I was fortunate to get a large slab of Ash to continue my hobbie of carving Greenland paddles. Little did I know how hard, heavy and unforgiving this wood is for carving. Typically, I hear of others using it for armor in laminate paddles. I had hoped to shape my 2x4 piece of ash into a nice white (no knots) GP but my efforts stalled early on as my spoke shave and block plan had little effect. The tools have been sharpened and the wood has been drying out for a while. Any suggestions from others who have worked with this type of wood would be appreciated.
Irishmanng
Save It For The SOF Ribs…
it’s good straight grain ash. I find it much harder to find good wood for ripping and shaping into ribs for a boat.
Easier to find good straigth grain western red cedar for the paddle. Plus wrc is much more water resistant and lighter.
sing
you said it
too heavy. my first gp was spruce. it weighed about 40 ounces, about as much as an inexpensive euro style paddle with plastic blades and aluminum shaft. your ash paddle will probably weigh a lot more than that, as spruce is a relatively light wood. my next gp, made of cedar, weighed about 29 oz, as light as many paddles in the $200 range. plus cedar is easy to carve. i’d say find another use for the ash and start over with a cedar blank for the gp.
this is why the greeks used
ash as the wood of choice for spears and pikes.
In homer’s oddyssey you can find about a 1000 references to Ash Spears.
Should I give up!
The verdict doesn’t sound to good so far. It sounds like I should scrap the idea of carving out a whole plank. In earlier posting, I shared some pics of a spruce storm paddle and a red cedar cricket style. http://community.webshots.com/album/307474397qyKMHK
I agree that other woods are much easier to work with.
Irishmanng
It’s tought to carve and a bit too flexy
not to mention heavy.
The Dutch used it for shoes