Kayak paddle

[Bob Elzinga]

Has anyone ever made a paddle for a kayak? I've been thinking of making one since seeing a canoe paddle made from maple and mahogany. It seems it would be easy enough. I have some long narrow lengths of maple and mahogany for the shaft, and some mahogany for the blades.

What type of finish would be best? Would it hold up over time? Would it be too heavy?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[Tony Scolaro]

There is a book called Canoe Paddles by Graham Warren and David Gidmark, it will help you out. Also a Kayak building book by Nick Shade has some information. There is also a Forum http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=004015&p=

and others. You can follow Nick Shade to the best forum Tony

[Kurt Loup]

I've made Greenland and Aleut style paddles. On both, I first applied tung oil then coated the paddles with thinned Minwax Spar Urethane applied with a paper towel. I like an oil finish only in the grip area so I didn't varnish that area.

Kurt

[Dell Littlefield]

When I make paddles, I like to put a coat of thin epoxy over the blades then some good spar varnish (Epifanes or Zspar). I have had very poor results with the Minwax spar urethane varnish. It just won't hold up to UV and must be refinished much too often.

[John Bailey]

I think the maple and mahogany would be too heavy. I bet it would hold up well, though. I make most of mine with a thin center strip of pine with the other layers of western red cedar. They come in at around 32 oz. I made one that was 26 oz. for my wife. I don't think that would hold up for me. I've made a couple with just pine and they are about 42 oz. That's a bit heavy for all day use, but they are tough.

Except for the first couple I made, I put an outside strip of thin ash around the edge and on the tips as the western red cedar tends to splinter if left uncovered. Maple or mahogany might work also.

I always put a couple coats of epoxy to seal the paddle before putting a good spar varnish on the the paddle to protect it from the sun. Epoxy doesn't take the sun very well.

John

[Tim Lynch]

If you don't mind me jumping in....

I might be making a couple of oars for my father soon. I was considering rift sawn white oak, because I'm using some on a project now and I thought it might work for the oars.

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.

(Also, I read through Bob Smalser's thread on oar building and it was great! http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=10036)