First attempt at a canoe paddle (pics)

[Arnie Grammon]

Here is a pictoral history of my day today. I'm off work for the week so I thought I'd be somewhat productive between football games ;) .

My oldest son is into canoeing up in the Puget Sound (Seattle) area. I thought I'd try my hand at a canoe paddle. I glued WR Cedar and Poplar together last night and here is where I started this morning....
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albus48/canoe_paddle_001.sized.jpg
I used the paddle on the right as my pattern.....it's an old one from the fifties that a canoeist friend says is the bees knees.

I then planed the blank to thickness with my lunchbox planer......
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albus48/canoe_paddle_002.sized.jpg

To be continued.........

[Arnie Grammon]

Here we go again with the paddle. After planing to thickness, I cut out the profile.....
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albus48/canoe_paddle_003.sized.jpg


After getting a rough shape, I experimented a little before I settled on hand planing the paddle to final shape (I'm not ALL about power, but I sure like it sometimes :D ). Here is a pic of the hand planing about a third of the way....
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albus48/canoe_paddle_007.sized.jpg
Note I have the pattern right next to me for reference.

And finally, I sanded to 220, then put on a coat of BLO and Spar Varnish.......
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albus48/canoe_paddle_010.sized.jpg

I made this paddle a little shorter than the pattern per the canoeists instructions. I plan on giving it about five or six coats of pure spar varnish later this week. This was a fun project and I learned a lot about making paddles......made some mistakes, but that's okay.

Time for some football......:)

AG

[Roy Wall]

AG,

I like it!! nice little variation on the glue up...............

You think it'll ever see the water????

Very Nice !!

[Greg Mann]

Very nice, Arnie. What type of glue did you use for the laminations?

Greg

[Arnie Grammon]

Greg

I used Titebond II........I looked on the label and it said it's good for everything except extensive submersion.......we'll see :confused: . And Roy, I am sure my son will try it out.......I built it to use.

AG

[Roy Wall]

Greg

I used Titebond II........I looked on the label and it said it's good for everything except extensive submersion.......we'll see :confused: . And Roy, I am sure my son will try it out.......I built it to use.

AG
Good for Him!! It's a great gift!!!

[Dave Right]

Nice looking paddle. That might be your first try but it turned out not a beginners paddle. Great job.

[thomas prevost]

Great looking paddle!! I am sure you had a much fun making it as I have with mine. a suggestion: put a 2" strip of fiberglass folded over at end of blade. It will stop abrasion from sand and rocks as well as hold the blade together so it will not check on end. Any automotive parts store will have this as a repair kit with the resin included for a few dollars.

[Dave Richards]

Nice paddle. You do excellent work. I'm with Thomas on the fiberglass tape along the end of the blade however I think it is probably too late since you've oiled it already. You'd probably have to sand too much away to get to raw wood and I doubt the epoxy would bond where the oil is.

[Lou Morrissette]

Nice work, Arnie. Looks like a fun project.

Lou

[Glenn Clabo]

Great job Arnie. A long time ago...in a land far away (Virginia)...and before I tore up my knee... I spent a bunch of time on the rivers. They weren't real nice to the old Old Town so I laid a Kevlar bow plate on it and the tip of one of my favorite paddles. It sure stopped the beating they took. I would keep it in mind for when your work of art starts taking a beating.

[Arnie Grammon]

Nice paddle. You do excellent work. I'm with Thomas on the fiberglass tape along the end of the blade however I think it is probably too late since you've oiled it already. You'd probably have to sand too much away to get to raw wood and I doubt the epoxy would bond where the oil is.You may be right about the oiled surface not bonding with the epoxy.......I wasn't thinking about the end of the paddle yesterday afternoon.......All I could think about was finishing the project so I could watch my OSU Beavers thump the Irish :D .

Does anyone else have a suggestion about how to treat the end? I may be too late on this paddle. Oh well.....life is a learning process :o .

Thanks for the kind comments.

AG

[Bob Johnson2]

Well you've got further then me, I've got plans and the lumber but that's about it, maybe I'll get the itch now. Nice job.
You might think about putting a crosscut thru it from 1 side to the other about a half inch deep, then putting in a hardwood spline. It'll help some but not as much as the mod the others mentioned. The cedar is pretty soft and could probably use some protection. If your son will recoat the tip once a year or so the glue will probably hold.
The ones I've seen in the conoe shops have...
The bottom 1/2" or so cut off and they are tipped with fiberglass or some such.
2" fiberglass strip along the blade edge.
Or the whole blade covered with fiberglass.

[Greg Mann]

Well you've got further then me, I've got plans and the lumber but that's about it, maybe I'll get the itch now. Nice job.
You might think about putting a crosscut thru it from 1 side to the other about a half inch deep, then putting in a hardwood spline. It'll help some but not as much as the mod the others mentioned. The cedar is pretty soft and could probably use some protection. If your son will recoat the tip once a year or so the glue will probably hold.
The ones I've seen in the conoe shops have...
The bottom 1/2" or so cut off and they are tipped with fiberglass or some such.
2" fiberglass strip along the blade edge.
Or the whole blade covered with fiberglass.
A cloth strip over the end, saturated with epoxy resin would be okay but you want to watch building up too much thickness. Paddles can get heavy real fast. My paddling guru uses an epoxy/slica bead on the end for protection. He routs a vee along the edge, lays in the epoxy, and finishes it back to the wood. He also saturates the wood with epoxy (very thin) for protection from the elements. After that, a few drops of BLO is all it needs. There are as many different techniques as there are paddle builders.

Greg

[Dave Richards]

Arnie, how thick is the blade tip? You might be able to make a jig to hold it so you could cut a slot in the end for a piece of lexan that could be glued in with epoxy.

Another option might be to cut the very end off the blade and then put a slot in it as for the lexan. Then fill the slot and build up the tip with epoxy. The epoxy could then be faired to the shape of the blade.

My wife has a commercially made paddle with that last sort of thing done to it.

FWIW, poplar isn't really a great wood for wet applications. It is also soft (not as soft as the cedar) and is prone to rot.

I'm hestitant to suggest the following because I don't want to hurt your feelings. You might give some thought to making another paddle from some other woods--Sitka spruce, white cedar maybe. Then you could glass the entire blade.

[Lars Thomas]

Sounds like a bunch of great ideas. However, if I built something for my son to use doing what he loves, I would be thrilled if it 'wore' out. Afterall, it's not like there are hundreds of hours invested in the paddle (are there?).

[Arnie Grammon]

Dave

I understand the concern with using poplar. However, I considered this a prototype and used what I had on hand. As it turned out, using poplar and cedar together provided an inexpensive, lightweight (and quite workable) alternative to some of the more expensive woods out there.

As for durability, we'll see.....I have a hunch a well taken care of paddle will last a lot longer than we care to admit. There are manufacturers out there that know much more than I that have made them from all sorts of wood combos. Here is just one example: http://www.clcboats.com/paddles.php

Food for thought.

AG

[Steve Beadle]

[QUOTE=All I could think about was finishing the project so I could watch my OSU Beavers thump the Irish :D .
AG[/QUOTE]

Sound like you live somewhere near my neck o' the woods. And, yes, it was good to see the Beavs drub Notre Dame!

[thomas prevost]

Arnie,
I didn't mean to create so much discussion on what "you should have done." This is a great looking paddle and I am sure your son will get many pleasurable hours with it.

[John Hemenway]

Arnie,
First -- Great job!
I'm glad you consider this a prototype because we will give you suggestions for 'improvement'. :)

A friend of mine makes paddles. He even gave me one when we did a two week tour of Algonquin Provincial Park, CA! Mine is varnished and most of his are finished w/ BLO. The BLO finished ones hold up better. There is always a little wear on the tip and it is real easy to re-BLO the tip. The varnish tends to wick water under it and peel off above the wear.

Although all the high-end commercial paddles are multi-wood and fiberglass tipped, I like the totally organic look and feel of one piece of wood finished w/ BLO. My paddle is cherry. My friend's favorite paddles are a small one of cherry and a monster (as in paddle UP a waterfall) walnut one.

Another consideration is the type of paddling the canoeist does. Racing/day use paddles can be very light and perhaps fragile. If your son is considering long trips, I would suggest a heavier, sturdy paddle.