A fellow paddler, I'll just call him The C-Monster, asked if I would make him a Greenland paddle. I really like making paddles but lately have not had any reason to do so. This was my excuse to start a new project.
I'm not going to outline the build as it is pretty much standard . . .
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| Still working out of the dining room |
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| Schedule 40 clamps on the loom. Western Red Cedar sandwiched in between Spruce. |
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| All glued up and ready for shaping. |
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| Weight before any shaping - 85oz! |
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| Using a power planer for the initial shaping. |
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| Forming the taper. |
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| Weight after cutting the tapers on the blade - 58 oz. |
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| Add caption |
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| Shaping the blades. |
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| ABS pipe cut to fit. |
Once I have the rough shape finished with the power planer, I move onto a small block plane, rasps and sandpaper. Some may frown upon the use of the power planer, but it works wonders - very fast wonders - when you need to remove lots of wood, quickly!! If you are careful, it does a great job!! Just don't let your attention lapse or you can easily ruin your work.
I knew that the C-Monster, would be spending time near the rocks, so I offered to put on a plastic tip protector. I have one on my paddle and it does an amazing job of saving the soft wooden tips It also allows you to use a sharper tip on the paddle which makes it a lot quieter in the water.
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| Showing the inset into the paddle tip. |
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| Plastic being epoxied onto the blade. |
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| Tip after sanding. |
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| Paddle after shaping , sanding and wetting out. |
I failed to get a final photo of the paddle before I handed it over to the new owner. I went with the all-black tips - like I have on my
paddle. The paddle is 88", with a 20" loom. The blades are 3 3/8 at the tip. It weighs 31 oz. Like all my paddles, I finished it with Tung Oil.
I hope that the C-Monster gets a lot of good paddling out of this one!!!
Another excellant job, Sean...I expect you'll be commissioned by others for more paddles....
ReplyDeleteI actually have two potential orders right now. The problem is finding suitable wood around here without having to pay an arm and a leg!!!
ReplyDeleteNice idea for the edge armor...
ReplyDeleteHey Rhino: For a a small piece of plastic it does wonders to preserve the tips of your paddles - especially when you make your tips pretty thin like I do.
ReplyDeleteSean
The tip is a great idea. I am surprised that the epoxy works with PVC. Did you roughen the inside before epoxying it in?
ReplyDeleteI roughen up the ABS with sandpaper and then apply a little heat with a small butane torch. I have a paddle tip that held up two years and I only used the cheap two part Lepages epoxy from the hardware store. The ones I am doing now are using West System's G-Flex which is a two part as well but is designed for use with plastic.
ReplyDelete