Dusty Youngblood

Back in January this year I began kicking around the idea of building a wood speargun. I had long admired the spearguns built by other craftsman, and it sounded like a pretty rewarding project. Spearguns are a fairly low tech device, and most designs are pretty simple and straightforward. The challenge lies in the preparation of the wood blank, and then machining the required features in an accurate manner, and utilizing tools to obtain an excellent fit and finish. Of course, the forgiving properties of wood allow for creative design elements also.

After surveying the dozens of design styles and sizes of spearguns I decided on building a 38″ mid-handle, with an open track, and two 5/8″ power bands. This would give me a small enough weapon to comfortably hunt on shore dives in rocky reef areas. Also, with 2 power bands and a breakaway float line I may have enough power to take down larger fish offshore. I visited www.eisenbrandhardwoods.com and located a beautiful piece of Verawood, and bright colored piece of Mexican Redheart. I started work on building a 3 piece laminate for the gun stock.

A couple months after the blank sat here and cured, I did not notice much wood movement at all, so I was satisfied that I hand a stable blank and building could begin. The first step was to cut the “track”, and I did so on a router table. Next I cut the pocket for the trigger mechanism, and cut the track for the remote trigger pushrod. Just a couple weeks ago I was able to borrow some time on an old bridgeport mill, then I cut some other details and drilled all the thru holes for necessary for installation of the trigger mechanism. At this point I mocked up the gun to insure in would function before I started shaping the wood for aesthetic details.

After some shaping and sanding it was time for 2 coats of clear epoxy. The last step was hand tying the power bands. It’s now ready to fire, see you in the water!!!