Hmmm, this is a lot tougher than I had originally thought. Who woulda thunked that makin' a paddle woulder been so dang hard? On the left is the Poplar blank, on the right is the very roughed out paddle that still needs to be shaped a little more and then sanded. I figured using Poplar would have been an okay choice, as it tools really nicely and it's a cheap beginner wood, haha...stupid Brad, Poplar is for cabinets. It isn't a bad wood and I'd love to make some furniture with it, but as far as boat and paddle building are concerned, I'll be using something else next time. Poplar has no resistance to rot, I'm completely relying on the clear coat to extend the life of the wood. It is heavy, brittle, and kind of on the ugly side (it has an unpleasant greenish' yellow color that looks worse when clear coated). Oh well, that's part of learning new skills I reckon. So anyway, the paddle was going to be 94 inches in length, but now it's 84 inches long. I started cutting the rough shape with a hand saw and my body decided it would rather use power tools instead, so I borrowed a circular saw (thanks Duane). I accidentally angled the saw incorrectly with my first cut and ended up cutting past the center line on one of the tips of the paddle. Apparently it is easy to cut wood off of a board, but very hard to put it back on...next time I'll practice on a piece of scrap to get comfortable with using a different saw. Since I ended up only messing up the end of the board, no real harm was done, and the project could be salvaged by removing 5" from both ends of the blank.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the other piece of lumber, it won't be used for another paddle though, I'll try Basswood or Cedar next time.
There is the piece of Dacron I added to the Stem of the canoe to make it more durable. It was a giant pain in my arse! It is actually 3 different pieces, there is a 1 1/2 inch wide piece on the very front of the stem, then there are two of the larger quarter eclipse type shapes you can see there (one on each side). I ended up reading the instructions that came with the boat plan, which are not very clear (at least not to me), and I did a few extra steps. Oh well, it will be nice and durable now, and when I hit the first tree I'll be glad I can't read and follow instructions. I think it gives the boat a little style, it kind of pops when you look at it now...haha!
Well, next time you hear from me, the paddle will be complete and the boat will be taking a bath. Until then, toodaloo!
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