Jamie created his first paddle and finished it last week. He paddled out with it the other day and used it for the entire session. The paddle worked well but I did notice it had way more flex than the fiberglass paddles and was kind of heavy. Hey its his first paddle. I think it looked great and was very functional.
Jamie's account of the paddle's production.
You have to begin... somewhere. I used #1 pine 1x4 material for the shaft and poplar for the blades. The handle is laid up with walnut. There is allot of shaping to do and lessons to be learned. Lesson #1 DO NOT USE PINE FOR SHAFT, IT LIKES TO CHANGE SHAPE. Paddle #2 will have a basswood shaft with some dark hardwood accents on the blade. I'm going to glass the blades about 6" up the shaft and heavily varnish the shaft and handle. So far it feels heavy so its grind, grind, grind till the thing lightens up. I did some shaping over the New Year holiday. Used a hand plane to round the shaft and a big round pad grinder with 80 grit resin disc for the blade shaping. The blade is still too thick but I'm liking the shape. I need to get to a vice for final shaping. Overall I'm pleased, I think it will be a practical paddle although it will probably be heavy due to the thickness of the shaft. I'm scared to take any more wood off because i want the paddle to last more than one session.
His ''Maple Sticks'' logo
First stages of the paddle. Glue up lumber
The blade in rough form
Sanded paddle taking shape
The blade and shaft sanded
Glue up 'T' handle with finger grooves
Oval sanded shaft with the paddle needing more shaping..
Back of the blade sanded
T handle
Shaped,Glassed and ready for use..
Jamie says' My first paddle worked now I'll pick better wood for #2
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