Speargun Care and maintenance

Great! You own a wooden speargun, now how do you take care of it?

Obviously, a wooden speargun needs to be treated with care. When the speargun is not in use it should be stored out of direct sunlight and not in a place where there are extreme fluctuations of temperature, for example, a conservatory or garden shed would be a bad place to keep a wooden speargun. A dark closet is the best choice for storage.

In the boat, you want to make sure your gun isn’t going to get damaged. Keeping the gun in a neoprene sock works really well but anywhere on the boat where it is not going to be impacted by loose items is fine. During the day if you are taking a break, try and keep the gun in the shade.

REGULAR MAINTENANCE

For the most part, caring for a wooden speargun is much the same as any other speargun. For regular maintenance, follow the steps below.

• Thoroughly rinse your speargun with fresh water making sure to flush out the working mechanisms of the gun thoroughly.

• Give the gun a scrub to remove fish oils, and blood etc.

• Allow the speargun to dry in a shaded area out of direct sunlight.

• If you want to keep your gun looking golden, once the gun is dry, give it a decent scrub with a Scotch Brite pad and apply a coat of Teak oil with a rag, wipe clean after 5 minutes. After 24 hours, give it another scrub with a Scotch Brite pad or rag and re-apply oil if need be, This will not only keep the gun looking new, but it will also protect it from the elements. You do not need to disassemble the gun for this.

IN-DEPTH MAINTENANCE

Like other types of spearguns, wooden spearguns like to be taken apart for a thorough clean and for re-rigging. Re-rigging should be done regularly, nobody wants to lose a big fish to a worn monofilament! And it’s always a big fish!

Sometimes when you go to re-rig your gun you will inevitably have scratches and dings on your gun, don’t stress! Follow the steps below.

• Use a 3mm punch to knock out the trigger retaining rings. Remove the screw at the rear of the mech.

• It is likely that from use, the trigger mech and the alloy handle base are quite stuck in place. The trigger is actually pressed into the alloy base to keep things nice and tight. You will probably need a flathead screwdriver and a thin piece of wood to lay against the speargun to lever the trigger out (don’t lever off the working parts of the trigger). The rear of the trigger will likely come out first and a good pull will sort the rest of it out.

• From here, you can use a scrap piece of wood with a hammer through the trigger slot to knock out the alloy handle base.

• The line anchor and guides are held in by screw, remove these screws and remaining hardware.

• From here you will have a bare speargun. The rubber butt is there to protect the end grain so will likely need replacing at some point too (directions below).

• If there are decent scratches, gouges, or dints, start off sanding with 80 grit sandpaper, once satisfied, move down to 120 grit and then 240 grit. The rubber butt will sand with the wood.

• Once sanded, give the gun a good dust off, and then with a rag, apply your first coat of Teak oil to the gun. Leave it for 5 minutes before wiping off excess oil. After 24 hours, give it a rub down with a rag or a Scotch Brite pad and apply another coat. Repeat this process 3 times or until satisfied.

• Reassemble the speargun. Use a rubber or wooden mallet to tap the Alloy Handle Base back into place, you will need to give a few taps to each end to ensure it goes down in a relatively flat manner.

REPLACING THE BUTT PAD

• You can order a Butt Pad from this website. You will also need marine contact glue (Mitre 10), acetone, 80 grit sandpaper and a craft knife.

• You should be able to peel the Butt Pad off.

• You will notice there will still be glue on the end grain of the wood. Use a craft knife or a scraper to remove as much of this as possible.

• With a flat piece of timber as a sanding block, very carefully sand the end grain to remove the remainder of the glue and “key” the timber for glueing. Be careful here not to round the edges of the timber.

• Sand the glue face of the rubber with 80 grit sandpaper as well until all gloss is gone.

• With a rag, wash both the end grain of the wood and the glue face of the rubber.

• Apply a coat of contact glue to both the end grain of the wood and the rubber. Be careful not to go too thick or too thin on the end grain, it will soak some of the glue up so keep an eye on it and apply some more within 2 mins if required.

• Wait 10-15mins or until you can touch the glue without it depositing onto your finger.

• Lay the rubber onto the end grain of the gun and push down hard, take extra care to ensure the rubber is mated with the edges of the wood.

• Leave this for 12-24 hours to cure and then remove excess rubber with a sharp chisel or knife using the flat of the speargun as a guide. You can then sand the rubber flush with the wood. When cutting, apply the cutting pressure towards the gun, not away from the gun where the cutting pressure will want to force the freshly glued pad off and away from the gun.