How-To: Spears

[john bunsenburner]

Well, I have been making a few spears to use in conjunction with my Hawaiian sling when i go to Malta (Gozo to be precise). These spears are made using only few tools and for fairly little, and might be of use to the spudding community, so I guess I thought I would just go ahead and post a How to, If there is anyone willing to make a gun to shoot these it would be awsome, so here I go:

First of all gather the following materials:
-2meter steel rods of a diameter of 1-2cm, these will be the shafts
-Solder, lead free
-1meter long 3mm thick threaded steel rod
-WD-40(optional)
And the following tools
-Bench grinder (with wheels, either SiC or Al₂O₃)
-Power drill
-2.5mm drill bits (several)
-Propane torch
-3mm taps (several)
-Saw (must be able to cut metal)
-Wrench used for tapping
-Pliers
-Wrench


If you have all of the above you are ready to go:


First of all get a two meter rod and cut it in half, take one of the halves and follow these steps, then repeat them on the other rod, and cut the next rod in half, repeat as many times as needed:


1. Using your bench grinder put the rod's end to is, hold it at a slight angle to the rotating grinding wheel and slowly spin the rod between your thumb and index finger while supporting it with your other hand. Do this until you have a round, sharp tip. (alternatively you can grind the rod from four sides to have an end that has four faces and also is very sharp, this ends in a very irregular shape, but the sharp edges produced can be of use). Cool the tip with WD-40

2. Add a small notch 3-5cm up the shaft from the tip, and then tighten the rod in the wrench by the sharpened side. Get the drill bits and start drilling a hole in the notch (it is there to guide you so the dill doesn't slip). As soon as the hole is about 1 deep turn the drill so you are making a diagonal hold towards the end, make the angle between the shaft and the drill bit as small as possible. Drill all the way through.


3. Using the bench grinder make the holes smooth, then put the tap into the tap wrench and make the spear up right the tip towards the ceiling. Insert the tap on the end of the hole CLOSEST to the end and start turning it under a little pressure. After every one or two rotations turn back a bit and blow, use WD-40 as a cutting fluid by spraying it on the hole. Once you have threaded the entire hole turn the tap the other way (left) until you have completely removed it.


4. Take your threaded rod and sharpen one end, make it so that there is a sharp cutting edge on one end, kind of knife shaped, the tip should only be about 7mm long. Then saw of the end about 1-2cm from the sharpened tip.


5. Using the pliers slowly turn the barb into the threaded hole, make the cutting edge (the edge you sharpened and made knife like) face the tip of your spear. Using a bit of solder fix the barb in place and grind of the remaining bit that is un sharpened so that your spear is smooth on one side of the hole and so that the barb is fixed in place.


And that is it, test your spear by pushing it into carton and pulling it out, the barb will make removing it slightly harder, which is good. Be careful when using these and don't harm animals or humans. Look on the net, or ask me, for a how to on either a spear gun or a Hawaiian sling to use these with.

[john bunsenburner]

Sorry for the double post, but seeing as the pictures didn't get fixed until now, i find it reasonableto draw attention to the thread. I would like to know what you all think of the how to it's self and of the spears. I will mix up some ballistics gel and test the spears, most probably there will be pictures to go along with these tests.
One concern I have is th angle of the barb to the shaft, it is fairly large and i am scared it may recuse penetration, remember these will be fired from about 1meter, and no more, and underwater.
I will try another kind of barb and will post it if it works. The sling will also be made better, this one is very crude, and be posted.

Enjoy the how to, and happy spudding.

[jrrdw]

I want to see it shot from the sling, this kind is new to me.

[john bunsenburner]

Well all i can do is pics, as I don't have a way to tape it, but I will do my best, Up date tomorrow with ballistics gel and more spears. Also I will upload with the better sling, A sling that isn't make of inner tube should have less resistance and provide more useful underwater.

[maverik94]

Sweet, I like the barbs. You're going to malta?????? I am soooo jealous, I would LOVE to go there sometime! Are you going fishing there?

[john bunsenburner]

I'll be fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving, really thats all, 10days of that. Then 10days in norway if im lucky!

[maverik94]

sweet, bring lots of pics!!!!
EDIT: How did you build that spear gun? Also, are those spears for fishing? Kinda reminds me of a guy who used a blowgun for fishing. I suppose one could add a paper cone on the back of one of those, shorten it, and shoot it in a blowgun...

[sputnick]

One concern I have is th angle of the barb to the shaft, it is fairly large and i am scared it may recuse penetration, remember these will be fired from about 1meter, and no more, and underwater.
I will try another kind of barb and will post it if it works. The sling will also be made better, this one is very crude, and be posted.

Yeh Rob, one concern that I had first sure, go ahead and steal the credit, I don't mind

Be sure to post pictures of barb design #3, since #2 I gave you didn't work out so well

(proposed barb design 2 pictured below)


Hell I'll come up with a better one for ya, just give me a while to come up with something even you can do

[john bunsenburner]

Charming as ever hey nick, all six spears are done, so don't bother making another design. These spears are just incase I don't buy any proper ones there.

Well I have a few pics of the new sling, no ballistics gel as of yet, perhaps tomorrow morning if I get around to buying gelatine at the super market, and seting it all up over night. This Sling has been altered alot, it is nice and polished, has a line on its end(ok i don't want to loose too many spears, so yes i'll be a pussy and use a line) and these is a nice bit of surgical tubing and a leather puch mounted, i built it so you can see how it was built and really the pics should answer most questions. So, enjoy the following pics(i have lots as always):

[maverik94]

Ok, thanks. Yeah, I get how you built it. I see you used a replacement slingshot elastic/pouch for it. Is that legal to use in Malta? What sort of effective range does it have underwater and overwater (just made up a word...thank you thank you very much)? Are you planning to shoot it underwater or from the shore/boat? Sorry for asking so many questions This looks really cool, I was thinking about making one that shot spears mad of clotheshangers that are sharpened on a grinding wheel and had a handle like a slingshot and a 3/16" tube (or bigger). I suppose they are legal here where I live...gaffing is. What is the biggest size fish you could effectivley kill with one of these? Well, would one of these spears actually make a humane kill? Or would you have to reel the fish in and then club it in the head to finnish it off? Sorry for all the questions, but this is really cool.

[john bunsenburner]

51. Besides the punishments established by the Criminal Code
for contraventions, any person who, not being guilty of a more
serious offence, contravenes the prohibition laid down in the
regulation 50, shall, on conviction, have his fish confiscated.

Subject to the provisions of regulations 10 and 11 of these
Regulations, the use of the following fishing implements and
methods is permitted without any licence at all times and in all
localities:
(i) all methods of hook and line fishing, including
jigging with gulpara and ]iel;
(ii) the fish spear or grains;
(iii) the basket traps called drajna, nassi tal-gran`,
nassi tal-qarnit, and nassi tal-imrejjen;
(iv) the small hand nets called kopp tal-gambli, kopp
tal-wi``, kopp tal-la``i, and kopp tal-lhud;
(v) all other minor and recognised fishing
implements not otherwise specified in these
Regulations, such as delfinara, gan`, or gaffa.

As this is technically spear, and the punishment isn't too bad really I have found a great loop hole. This is not a spear gun thus i need to licence for owning and using it. This range is really between 1 and two meters over and under water. Im planning on using it while snorkeling, and from the shore. This could really take any fish to up to 5pounds, but wouldn't make a kill on most fish, but as i act quickly and have a good aim the fish will quickly either be hit on the head or bleed to death quickly, this is the same as any spear fishing really.

Any more questions, queeries or comments?

[maverik94]

Sweet! I am planning on building one like yours. I made a temporaty one by taking some 1/2" pvc and holding it in front of my slingshot. It can be described as POWERFULL. I shot a 36" Length of 1/4" wooden dowel through 2 coke cans, 1" of pasking styrofoam, thru a piece of cardboard and 1.5" into the ground from about 5' range...AWESOME!!!!! I'm planning on goin blowgun fishing soon, I just gotta ad some barbs to my darts. FunFun!!!!!

[john bunsenburner]

Wow, this is a great feeling. The first time i've made something not utterly useless(as others are seemingly catching onto it). As advice, make sure you harden your spear tips, I pretty much have only blunt spears, after missing a fish and hitting a rock behind it.
Also the range under water is fairly miserable, I only managed to spear one small octopus, and missed lots of fish. For some reason I also hit about 5 moray eels, but none of them actually got caught, they didn't penetrate them at all.
It was hard to do as lots of jelly fish were around, and I had better things to do than to swim around chasing after litte fish. I went diving alot(in the blue hole and in the inland see through the tunnel).

Really I could continue talking about my vacation for ever but this is neither time nor place todo so.