Paddles – Paddling Fool

Making a spare paddle

I’d been so busy making paddles for others that I’d forgotten my own needs completely!

My new Beaufor t being the shortest kayak I own has as a result a shorter fore-deck than the others. Normally I have a spare paddle stowed on the fore deck for quick and easyish access, in case of sudden need. My preferred spare paddles have been Greenland Paddles (GP) normally about 206-210 cm long, blade width of some 90mm and a loom length (on a shouldered blade) of about 50cm.

My normal GP’s were a bit too wide and a tad too long to fit the fore deck of the Beaufort WITH sail installed. So I needed make a slightly smaller stick.

I would need the spare paddle for the upcoming coastal paddle which was to start off in about 2½ weeks so I would be busy yet.

After some head scratching and dry fitting I deiced to make a simple shoulderless GP 200cm long, loom = 40 cm and blade width 88mm.

I found a ready made paddle blank I’d made some years back. It was made from two strips of nordic pine (pinus sylvestris) sapwood, with a touch of sapwood at one end. While heavier, approx 540 kg/m3 @ 18%, than the much raved Western Red Cedar (WRC) the benefit of the nordic pine is that it is easily available, cheap and alot stronger AND harder wearing than WRC. Perfect choice for a spare paddle which will get its fair share of bangs and misuse.

After the outline is ready the side outline is pencilled in. — After the outline is ready the side outline is penciled in.

Then its just alot of ole elbow grease! Despite all the hype out there, my smartphone was of no help at this stage!! ;) — Then its just a lot of ole elbow grease to thin the paddle blades! Despite all the hype out there, my smartphone, internet or wifi was of no help at this stage!! 😉

The blade width is 88mm and the staright portion is 400mm long. Blade thickness at tip is approx 10mm — The blade width is 88mm and the straight portion is 400mm long. Blade thickness at tip is approx 10mm

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — A minor disaster struck! A pitch pocket! right at the tip of the blade! Since this is a backup for meself, and I’m kinda in a rush and am not too picky.. I decided to continue…

.. I scraped and whittled out the excess pitch, then I made a batch of epoxy, tinted it into a reddish orange, kinda like what pitch looks like, and filled the pocket with said concoction.

After final shaping and sanding the paddle it was time to make required markings with pyrography pen . In addition to year of make and initials, I also like to burn the paddle dimensions. In this case: 200 (cm overall length) x 40 (cm loom length) x 88 (mm blade max width)

Here the paddle has a coat of wood oil and maybe 1 or 2 layers of Le Tonkinois Varnish.. still 2-3 more to go

Not the prettiest paddle out there, but it will make do, I’ve used worse and lived.

Since you’ve read this far its only fair to give some prize for the perseverance! 🙂

Paddle details:

length: 200 cm
blade max width: 88mm
loom length: 40 cm
Blade edge thickness 5mm
blade tip thickness 10mm
loom cross section = oval; width 28mm, thickness 32mm
Final weight: 1036 g

SUP paddle part II

Part II, continuation for blog post A new prototype: SUP paddle part I

To finally finish the SUP paddle pair I started building way back when.. I needed to do the most annoying bit: sanding and varnishing !!! Basicly its a simple chore, so simple that its easy to botch and then the end result looks cheap… so much for all that painstaking woodwork! 😉

So its time to confess. I’m probably a laziest sander I know and my varnishing skills are pretty poor, but in my defence I only make things that get banged up, scratched, misused, and usually at some point broken… so if the varnishing isn’t top-notch I suppose it doesnt matter much in the end? 😉

So the sanding. Yes, its booring. I won’t go into that other than despite its tediousness.. Its actually an important part of the process!! Don’t skip it! I start out usually with grit 80 -> 120-> 180-> 240 after that its time to varnish! Sometimes I start varnishing after 180. Sanding between every 2-3varnish layers I use 3m scotchbrite pads (or similar).

For the past 5 years or so I’ve mainly used the following method for varnishing my wooden paddles:

Pre-impregnation with Hempel Wood Impreg oil
4-7 layers of varnish, Le Tonkinois Brand. Light sanding between every 2-3 layers
redo varnishing as needed, usually after each season

Varnish: Le Tonkinois. Impregnation oil : Hempel Wood impreg. Here pictured is an old can (leftovers) of Wood Impreg1 which has been discontinued and replaced by “Wood Impreg”.. Not sure what the difference is between the two.. probably the new version is “less toxic” or some such thing…?

This cocktail seems to work nicely. Le Tonkinois seems to hold on better than urethane-alkyd varnishes out there! ‘Le Tonk’ is more expensive, but on wooden paddles you don’t need that much! Varnishing approx 6 paddles with 4 coats I use slightly less than 0.5 liters of varnish! One of the greatest things about ‘Le Tonk’ is that the paddle shaft doesnt feel slippery when wet, when it has been varnished with ‘Le Tonk’!

‘Le Tonk’ is an natural wood oil varnish. Consists of linseed oil, Tung oil and some other ‘natural’ ingredients. It doesnt require hazmat suits, its quite easy to apply with brush, is durable, has nice UV protection. Works nicely on paddles! It is my “go to” choice!

Le Tonkinois Varnish brings out the wood grains quite nicely! Here is the wallhange paddle with Walnut blade.

The two paddles varnished x 4 layers : Pine paddle (on left) is 190 cm long and final weight is 966g. Probably slightly heavy, but hopefully usable? Walnut paddle (on right) is 180 cm long weight: 1105g = wallhanger.. well maybe I'll try it out after I built meself a SUP board? ;) — The two paddles varnished x 4 layers : Pine paddle (on left) is 190 cm long and final weight is 966g. Probably slightly heavy, but hopefully usable? Walnut paddle (on right) is 180 cm long weight: 1105g = wallhanger.. well maybe I’ll try it out after I build meself a SUP board? 😉

A new prototype: SUP paddle – Part I

A friend had taken up on Stand Up Paddling. After some time she asked if I could make her a wooden SUP paddle. I’d never made a wooden SUP paddle and was kinda bored or atleast looking for something different to tinker on , so I promised to try to make a paddle for her.

Making something out of bits of wood wasn’t a problem. The challenge in this case was the basic design, shape and dimensions. I had no clue. I’d tried SUPping awhile ago in Portugal, but I was having such a fun time at the time that I didnt really pay any attention to the details of the paddle. Thank ze gods for the internet!

After googling for about 45 minutes, I more or less had some basic shaky idea what I was going to attempt. Online, I found a basic template of a paddle blade shape (I’ve lost the link for the moment from where I found the template, sorry about that!) and some possible dimensions as well. Also I had a book (yeah, I know, such an ancient concept and with no wifi either!), about canoe paddles!! So I was all set to go.@

The idea was to make a bent shaft paddle. My plan was to make the shaft from laminated strips. Partly for visual effetct and partly to make it .. well stronger. I fashioned a glue press with a 10 degree bend. The materials for the shaft were 3 strips of nordic pine sapwood @5.6mm thick and approx 40mm wide. Length at this stage was unknown so I built the shaft about 2300mm long. The remaining 2 strips I decided to use Mahogany of same dimensions. Mahogany may not be the smartest choice , as it is on the heavyish side.. but boy does it look great!

SUP paddle shaft in Glue Press. The shaft consists of 5 wood strips 5.6mm thick each. 3 strips of Nordic pine and two of mahogany. Glue used is Polyuretahne glue . Water spray bottle to ensure the glue ahrdenin process — SUP paddle shaft in Glue Press. The shaft consists of 5 wood strips 5.6mm thick each. 3 strips of Nordic pine and two of mahogany. Glue used is Polyurethane glue . Water spray bottle to ensure the glue hardening process.

To keep it all together, I decided to use single-component polyurethane glue made by Wurth. I’ve used it previously on a couple canoe and kayak paddles with good results. At the moment I dont trust it as much as 2-component epoxy, which I’ve used on several occasion previously, but I think it’ll do the job sufficiently. besides my finances were in the dumps.. polyurethane is soo much more cheaper than epoxy.

Polyurethane glue foams nicely when "drying". Due to this foaming tendency the press needs to be solid and no looseness can exists. otherwise the foam can push laminate startips apart! — Polyurethane glue foams nicely when “drying”. Due to this foaming tendency the press needs to be solid and no looseness can exists. otherwise the foam can push laminate strips apart – leaving pockets filled with foam, which arent structurally sound! Angle of the bend at the paddle thrat is 10 degrees.. a number I settteld on after googling stuff online. I have no idea if it is suitable… Time will tell! Lotsa exprerimentation in what I do!

After some gluing, pressing, planing I had the shaft ready after which I glued the “cheek pieces” of the blade, ie. the parts that make up the majority of the paddle blade area. For my Prototype #1 which will probably end up being a wallhanger anyway I used some scrap pieces of walnut I had lying around.. yeah, I know. not smart choice = too heavy and probably not very durable in the longterm.. but I had a hankering to work on walnut and I was going for looks at this stage.

After the glue has dried, the shaft blank is removed from the press and planed to correct width, in this case its about 28mm. Next step is to glue the blade cheeks.

Prototype#2 is basicly the same as #1 but the blade cheeks are nordic pine-sapwood, and 100mm longer. Should be quite a bit ighter than the shorter walnut version.

The paddle blade cheeks being glued on. The blade template visible in the background

The paddle blade outline has ben marked and the excess cut off. The blade cheek materil in nordic pine of relative "light" growth. ie. not so dense+heavy — The paddle blade outline has been marked and the excess cut off. The blade cheek material is nordic pine of relative “light” growth. ie. not so dense+heavy

The handle knob has been glued on and paddle is at its final length, approx 195cm. — The handle knob has been glued on and shaped to its rough outline. Paddle is at its final length, approx 195cm. This is the lighter version made of NordicPIne/Mahogany

Walnut planes really nicely!, even with a slightly dull blade. — Walnut planes really nicely! Even with a slightly dull blade. Here am in the process of shaping the backside

Slowly geting there.. and the pile of shavings grow! Its hard to imagine that there is approximately 80 €uros worth of walnut in this picture! — Slowly getting there.. and the pile of shavings grow! Its hard to imagine that there is approximately 80 €uros worth of walnut in this picture!

A handy tool for concave planing! I decided to make the powerface of the paddle blade concave. Not sure if it has effect and what it could be? looks cool, plus need to lighten the paddle every which way possible!

10 degree angle, (and a pair of work shoes marked “Left” and” Right”, incase non-finnish speakers were wondering?) 😉

The paddles still need to be sanded down to their final size and shape and varnished and then at some date tested! Follow up posts will follow….

Making a bent shaft Aleutian paddle – part 1

Hybrid Aleutian paddle, Top view — Hybrid Aleutian paddle. Prototype#2 Two seasons of use showing, but still going strong. Top view

Hybrid Aleutian paddle, sideview — Hybrid Aleutian paddle.Prototype #2. The power face is the flat face. Side view

A paddle design I’ve exclusively used the past 3 years. The first prototype I built and used during the summer of 2013. It performed well but due to the materials used; maple, alder and pine, was slightly on the heavy side ( 1500+ gms), but booy, oh boy is it robust!

For the coast of Finland kayaking trip in 2014, I built a second prototype from lighter materials (total weight in the 950g range): Western Red Cedar (WRC), nordic pine and alder. I’ve used that paddle now for two consequetive summers and some 2500+ kms of touring. It still needs improvement but still its the best paddle I have made. While its not the lightest paddle out there, it IS strong enough for touring/expedition use! NO question! It has slight flex, just enough to let you know there is flex, But it is sturdy for serious heavy duty use! I’m not sure it will withstand the greenland definition of a multi-use-dependable paddle = “one can use it as a pull up bar”, but it’ll come very close!

The dimensions of the paddle prototype# 2 are: Length 220cm, Loom length 55cm, Blade max width 92mm. The loom cross-section is a mix between a Tri-oval and egg shape, kinda asymmerical oval. The loom cross-section dimensions are: width 28mm and thickness 32mm.

Marko, who will be paddling the Finnish coast during the summer 2016, asked me to make him a similar paddle with slightly tweaked dimensions to suit him. Here’s a quick and dirty photo-album (part 1) of “How, what and possibly why?”

Part – 2 will follow once I get the paddle made… and mayhaps later of how it all worked out? Or did it?