In the early days of winter, as the shortest day of the year approaches, I start hoping for an email from Rutabaga. This year it arrived, inviting me to do a seminar at this year’s Canoecopia. So….I will. I’ll be up in the Atrium on Saturday (March 9) afternoon from 1-3PM, talking and arm waving about the joys and delights of woodworking and paddle making. … Continue reading Canoecopia 2019
I grew up in a house heated with wood. Usually, in the summer, my brother and I spent beaucoup time out at the wood pile, sweating away, cutting long logs into short sticks and then splitting those sticks and THEN stacking those split pieces. I don’t recall too many late nights during my teenage summers, we were too tired from the advance planning for wood … Continue reading Making a Paddle – Twice Warmed
This has to do with how you choose to shape the lower ends of each of the shaft strips. The first shaft strip is joined with the blades. No worries there. The second shaft strip I usually make several inches shorter than the first strip, so it ends about halfway down the blade. Where it ends (the overall length) itself is a maker decision. I … Continue reading T is for Taper
In life sometimes we are encouraged to hold things together. In paddle making that’s just what a form does. A form makes it easy to keep things in one place, straight and aligned as the epoxy sets or the glue dries. It took me awhile to conjure up the first form. I have gone through a few more iterations of that form in the past … Continue reading F is for Form
