If you have been checking out SUP stuff on the web, you already know about Stoneaxe, a
New England blogger who is also a skilled paddle crafter. I met him at
lumberjocks about a year or so ago and was inspired at what he was doing with a few of his paddles. I was able to hook up with both Bob and his brother (Pono Bill) who sponsored the
Kenalu Big Board Showcase last summer. What a great time, those guys are a riot! I gotta say, if you don't know these two you should. After I got back home, I tried to make a couple of paddles, but they were all wrong. Stoneaxe gave me lots of good advice, but something wasn't working out. I stopped, regrouped and am having a go on paddle #3.
The shaft is a five piece lamination, with an ash center strip and two strips of basswood on each side. Sounds easy enough, but it's a little tricky. Over-sizing the pieces is key. You don't want to go to big or you waste a lot, but you want to have enough here so you can square it all up and know it's a bit bigger than your final dimensions. I used a piece of koa I bought as scrap for the blades and grip pieces. I know koa as scrap!? Seriously, I'm in for about 7 bucks for the koa!! The blade also has an inlay of purple heart, for strength and so I know what side is what. I used the left over purple heart piece to build up the grip too. Important note, I glued up everything with W.S. Epoxy, it might be overkill, but I wanted it to be super strong. When I put the blades on, I just glued it up directly to the shaft. I wanted to use dowels or a spline, but let's see hoe this works out, maybe next time.
I made the blade template out of Masonite, it's a slightly different curve than a C4 paddle, a little shorter, and wider.
The grip has a thin strip of maple between the koa and purple heart. The koa and maple are the same thickness as the shaft, the purple heart is to as some meat that will fit into my hand, like my C4 paddle grip does.
Here, you can see what a slab this thing is! The blades is about 1" thick...for now. I "built" in about a 4 degree angle on the blade/shaft, hopefully I won't mess it up. I don't think I needed to do that, but it was fun freaking out about it. Next time I'll take a lesson from the outrigger crew and do a proper job for the angle shaft.
There is still lot of work to do, get the grip smooth and rounded, get the blade down to size, round and slightly taper the shaft.
Hopefully, it won't be like the opening scene in The Patriot when Mel Gibson sits on that beauty of a chair, and then all of the sudden, it's a year supply of toothpicks!
I plan on glassing the shaft and blade with S glass and epoxy to add some extra strength. I'll also use a few coats of high quality varnish on top for UV protection and we'll be ready to go. If it doesn't turn out, I guess I can fix it enough to hang it on the wall, flip huge banana pancakes, make some killer pizzas or use it to reach all the crap up in the top of the closet.
I made the blade template out of Masonite, it's a slightly different curve than a C4 paddle, a little shorter, and wider.
The grip has a thin strip of maple between the koa and purple heart. The koa and maple are the same thickness as the shaft, the purple heart is to as some meat that will fit into my hand, like my C4 paddle grip does.
Here, you can see what a slab this thing is! The blades is about 1" thick...for now. I "built" in about a 4 degree angle on the blade/shaft, hopefully I won't mess it up. I don't think I needed to do that, but it was fun freaking out about it. Next time I'll take a lesson from the outrigger crew and do a proper job for the angle shaft.
There is still lot of work to do, get the grip smooth and rounded, get the blade down to size, round and slightly taper the shaft.
Hopefully, it won't be like the opening scene in The Patriot when Mel Gibson sits on that beauty of a chair, and then all of the sudden, it's a year supply of toothpicks!
I plan on glassing the shaft and blade with S glass and epoxy to add some extra strength. I'll also use a few coats of high quality varnish on top for UV protection and we'll be ready to go. If it doesn't turn out, I guess I can fix it enough to hang it on the wall, flip huge banana pancakes, make some killer pizzas or use it to reach all the crap up in the top of the closet.
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