Took me a while but finished the paddle and have lots of pics.
It’s redwood and douglas fir. The main shaft and middle of the paddle are all the same piece of redwood, the piece of old fence post I planed off in the pics. The fir was kiln dried, bought from the store.
Glassed in RR epoxy. I used 9oz fiberglass tape for the shaft wrapped spirally, 2 layers of 6 oz for the blade and handle.
Cut with a saw to thin the blade out. I got a few degrees of angle from the width of the wood, not a full 10 degrees though. If I do another one I think I know how I can cut it from 1 piece of wood but still get 10 degrees on the blades angle of attack.
The tool we used for most of the shaping/thinning. Big old sanding disk.
Taped off to prevent oversanding. I really need a dust catcher for this. Everything in the garage was coated in redwood dust by the time we were finished.
Think this was the finished shape. You can see how much angle I have and how I got it using the width of the wood. Maybe 3 degrees?
Turned the shaft against the grinding disk by hand.
Front of the paddle blade. I blew it off with the air gun to really get the redwood depth to show up, the dark lines are a little bit of water that was in the hose. You can see the shine in the bottom right.
I ground the grip till it felt good in my hand. The denseness of the knot and the softness of the white sap wood was fun
You can see the 9oz wrap here plus a thin sealing coat I put on the handle. I sealed the whole paddle with epoxy before applying the glass. It was oh so gorgeous, wish I had taken pics. The glass took away a lot of the beauty The handle is unglassed in this pic so you can sort of see how nice it looked.
You can also see John Mellors “Swaylock’s inspired” logo. Problem was the pink/flesh of the mermaid didn’t show up very well against the wood. I later cut out a black and white version and perfectly placed it over the pink one. However, in sunshine you can still see the pink one Also I used tracing paper that seemed to be the same thinness of the rice paper I used for grapics on my board. Against that wood though you can see the difference very easily, probably would have been ok against a white board though. Where I overlayed the mermaid though it’s twice as white Going to see if the rice paper Benny has is better, hopefully today.
Another pic of the handle, maybe to show the glow of the wood, I forget
Fully glassed paddle FLOAT TEST! It floats like crazy, just the front 1/4th of the blade is submerged, the shaft is probably 50%+ out of the water
Here you can see the drill holes I used to get rid of some bubbles. I cut them open and then fill coated thinking the RR resin would slowly soak into the cuts. I was wrong. Drilled down to them and filled them with a syringe, however the stress of the drill hole shows up white still. Also you can see where there is 2 layers of 9oz on the transition from blade to shaft. Though it might need some reinforcement from banging against things while paddling however it makes the glass more opaque. I’m actually thinking I’m going to strip the paddle down to the wood to remove the drill stress, the too thick glassing, and the logo problem.
Anyone know about how much glass you need for a paddle? 12oz on the blade, 9oz overlapped slightly on the shaft, 12oz on the handle. Can I cut it down to maybe 6oz on the blade, 6oz on the shaft, and 6oz on the handle? I have 60 inch wide 6 oz so I can wrap the whole shaft in 1 continuous piece of 6oz rather than spiraled/overlapped 9oz tape. It just really shows up when you have the 18oz overlap. But then strength is the ultimate purpose.
Close up. At the laps on the edge of the paddle there is 24oz of glass (6ozx4)
Overlapped mermaid, oh and a bubble in the logo too
Other logo turned out nice though still the opaqueness problem. The super bright natural light and high quality camera really brings out the flaws. You can’t actually see those bubbles and glass texture usually.
Nice work… I started a paddle too made from basswood (shaft) and balsa blade. Very easy to shape. I’ll use epoxy and 4 oz. glass with a carbon backing on the blade. I had to put the project on hold to finish two other projects.
The Douglas fir was sooo hard compared to the redwood. I put it on the sides for protection of the blade but I’m not sure it was worth the effort of working it.
Balsa and basswood sounds like a much easier time.
The blade is 8" x 15" (till the neck thins out to the shaft)
56" long
Shaft is about 1 1/4" deep x 1" wide (what felt good in my hand)
Carvenalu suggested 52" I think for a 6’ guy but I had a broom that was exactly this long that felt good in my fake paddling on the couch. We’ll see. Can always cut it shorter.
I really like the wood combination. I have never made a paddle but my good friend has made a ton.
He gets the 10 degrees but cutting it into the paddle a few inches below the intersection of the shaft and the blade, meaning that his paddle would have one more joint than yours does. This does not seem to affect the strength of the paddle but does cut back on wood wasted and time sanding. He also used the West epoxy to glue the joints and as the finish, without any cloth for reinforcement. He just paints the epoxy on the paddle.
The blade is 8" x 15" (till the neck thins out to the shaft)
56" long
Shaft is about 1 1/4" deep x 1" wide (what felt good in my hand)
Carvenalu suggested 52" I think for a 6’ guy but I had a broom that was exactly this long that felt good in my fake paddling on the couch. We’ll see. Can always cut it shorter.
Yeah, by all means, whatever feels good for you… I think arm length and torso length all plays a factor… My SUP paddles changed over the last few months from one hand span over my head to about 3 inches shorter. My sit down and knee paddles are still at 48" but that’s after trying all kinds of different lengths…
Like you said, you can always go shorter… Nice work on your paddle for sure!
Look’s beautiful. I made one very similar, but had flex problem with the redwood shaft. Way too much. Ended up going with mahagony shaft, heavier but much more stiff. How’s the flex on yours?
Kai, that looks nice. The resin really sets off the wood. How much does it weight?
Out of all of the kayak paddles I’ve made I have never had to glass the shafts, but I use ash with a sassafras core. The blades are glassed with 2-2oz layers of glass on each side, and I halo the blades with dynel. The shaft extends to the tip of the blade and I use black willow for the blades. The willow is nice and light. Keeps the weight down to about 2 1/2 lbs. for the last kayak paddles I made @ 196 cm.
My blades are used on all of the local rivers and really take a beating. So far I have not broke any, and my latest is four years old with 600+ rivers miles. I have used ash bang strips on the edge as well but find that it is not really
necessary just adds weight.
Nice work. Watch out for redwood. The dust gave me pink once.
Kaalualu: Hmm, when I lean on it the flex is very minimal, but then I glassed it up the wazoo. After hearing about your flex maybe I’ll keep it glassed the way it is.
Hafte: My scale is not very accurate but I’d say it’s under 2 pounds. The scale only moves like 1 pound. I’ll try to get a more accurate weigh somehow.
Maybe glassing the super light redwood worked out alright weight wise. It certainly floats well.
The handle is unglassed in this pic so you can sort of see how nice it looked.
Also I used tracing paper that seemed to be the same thinness of the rice paper I used for grapics on my board. Against that wood though you can see the difference very easily, probably would have been ok against a white board though. Where I overlayed the mermaid though it’s twice as white