Summer Days Coming Soon!
Quiet paddleboards and calm morning water are as good as peanut butter and chocolate! Continue reading Summer Days Coming Soon!
Category: design
In shop all day – doing ‘stuff’
In the shop all weekend. Happy to talk all things paddle building! Continue reading In shop all day – doing ‘stuff’
Fall Day Slow River = Perfect
Some days are unexpectedly better than anticipated. This day was one of them. Perfect clear cool water, lots of birds singing their joy of living, and a quiet stretch of my favorite paddling place. Also my kid. My wife and I both tried to get time with each kid outside and doing something. Strange, but most of my days were outside on the water. Hopefully, … Continue reading Fall Day Slow River = Perfect
a Splash of Magic
I don’t know much about photography, but I do know that every morning and evening there is a few skinny minutes when the light is ‘just right’. It’s magic light. Really it’s light from a natural source at a low angle so there are few shadows. But I like ‘magic light’ better. I think this lighting voodoo gets stronger as the days get shorter in … Continue reading a Splash of Magic
walnut gets wet
Our latest little adventure to Lake Wazeecha, saw a custom built walnut paddle makes its debut. As with nearly all other woods, walnut can be just right for a paddleboard paddle. While some suggest that walnut is too heavy, I push back just a bit and suggest that weight belongs in a performance-oriented work world – not the leisurely world of having fun on the … Continue reading walnut gets wet
a Redwood Custom Paddle
I think wood makes for some beautiful paddles. Wood has heart. It has character. It has soul. Looking at it, you can just about see the story it is telling you. Here’s the story: It’s gorgeous stuff, at least to my eyes. While it is hard not to be a good bit upset at how North American virgin redwood was treated back in the day, … Continue reading a Redwood Custom Paddle
Birds Eye and Paisley Paddles
It may not rise to the level of peanut butter and chocolate, but pine and cotton work just fine as paddle blades. My so-called ‘creative side’ favors the machine made paisley in all its many colors and patterns. My eye also likes the wild patterns found in nature, in this case a pair of bookmatched knots and the surprising revelation of ‘birds eye’ upon slicing … Continue reading Birds Eye and Paisley Paddles
Wide and Narrow Together
Piling on to the prior shaft strip entry, the image above illustrates another option for building a unique paddle shaft. This is a redwood paddle, except for the first strip which is some sort of cedar. That first strip in this stack, the one the blade pieces attach to is wider than the strips above it. Under my hand, at the top of the blade, … Continue reading Wide and Narrow Together
Shaft Strip Design Ideas
(or Wood is just plain gorgeous!) The longer I keep my hands in the game of wood working, the more I come to see wood in its limitless forms as my favorite palette. The picture above contains four simple examples and one of my favorite all time examples of beautiful surprises in the most unexpected (maybe common?) places. I like to eat dessert first, so … Continue reading Shaft Strip Design Ideas
old Growth Spruce for Shaft Top Piece
Every once in awhile even a blind squirrel finds a nut, or so a guide down in Mobile told me a few years back. A few days back I found a bunch of nuts, only they are in the form of several ancient old boards of old growth redwood and spruce. The picture above is the piece of spruce I found digging through the dark … Continue reading old Growth Spruce for Shaft Top Piece
paddles kits boards 