Sometimes a clean slate, like a basswood paddle blade, is the perfect substrate for a non-traditional final finish. In my experience, printed cotton fabric provides the matrix of absorbent material that epoxy wants to saturate and bond with. All these paddles are years old now and are withstanding the test of time quite well. For many paddlers, tradition and performance are the motivation behind choosing … Continue reading Color on Wood
Quiet paddleboards and calm morning water are as good as peanut butter and chocolate! Continue reading Summer Days Coming Soon!
In the shop all weekend. Happy to talk all things paddle building! Continue reading In shop all day – doing ‘stuff’
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
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
A fine summer day. The kids are home and the water called. Off we went to the Wisconsin River for a simple day trip. Put in at the Sauk City bridge. Take out at Honey Creek at the base of the amazing Ferry Bluff. Paddle boards are flexible beasties. You can stand. Or sit. Which means you can use a long paddle. Or a short … Continue reading Short Paddle Long Board
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
The first few non-green maple leaves are showing up in my yard this week. Already? It seems like I barely paddled this summer. The usual suspects popped up and robbed me of my time. However, there was some paddling. Seems like most often the paddling I do tends to be with people that have never been on a paddle board before, or with people that … Continue reading Summer 2017 in the books
Twas the night before freezeup and all through the land not a paddler was stirring – not even a kayaker the paddles were stored in their cases with care in the hopes that open water soon would be there the children were nestled all snug behind the counter while visions of paddling danced in their heads with ma making dough and I behind the camera … Continue reading Holiday Classic revised
We decided to take advantage of the last night before Daylight Savings Time ends and it starts getting dark after lunch here in northern flyover country 🙂 We loaded and scurried and arrived at the newly redone haunted old Dyreson Bridge with the sun still in the sky. Just barely. For once, there were others on my favorite stretch of the Yahara, in fact there … Continue reading Sunset paddling in magic light
paddles kits boards 