I’m dedicating this post to https://ashesstillwaterboats.com. Anyone who gives out free plans for making cool stuff deserves a mention. Especially as once I made the paddle and posted a photo, they sent me free plans for a canoe to build!

Of course credit also needs to go to Number 1 son who requested a handmade paddle for his birthday. Unable to decide between the Beaver tail model and the Otter tail, I got both. Having cut them out, Toby’s had to take precedence as his birthday was looming as was his canoe trip down the River Tay. The timber is Ash from a local timber yard www.treespanner.co.uk, really helpful people, good stock and great attitude. Anyone who helps load the vehicle, and says just transfer the money when you get home deserves a mention.

Method

I borrowed fathers bandsaw to cut the outline then it was back to my workshop for shaping. The shaft I kept square for as long as possible so as to hold it firmly in the vice. The blade faces have only a gentle curve so Topsy Margarets smoothing plane was the best tool for keeping a nice uniform shape. The handle was shaped with a curved bottomed spoke shave, a variety of carving chisels and a curved carving knife (see below). The curved bottom spoke shave was used again for the transition from shaft to blade, then the shaft was done using the smoothing plane for the majority of the length employing the classic technique of taking material off the corners to make the square section octagonal, then take of the corners again to make a Hexadecagon (yes yes, I had to look it up…😀) and then smoothing all the corners of ’til it felt good in the hand. In section it isn’t a true circle it’s an ellipse, so as to keep more strength in the direction of the stroke.

Some in Progress shots

Beavertail.

There is something very therapeutic about shaping a good piece of wood, working methodically with a sharp blade, surrounded by fragrant shavings, revealing the shape hidden within (yeah yeah alright Michelangelo 🙄)

The pattern calls for an alarmingly thin section at the edge and I have to confess I baulked at going quite as skinny as the specification so they are probably slightly heavier than the optimum, but I’ll trade a bit of extra heft for a sturdier paddle that can take the knocks.

Sidetracked

I did get slightly sidetracked with a another little job, making a curved carving knife out of an old file. I justified it by using it to create the concave areas of the paddle hand grips but really it was just an excuse to fire up the little devil forge and hit metal hard with a hammer!

Pudding

The proof of the paddle is in the paddling they say…

So in a classic competition that would go down in the annals of history as Beaver v Otter, Up the Ouse! Number 1 and I lit out for the horizon… well the weir in this case then back to the pub for a pint and a spot of lunch! Slightly irritating that you can’t tie up to the pubs pontoon (apparently this is a health and safety issue 🙄) and have to ‘trespass’ on the farmers field opposite then cross over via a footbridge but we didn’t let that spoil our pint!

The match ended in a draw with neither Beaver nor Otter out paddling the other, I guess the obvious flaw here was both being in the same canoe… though I swear I was catching him up at one point….😄 Seriously though, I was really pleased with both paddles, possibly after a solid day paddling I might regret the slight increase in weight but I certainly didn’t notice it over a few hours.