Intro
We have already presented a great number of high level shafts available on the market. We have described them at best in the “Best shafts dossier”. Now, we have received in a second stage the shafts from Cressi and XT Diving Pro, and can present also these solutions to you. They are surely worth a look.
Cressi
The Italian company has a complete line of spearfishing equipment, and maybe the shafts are not the most known one. This is mainly because the production of shafts by Cressi is almost totally utilized to equip the great spearguns line they design and produce. Still, things will change in 2023 and the quality of the Cressi shafts is in line with the very high Made in Italy quality of all the products of the company born in 1938 and officially founded in 1946.
The line of shafts is not complete of every solution, as double barbs are for example not present, but the base solutions are extremely neat. We have received the 6 mm diameter and 7 mm diameter 17-4 PH shaft finned with bottom flop, and the 6 mm 17-4 PH shaft notched with top flop. The shafts are obtained through CNC machining and brushing. The barbs are in AISI 303 stainless steel. The steel of the barb is treated through passivation and vibratory finishing.
Shafts with shark fins
The offer with shark fins evidently is the top of the line solution. It goes from 6, to 6.5, to 7 mm diameter of the shaft. The material is the high quality 17-4 PH stainless steel. It is drawn and rectified, and treated thermally with H900 process. This is applied to improve the mechanical characteristics of 17-4 PH stainless steel. The shark fins are CNC machined from solid material and vibratory finishing is applied. The material of shark fins and pin of the barb is AISI 316 steel. The connection between shaft and shark fins is obtained through laser welding. The high quality of the welding is well visible in the macro photo below. What is particularly interesting is also that with the diameter of the shaft changing, also the shark fins thickness adapts. This is definitely an important detail.
Dimensions
The shark fins on the Cressi shafts measure, as said, differently depending on the shaft diameter. For 7 mm shafts the shark fins are 7 mm high maximum and 2.4 mm thick. All have holes for the passage of the line.
The tip of the shaft is conical, more precisely bi-conical, with total length of 30 mm. The smaller cone at the tip is 3.7 mm long. The barb is 8.5 cm long and 9.7 mm wide from the measures by AP. The thickness is 1.2 mm.
Regarding the 6 mm diameter shafts, the shark fins are 3.5 mm as maximum height and the thickness is 2.5 mm. The bi-conical point is, as for the 7 mm diameter shaft, 30 mm long. The small cone at the tip is also unvaried at 3.7 mm of length. The barb is though shorter, 7.4 mm and narrower, 8 mm. The thickness is also reduced to 0.8 mm.
All the 17-4 PH shark fins shafts by Cressi have the barb positioned at the bottom of the shaft (called BT. Flop)
Shafts with notches
The Cressi shafts with notches are available in the diameters 6 and 6.5 mm. They are economically more approachable and meant for spearguns set with steel wishbone and usually closed muzzles. The material used also for these shafts is 17-4 PH steel.
Dimensions
Compared to the shark fins shaft there are some slight differences. The biconical point is 21 mm long, with the smaller cone only 2 mm long. The barb is 7.4 cm long and 9.1 mm wide. In addition, the barb on the notches shaft has a central nerve present to additionally reinforce it.
XT Diving Pro
Kamax line
One of the leading spearguns shafts manufacturers, XT Diving Pro presents a very special offer, the Kamax line. These shafts are completely manufactured by XT Diving. The material used is a steel of 45 Rockwell Hardeness degrees. This permits to have a shaft which does not break due to fragility. On the other hand it is not softer so it does not bend too easily. We have received a set of the Mediterranean type, with 4 shark fins. The Blue Water type, with 5 shark fins is also available.
J Meno
They are particularly interesting thanks to their tip, having a cross like section, or we can say 4 grooves, in the J Meno solution. This design helps improve greatly the penetration in the fish and in the water. The only weak point is that the great penetration can determine the shaft getting stuck in a fragile rock or sea bottom.
Single short, single, double and double staggered barbs
The offer by XT Diving of the Kamax shafts line with J Meno tip is really complete. We have the single short barb solution, for spearfishing among the rocks and in the dens. Here the barb is only 5.5 cm long, while the width is 9 mm. The single standard barb is instead 6.5 cm long. Such length is the same for the double barb and double staggered barbs shafts. The steel of the barbs on all XT Diving Pro shafts are 0.7 mm thick. The double aligned barbs shaft has a CNC machined area where the barbs are present to improve water and fish penetration. Evidently such are is thinner and less resistant than the standard shaft diameter.
The double barb solution works well to catch big dimension fish, holding better to the flesh. The staggered solution is utilized well in blue water fishing to avoid that, when the flesh of the fish tears because it is particularly soft, the catch is lost. In fact, the fish is again retained from the shaft thanks to the second barb. The two staggered barbs are 8.6 cm one from the other.
The short barb solution is complete with three shark fins of smaller dimensions, around 3.3 mm as maximum height. The other solutions have 4 shark fins, three higher (5.2 mm maximum) and with a hole for the line, and one smaller and advanced towards the tip. The latter is used to help loading the speargun. The bigger shark fins are high enough even to hold two dyneema wishbones of two elastic bands. All the shark fins, big or small, are 3 mm thick. The welding is done manually with great expertise.
The length of all the J Meno tips is indicatively 25mm. The diameters available of these specific Mediterranean shafts with shark fins are 6.25, 6.5, 6.75, 7, 7.20, 7.50 and 8 mm. For a diameter of 9 mm one has to select the Blue Water model.
