02-12-2017, 04:13 PM
I need to get into the oar business.
I may make one more, if I do I'll take some photos Al (ADD kicked in again and we moved on to wooden tool chests)
The shaft has a 1/2 inch thick Ash core, (quite flexible wood with reasonable strength) then laminated 1/4 inch thick cherry on the outside. Not just for looks, the cherry is quite a bit lighter so it cuts down on the weight and lets the shaft flex as you paddle, not sure you want that in an oar? maybe.
The blade is laminated on the sides of the shaft, I added the ash strips for vanity purposes only. Used cherry for the blade to reduce weight. A lot are made of solid ash but they are heavy. Same for the handle.
A friend lent me his patterns, simply trace out the shape then cut off what doesn't look like a paddle on the bandsaw.
I cleaned up the shape on the disk and drum sander at this point. Then traced lines along the edge of the blade to give a 1/4 inch thickness in the middle, the blade and handle are 1 inch thick at this point. Then a V on each face from the bottom centre to slightly wider than the shaft. I then cut from the v to the edge line on the bandsaw. A tricky cut till you get used to it, following two lines at the same time, one on the edge and one on the face. With those parts sawed away I used a hand held power planer to finish rough shaping the blade, then a spoke shave to contour the final shape. The shaft is rounded over with a router bit then the spoke shave cleans it up. The handle is a pain. To get a nice curved finger grip I use carving gouges to form the concave shape following the top of the handle then scoop out the faces with the bandsaw and a lot of sanding.
Your oars would be a lot more stressed, not sure what they should be made of to keep weight down and still stand up.
I may make one more, if I do I'll take some photos Al (ADD kicked in again and we moved on to wooden tool chests)
The shaft has a 1/2 inch thick Ash core, (quite flexible wood with reasonable strength) then laminated 1/4 inch thick cherry on the outside. Not just for looks, the cherry is quite a bit lighter so it cuts down on the weight and lets the shaft flex as you paddle, not sure you want that in an oar? maybe.
The blade is laminated on the sides of the shaft, I added the ash strips for vanity purposes only. Used cherry for the blade to reduce weight. A lot are made of solid ash but they are heavy. Same for the handle.
A friend lent me his patterns, simply trace out the shape then cut off what doesn't look like a paddle on the bandsaw.
I cleaned up the shape on the disk and drum sander at this point. Then traced lines along the edge of the blade to give a 1/4 inch thickness in the middle, the blade and handle are 1 inch thick at this point. Then a V on each face from the bottom centre to slightly wider than the shaft. I then cut from the v to the edge line on the bandsaw. A tricky cut till you get used to it, following two lines at the same time, one on the edge and one on the face. With those parts sawed away I used a hand held power planer to finish rough shaping the blade, then a spoke shave to contour the final shape. The shaft is rounded over with a router bit then the spoke shave cleans it up. The handle is a pain. To get a nice curved finger grip I use carving gouges to form the concave shape following the top of the handle then scoop out the faces with the bandsaw and a lot of sanding.
Your oars would be a lot more stressed, not sure what they should be made of to keep weight down and still stand up.
Free advice is worth exactly what you payed for it.
Greg
Greg