancy guns and expect them to perform well.
Aint gonna happen and I will tell you why...

I have had the opportunity to literally rebuild hundreds of spear shafts over the last year from virtually every manufacturer around the globe and the following is what I have learned...

I have learned 2 big secrets that spear manufacturers don't want you to know!


Most manufacturers use the cheapest steel they can find and most stainless spears are not heat treated properly. Not even close!


Most of the stainless spears I have handled are way, WAY softer than they should be!

What does that mean?
It means they will bend much easier than they should and they will not last nearly as long as they should!

I recently took 9 used shafts from obviously different manufacturers. Some were branded while others were not, and Rockwell tested them.

Rockwell testing essentially uses a diamond pressed into the material to test the hardness of a material...

I found that 7 out of the 9 were only about half as hard as they should be and one branded shaft was actually softer than standard 17-4 steel in the non-heat treated state!
I'm not even sure what that shaft was made out of!


The other thing I learned is that most 17-4 steel being used used is terribly inferior and most spears are likely never straightened properly to begin with.

See, after steel is cut or welded (especially stainless) it becomes bent and must be straightened.

These cuts (notches) and welds bend the steel in unmistakable ways as much as 3/8" or more.

This may not seem like much but it can mean a difference of several inches in accuracy at distance.

Ive noticed that many of these bends are not being removed or only partially removed.

Cheap steel is un-mistakable at first glance on the straightening jig.
I believe the impurities and quality cause it to twist and get multiple bends from being shot into rocks, wrecks and bony fish.
These multiple bends cause diminished accuracy over time which is the reason many spearos claim a shaft becomes less accurate after they have used it awhile.
Good steel will usually only have one single bend in it that the spearo is aware of.

Don't even get me started on the spring steel shafts...

Last edited by RichT; 12-01-2017 at 05:48 PM.
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Old 12-01-2017, 05:47 PM   #2
paddow
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

So who makes a good shaft?
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Old 12-01-2017, 05:50 PM   #3
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paddow View Post
So who makes a good shaft?
Rich, I think you've got a bite.
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Old 12-01-2017, 06:08 PM   #4
RichT
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

Something else I've noticed...
Most (probably 90%) of the shafts that come in to the shop for rebuilding have some sort of flopper damage.
Floppers are usually sticking from being bent or they have the pin bent or somehow damaged.
Some of this damage could be prevented by use of solid rivets but much of the damage is probably caused by the flopper ears taking much of the impact.

We don't make or offer shaft cones on our spears (yet), but I really believe shaft cones would help prevent this damage and prolong the useful life of spear shafts.
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Old 12-01-2017, 07:15 PM   #5
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

I don't use stainless shafts anymore since the first day I tried spring steel (carbon) shafts.

A ss shaft will bend before a cs shaft rust.
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Old 12-01-2017, 09:36 PM   #6
RichT
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco View Post
I don't use stainless shafts anymore since the first day I tried spring steel (carbon) shafts.

A ss shaft will bend before a cs shaft rust.
Marco,

Spring steel shafts and stainless steel shaft have their advantages and disadvantages.
Spring steel is typically only a little bit harder than stainless if they are both done correctly.
1. Spring steel shafts come off a coiled roll and then mechanically straightened.
You can straighten spring steel but you can't untwist it and it almost always has far more twists than stainless shafts from what I've seen.
Twists affect accuracy more than bends in my opinion.

2.Spring steel also reacts to being cut (notches) and welded and is subject to the manufacturer correcting it before it is sold.

3. The coating...
Do you know what the coating actually is on your spring steel shafts?
Have you ever heard anybody talk about or tell you you what it is?
Have you noticed none of it is made in the USA?
If you do ask somebody who makes it they will tell you it's a "proprietary secret" or some such nonsense...
I have been told by other industry people that the coating used by many of the spring steel manufacturers is actually banned in the liquid form in the USA.
That is what you are putting in your food?

4 Spring steel shafts rusts very quickly unless meticulously maintained and that is just a fact. If you accidentally leave it in your gun you will fubar the mech very quickly.

In the last batch of shafts from an avid tournament diver I had 2 stainless shafts that were 15-20 years old. They both had branding and 1 had a serial number.
They were both easily straightened and will keep on killing fish long after you've thrown away a dozen spring steel shafts...
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Old 12-02-2017, 12:12 AM   #7
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

RA makes a durable straight shaft.

I horsed a 40lb fighter fish for 20 min a few weeks ago with the shaft from my RA 120 and no problem. The fish pulled me under the water several times for a few feet and the flopper shaft won.


Yes most shafts are rarely straight.
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Old 12-03-2017, 10:00 AM   #8
Marco
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

You know a lot about shafts Rich, but I talk from my limited experience of 35 years spearfishing. Spring steel shafts work better for me.
BTW, I never take a shot when a fish is not close enough. Maybe that's why I don't see any disadvantages in precision.
However, it's great to have people like you in our sport that take care of these little details.
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Old 12-11-2017, 08:48 AM   #9
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Re: Is your shaft straight and hard?

3/8” s a hell of a lot. I will notice if something has 1/32” bow in it. I need to start paying attention to the brands and types that I buy in the future.
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