I wanted to illustrate the paddle building process and continue where my Balsa Skinned SUP thread ended. There were a lot of questions on paddle building and wanted to illustrate the process I used. I am not a professional paddle builder and I’ve only made three paddles. I think my paddles are getting better with each one I build. This is meant to be a primer to get the first time paddle builders started. This is by all means not definitive because there is always more than one way to skin a cat. (Sorry PETA!)
I picked CarveNalu’s brain on suggestions on paddle designs. The key points to keep it light, 10 – 14 degree blade angle, oval shaped shaft for hand comfort, make it float, and keep the length about 4-9 inches above your height. CaveNalu suggested that the shorter paddle can generate more power but not too short. A paddle too tall can burn out your shoulders and a paddle to short can cause back pains and make the paddling unstable.
I spent hours staring at all my outrigger paddles and getting ideas from each one. I love the feel of a good light wooden paddle but also like the durability of a carbon hybrid paddle. I bought a book from Amazon.com titled: Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide to Making Your Own. I found two sources of Basswood in Honolulu and bought Balsa wood from EBAY. Manoa milled the basswood on his brand new thickness planer. That was fast and fun!
I milled the basswood shafts into pieces that were about 7’ x 1.5” x 1.5”. (My next milling will be 7’x1.5”x1”; less wood to shape.) The balsa blade pieces were 18”x4”x3/8”.
Cutting the shaft angle was best described by Lazymondo: “you can get the same results angling the blade by building the shaft long , cutting through it at the desired blade angle ,say 10 deg. then just flip the lower cut off piece and glue back on with the flat side facing the cut side, then glue your blade sides on.”
I’ll illustrate this and the following with photos of a paddle I am currently building.
I glued up the paddle with a Basswood shaft with a Balsa wood blade. I used a disc sander, planer, sanding blocks of 60 grit, soft pad 100 grit and my favorite most utilized tool was a Stringer Hand Plane (razor planer) I got from Clark Foam. (You guys still remember Clark Foam?)
I used the power tools to shape the wood as close to what I wanted and dared to go. Balsa and Basswood are pretty easy to shape. The razor planer did the rest of the shaping. The shaping of the shaft was more like whittling. It reminded me of some of the things I did to earn a Boy Scout merit badge. It was fun and I did manage to get that oval shaped shaft I was going for.
I glassed the blade with epoxy and the front face of the blade with 4 oz. S-glass and the back of the blade with 5.7oz carbon fiber and capped with 4 oz. S-glass. I coated the shaft with epoxy.
14 degree angle drawn on basswood shaft.
After cutting angle, section B is flipped and glued to section A.
Balsa wood blades glued to basswood shaft. Hint: glue one side at a time.
More pictures as the project continues…
Aloha,
D