Tool order recommendations - paddle making

[Luke McFadden]

I'm new into the woodworking and paddle making world. I have (on the way) a lot of used hand tools to get me started in exploring this new land. But I've found myself doodling advanced laminated paddles. I know that I need to master the basic skills of shaping before investing too much into making laminate paddles. But I'd like to see the future and plan accordingly to what tools would help to make the best paddles.

Some of the laminate patterns I've drawn up use very thin and long pieces. I know I'm going to need something to get these pieces flat and smooth. So I'm pretty sure that a jointer and/or planer is something that would be of great help. But how thin can they go? Is 1/8 -> 1/4 inch to thin?

I'm also going to need to cut some big pieces of wood down to usable size. So say cut a 2-3" x 6" x 10' piece in half to get me two boards that are 1-1.5" thick. Would a band saw be the best for this? Then running it through a planer?

The only power tools I have now are a cheap circular saw, hammer drill, angle grinder, and a pencil sharpener.

So to summarize my blabbering, what tools should I put on my list and in what order? I have access to some of these tools, but at times that are difficult for me most of the time. I've yet to use them, and I'm sure that will provide me with the knowledge to make some better decisions. But what tools would be the most versatile? Band saw -> jointer -> planer?

I appreciate all advice and thoughts as well as tool recommendations!

L

[Jamie Buxton]

Luke, I can answer the two specific questions you asked.


"I'm pretty sure that a jointer and/or planer is something that would be of great help. But how thin can they go? Is 1/8 -> 1/4 inch to thin?"

Most thickness planers can reliably plane down to something between 1/8" and 1/4". The limiting issue is not the mechanics of the planer, but that of the wood. Very thin wood is so flexible that it bends into the planer blades and gets destroyed. Stick with 1/4" thick wood, or even 3/16", and most any planer will do the job.

"I'm also going to need to cut some big pieces of wood down to usable size. So say cut a 2-3" x 6" x 10' piece in half to get me two boards that are 1-1.5" thick. Would a band saw be the best for this?"

You're going to be making a cut which is 6" tall, right? A bandsaw is about the only small-shop machine which can do that.

[Lou Miller]

So I'm pretty sure that a jointer and/or planer is something that would be of great help. But how thin can they go? Is 1/8 -> 1/4 inch to thin?



I don't know anything about paddle making so I can't answer any of your other questions. However, I wanted to touch on the one I quoted. The other poster above made mention to running thin pieces through a planer. That's fine and people do it all the time. However, doing this with a jointer would require a lot more caution. Thin wood on a jointer can literally break apart and cause your hand to go into the knives. Not good... I don't think its a safe thing to do at all, but at least make sure you're using some kind of push blocks and not just your hands.

I typically don't run anything less than 1/2" thick across my jointer. I just don't trust it as I've seen thin pieces break apart before.

[Luke McFadden]

"I'm also going to need to cut some big pieces of wood down to usable size. So say cut a 2-3" x 6" x 10' piece in half to get me two boards that are 1-1.5" thick. Would a band saw be the best for this?"

You're going to be making a cut which is 6" tall, right? A bandsaw is about the only small-shop machine which can do that.

6" tall yes. I think that usually they would be smaller though. Do band saws have "guides" (for lack of a better word) that would help me make thin straight cuts? Say, cutting a 3/4" piece from large stock? I'm thinking about some some harder woods, so I know that I would want a good bandsaw. Is this something that would be a standard feature? Can someone recommend a good bandsaw (that won't break the bank as I'll probably be looking for a planer / jointer soon)?

I appreciate the comments!

Luke

[John Bailey]

Luke,

I make my own kayak paddles. I always had to borrow someone's bandsaw. Now that I've got one, I won't ever be without one again. I've used a good jigsaw with success, but it's a pain. I sold my jointer, just didn't use it. I also make mountain ducimers, so I've used a lot of thin wood. I don't have a planer. I've used a small drum sander attached to my radial arm saw. When you get the bandsaw working properly, running it through a drum sander is all you need. I'd like to have a planer because of it's usefulness in all area's of woodworking. But, if I was spending money for a tool to use with thin woods only, it would be a drum sander.

As to which bandsaw, there are a lot of good 14" bandsaws out there, all of which would do you well. I bought a 1948 Delta with a 3/4 hp. motor. I've used it to resaw 5" wide, 1/8" thick teak with no problems. Hardly had to sand at all. That being said, a bigger bandsaw would be much more useful, and I'll get one some day.

John

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

You can build a router bridge that will do a fine job of thicknessing wood to very very thin cross sections.

If you have access to a vacuum pump you can use vacuum to hold the wood down or you can use dbbl sided tape, or you can use pieces of wood at the ends and side edges to clamp the wood down.

Instrument makers tend to trust the drum sander to do their thicknessing. They often make their own hand fed drum sanders.

[Dan Gill]

I'm not a paddle maker or a luthier, but I know luthiers often use a tool called Luthier's Friend for thicknessing. It's essentially a drum sander that works on a drill press.

[Dave Richards]

Take a look at the Shaw and Tenney website. Maybe you want to consider a drum sander such as the ones they use. Seems like it would make shaping paddles and oars an easy thing.

[Bruce Haugen]

Luke,
I've made a bunch of paddles, from solid ash to laminated anything - cedar, walnut, ash, birch, maple, alder, pine, fiberglass, epoxy. Maybe some others, too.

What I'd do is find someone with a tablesaw to cut strips for you to laminate. It's too hard to do by hand, because you need to come up with two smooth surfaces per each strip. A tablesaw will do that. A bandsaw will get you close, but you'll still need to surface those strips. A drill press with a sanding drum in the chuck and a fence will take care of that.

Then you need some clamps to hold everything together. Then comes the shaping. I used a spokeshave, chisels, sanding disks in a drill, coping saw, and rasps. I might be missing a couple tools, but you can make pretty much everything about a paddle with the hand tools I've listed.

Bruce

[Jack Erickson]

Thre is a book out titled Canoe Paddles, A comlete Guide to Making your own. I think you would find it helpful. It was written by Graham Warren, and David Gimark. A band saw is very usefull in Paddle making, as are spokeshaves, block planes,and a #3 or #4 smoothing plane . A Stanley #151 Spokeshave is a good one, as is the low angle spokeshave by Veritas.