Laminated GP
I laminated two clear pine 1x4s to make my paddle because I had the wood sitting around and wanted to spend $0 on my first GP. The paddle is fairly straight and has not come apart after a season of use.
I’m not sure how I would ever know if it was a good paddle since I don’t know anyone else with a GP. Anyone near Lake Tahoe want to stop by and let em try theirs? 
Dave
string , when laminating your …
– Last Updated: Jul-30-08 5:55 PM EST –
........ 1 x 4's together , make absolutely certain that the one on bottom is layed flat , on a perfectly flat surface along it's intire length . Clamps are not always nessasary , an optional method is to make wooden bridges a 1/4" taller than the laminated pieces and fasten them to the flat building surface .(ex., 2 - 1x4 = 1-1/2", so bridge height is 1-3/4") ..
Your adhesive (glue) prepared 1x4's slide in from the end between the bridges , hand final align and set wedges (even cedar shims) between the bridges and top 1x4 to tension together . For 1x4's I'd set the brigdes about 12" apart . I have 3-1/2" wide oak shims , but these are not nessasary , any shim (wedge) will do fine .
The reason I say a perfectlty flat build surface (a good work bench for example), is because once the two boards are glued up and adjoined , any twist or bow during the drying process will stay that way after release from bridge or clamps .
A radius shaped piece can be made by laminating several thin pieces together around a radius form , and when all dry and removed , the fabricated piece remains a radius .
Once you have shaped your paddle and fine sanded it , it would be a good idea to let it set for a couple weeks or more (shimmed/braced as it is shaped) before applying final finish . The reason I say this , is because after a couple weeks you may notice the two boards have shrunk (acclimated) somewhat differently , and this will be felt in the seam where laminated .
At this point simply fine sand the seam back to where you can not feel it again and 1st coat seal (immediately) the intire paddle to keep further moisture from getting into the wood , also will trap moisture that is in the wood at that point . Wood needs to have some moisture in it to remain stable .
Another option for laminating , is to fabricate a "true" fence jig . That is simply a flat board (2x something) with another flat board (2x something) fastned to it perpendicular with screws along a straight line . The board sitting on the other should have a true edge (ex., table saw cut with no rounded corners) .. I would prefer the primed fingerjointed 5/4" stock from Home depot for this though , because it is very true , meaning not bowed , cupped or twisted , which makes fabrications much more accurate .
Quartersawn photo & laminating wood
CountryGent,
Thanks for the picture. A picture is truly worth 1,000 of my words.
Jim,
You can laminate 1" WRC siding into a paddle blank. You should look for quarter sawn grain although the process of lamination will add some strength. Some of the 1" planks are likely to be quarter sawn.
After being shown how by an experience paddlemaker, I conducted a class building hollow shaft GPs with my local kayak club. I glued up 15 hollow shaft blanks and we made 15 hollow shaft Greenland Paddles out of WRC siding. It can be done. What you are thinking of doing (glueing two 1" planks to get a 2" plank) is much easier than glueing up a hollow shaft GP. The downside are that you lose the slight flexibility of a solid paddle (due to lamination) and that you need to keep the paddle coated with epoxy to protect the glue line. Yeah, I know about waterproof glues, I just don’t fully trust them.
The only upside to a hollow shaft GP, beyond doing it so you can say you did it, is they are very light. They are a pain in the ass to glue up.
Some GP users never coat their solid WRC paddles, just letting them turn grey with only an occasional sanding to knock down any grain that rises through use. WRC doesn’t need any coating, but I do so for looks.
Dave
Hollow GP
Dave’s hollow GPs are very cool.
Thanks for the photo. My 2 boards are
combination sawn.I glued them this afternoon with epoxy.At 90 deg in the garage, there is little drying time. I clamped the heck out of them and will let the epoxy cure overnight.No warping noted.
I’ll glue the maple set tomorrow.
combination sawn
String,
Combination sawn wood should work and the strength is increased a bit by laminating. There may be areas of tricky grain. If the grain is starting to cause trouble in one direction try reversing direction of drawknife, block plane or spokeshave in that area. One WRC solid blank I carved had such tricky grain on one end that I finally went to random orbital sanding to finish it. Whatever hand tool, used in whatever direction, led to just more tear out. Hopefully you will find your wood easier.
Dave
Thanks Dave
Yep, I was able to cull som ALMOST quarter-sawn boards from the pile. One of these days…
Jim
When I get a Round Tuit
Dave, I am proud to say my
father in law gave me a spokeshave and an electic planer. Guess which one I use for paddle making.Set that planer at minimum and it does a far better and faster job on the blades than any hand tool ,in my hands.
electric tools on GP
String,
I cherish the experience of using quality hand tools. That being said, almost everyone roughs out the blank on a bandsaw. When faced with making 15 blanks for the hollow shaft GP workshop with my kayak club I not only used a bandsaw, I also planed the face of the blanks on the out-feed table of a powermatic jointer.
Quite a concession for a hand tool lover. I guess its the difference between enjoying making an occasional paddle and doing a production run.
Dave
Can you quantify “relatively light”?
I have a cypress single blade - that’s nice in all other ways, save what it weighs! Heavier than any of my GPs. A cypress GP would have to be a bit more than the single blade.
I do 'em old school
Drawknives for most wood removal and overall shaping, planes to level/true up faces, spokeshave for places it fits/things it does better. Also microplanes for shoulder area work.
For Aleuts and “Woodwing” hybrids more complex shapes also I use a small scorp and gouge, and then need to do a lot more scraping/sanding. Because of this they can be close to twice the work of the GPs.
laminating note
I’m just finishing up a paddle that is laminated from 11 strips of wood. I think I made a mistake when laminating in that I didn’t attempt to align the grain of the various strips. Experienced woodworkers (not me) always plane with the grain. If you don’t you end up splintering out chunks rather than cutting nice curly shavings. The fact that the grains in my laminated strips were not aligned made it impossible to plane in the direction of all the strips’ grain. So while one of the strips was planing nicely, the next strip over was chunking. Something to think about before the glue sets, eh?
~~Chip
My Cypress is 94" x3.25" vs my
laminate at 90"x3.75". The cypress is lighter, but more importantly the grain is so tight it looks like a hardwood such as basswood. The surface is hard and smooth and feels good on my hands and does not require a hard topcoat like my laminate does. It also does not dent the way the laminate does. The laminate was professionally carved and has much better lift and symetry, but I wish it were out of cypress or some other wood that feels like my cypress paddle. It could be that my cypress was dried more, or has a tighter grain structure. I don’t know, I just like it. My laminate is made from mahagony, wrc, and spruce (I Think). Bill
Chip :
Have you tried a Stanley low-angle block plane?
I encountered the same problem when paring down a chunky Bending Branches paddle. A low-angle plane with a well-sharpened iron and a shallow cut will minimize the tear-out.
Jim
In ounces? NM
Drawknives
I’ve been using drawknives more on every subsequent paddle than the preceding ones. Skill level rises with each use. On the Aleutian I made in 2003, the center ridge on the power face was carved out with a hand scorp. It was very nerve racking as one wrong stroke would blow out the center ridge.
This spring I made four more. They are made with a core of sitka spruce and red cedar side blades. A friend who is a cabinet maker milled the cores with a router. I then glued on the sides and carved the shape with hand tools. It’s exponentially faster making the core with a router than with a hand scorp. Were I making only one aleutian paddle I would use the hand scorp.
Dave
check grain when laminating
Chip,
When I made the Aleutian, the instructor had me test plane the core and the side blades for grain orientation. They were marked for the best orientation before glue up. I would not have thought of doing so until after the fact.
Dave
Good point.Next time. Both shafts
are epoxied.I have 2 experiments going at once.
One paddle is clear pine, the other has a clear pine shaft with mahogany and maple blades.
I learn by doing .
To scorp or not to scorp
On latest Aleuts, used a gouge to hollow out on either side. A little slow, but fairly easy to control. The small one handed scorp is OK on the spooned out area on my hybrids, but agree it’s not to friendly for the narrower cut on the Aleuts (Probably just need to sharpen mine! Gouge too. If not like razors things get bad fast - and I’m still a bit lazy about this).
These were solid WRC and my shapes are all compound curves and no parallel lines - and am not a shop guy/cabinet maker/carpenter type - so router doesn’t appeal as much as hand carving (and I’d waste more time trying to set things up), but some other power carving tools I can think of might be handy…
Biggest issue for me would be control. The faster the tool, the bigger the screw ups can be.
PS - Pic