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
I do love a wood paddle. Add in a bent shaft and a comfortable handle and it’s even better! Best of all though, is that each paddle project is a chance to build something unique and all your own. There’s no right or wrong, nor are there any federal guidelines. Some in the paddling world focus on weight and performance metrics, but when you only … Continue reading Start with an Idea!
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
