Hopefully , with all you’ve learned, the next one will be a much quicker project.
I spent so many years in manufacturing that efficiency became hard wired.
My electric hand held planer is my friend.
I am looking forward to your next paddle. You seem to have learned a lot about the best ways to work with the tools you have and mistakes to watch out for, so I am sure the next videos will be even better and more informative!
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@NotThePainter Thank you for posting these videos. I appreciate you sharing your experiences with us.
For the future, especially if you’re planning to use that ferrule, you might want to consider picking up a pair of calipers. You don’t need super precise expensive ones for a task like this, but it would be much easier to track outside dimensions than using your small square. I’m pretty sure you can get a set for less than $20. Digital calipers are easy to use, but if you want to keep more to traditional tools you could get dial calipers or even vernier. 
For the record, I’m kind of following in your footsteps. I just laid out the initial taper lines in a piece of 2x4 last night. (Just pine, as this is my first attempt.) I’m hoping to start planing soon and I’m also using Brian’s book.
Paul, it’s a shame that your current paddle hasn’t turned out as you had hoped, but as you and others have said, it’s been a learning experience. If your wife has smaller hands than you, perhaps it could be salvaged later on.
One thing I really want to emphasize is that when you get into using my instructions, fully complete one step at at time. I know it’s tempting to start rounding things off when you’re at a point where you should be making flat surfaces, but you have to resist that urge. Otherwise you lose track of where you actually are in the process. Patience is a virtue and thinking through each step before you start removing wood saves a lot of headaches.
Make sure that you draw/redraw centerlines and others layout lines as specified. Those are your guides to maintaining a consistent shape, which is critical to producing a symmetric paddle. You need to focus on cutting to these lines evenly and smoothly. Flat, straight surfaces are where it’s at until you get to the final shaping and sanding.
I strongly encourage you to use a saw to cut out your next paddle. The chisel method you used this time led to a lot of inconsistency and you never completely recovered from that. The Japanese saw you have (a Dozuki) won’t work because it has a back on it, but a Ryoba or any western-style crosscut or rip saw will work for cutting out the basic shape. All it takes is a saw in the 12"-15" range to do the job. They’re easy to maneuver and inexpensive ($10-$20). I show one in the book.
You definitely need to support the paddle tips whenever you’re working on the blades. I use a simple roller stand similar to this one: https://www.harborfreight.com/132-lb-capacity-roller-stand-68898.html
It’s easy to adjust to whatever height I need and I wrap a towel over the roller so it won’t dent the wood. It’s well worth the $17.49 for the convenience and support it provides. For clamping the paddle blank, I use a Black and Decker Workmate because it’s specifically designed to accommodate tapered shapes, like paddle blades. There are plenty of copies on the market now, too. Since you already have a clamping sawhorse, if you cut your blades out with a saw, you can use the off-cuts as clamping wedges, since they match the blade tapers.
I hope this helps.
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One more thing…when you’re planing a surface, start where you need to remove the most material. For example, when you’re planing the wide side of a paddle blade, start at the tip with short strokes to establish the angle (match it to your layout lines), then work your way back toward the loom, taking increasingly longer strokes as you go.
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And use a very sharp pencil to diagram. {so thin, very defined clean lines}
@bnystrom Hi Brian. Could I please clarify two things from your book? I’ve completed Step 4 - Laying Out the Edge Profile, and am looking at steps 5 and 6, drawing the loom shape and shoulders.
My loom thickness is less than the thickness of my paddle blank. In a case like this, do you think it would be okay to plane the thickness of the paddle and then draw on the loom and shoulders? (So completing steps 7 and 8, and then go back to steps 5 and 6, then step 9?) It seems to me that if I draw them on now, I’ll just be planeing them off again. I’m worried that there’s something I missing though.
Also, when you are planeing the taper of the blades, do you recommend taking one end of the paddle blank down to 3/4", and then rotating to the other end, or tapering the “top” of both ends first, then flip the blank over and taper the “bottom”. Does the order of planeing the 4 faces matter at all?
Thank you.
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Thank you thank you thank you @string @GregofDelaware @1890 @roym and especially @bnystrom, the encouragement and advice means a lot to me!
Here’s the update.
My planned lunch out this Friday was cancelled due to cold weather (lakeside work thing) so I won’t get to go wood shopping on the way home.
I’ve ordered the B4 lead and a compass, which has arrived. That is a nice lead. I’ll probably return the compass since I found my father-in-law’s set and I really like using his tools. I went diving in the exploded wood shop and found his roller stand and his clamping bench. He says he has some calipers, I just need to find them.
I have a Stanley “Shark” saw which I use to practice on junk 2x4s, trying to get that cut correct. I’m still not sure how to do it with horizontal wood, the youtube’s I’ve seen on Japanese blades all have vertical wood, that’s not going to work with a paddle!
And yes, I complete each and every step before going onto the next. I’m so guilty of jumping forwards. That’s why first paddle worked all the ones since then haven’t, I was in a hurry and didn’t read. Right now I’m reading your book cover to cover!
@NotThePainter I might be totally missing something, but why can’t you rotate the wood 90 degrees (wide side down) and cut vertically with a saw? Couldn’t it be clamped down to a bench or something with the part you need to cut hanging off just enough to clear your saw?
It is worth trying, but I think you would have a really difficult time seeing the line on the bottom. It doesn’t matter unless your saw is crooked and of course, being beginners our saws will probably be at least slightly crooked. I guess we could force the issue by cutting on the line on the top and angling the blade away from the bottom line. You’ll still have some planning to do, but hopefully not too much.
Does your father in law have saws in his tool collection? Given that he has so many hand tools for working wood, that seems a possibility. If he does, you might look and see what he has, in case he has some saws that might be worth a try. Specifically I would look to see if he has a rip and cross cut saw, with the rip being a higher priority for what you want to do. Here is a good article on saw types, in case you are not that familiar with them:
Hand Saw Buyer’s Guide for Traditional Woodworking | Wood and Shop
Best Wishes
1890, you can either plane the blank to thickness first or plane the loom to thickness afterward. I typically do the former, but I use a benchtop planer, not a hand plane, so getting the blank to the required thickness is quick. If you’re doing it by hand, you can either plane the blank to the loom thickness initially as shown or wait until after you cut out the paddle shape, so you have a lot less material to plane off. As you said, the disadvantage is that that you have to redraw your layout lines on the loom, but that’s not a big deal.
Paul, any major cutting with a saw should always be done with the saw held vertically, so you can use gravity to your advantage. I prefer to do it on a sawhorse (hence the name), around knee height, so I can put my weight on the wood to steady it. That’s the way saws are meant to be used. Trying to cut while holding the saw horizontal is uncomfortable and inefficient, as you discovered. There are plenty of videos online that demonstrate hand saw technique.
You don’t need to cut precisely to the line; the point is to remove the bulk of the material. You will plane down to the line afterward. If you’re concerned about keeping the saw perpendicular to the cutting surface, keep a square or a square block of wood handy as you cut, so you can check the angle of the saw blade periodically.
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I started using a coping saw to cut out the rough blank. It was OK but the cut was never truly vertical.
The shop where I buy my wood has a band saw and cuts the blanks for me now. Always vertical.
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Oh, I have a million saws, just not the experience to use them well. I’ll practice some on scraps and see what I can do.
Cool link also, thanks!
Part Zero, aka the Introduction is up.
Here I tell you not to watch Parts 1 through 10. LOL.
And in this episode I saw wood.
If you pick an edge that is straight , on the full 2 x 4 . Then use that edge to find your center line for each side. Draw that center line. Then do your diagram off that and the center of the loom line you will also draw on both sides.
This is how I do a diagram, so I don’t do guess work of I think it looks sort of. {Diagram both sides}
Best Wishes
Roy
Use a piece of string to find your centerline, it’s always straighter then the wood
I usually use a straight edge but as @JohnFH points out (as does Brian in the book) a piece of string is straight. I don’t have an 8’ long straight edge so I’ve been using the square to measure in from the side, which of course won’t work if the wood is bent!
What made this look like guesswork? I’m really curious. The point of Episode 11 is to practice sawing, but I still wanted a good line. So I measure out a loom, shoulders, and then the blade taper. I only did it one side since I only planned on sawing one side.
My mistake was to not do the back, but I’m pretty sure I would have done the back when I do the real paddle since I’ll need to plane the blade tapers.
You will be hand planing and need to see where you are on both sides. It will also let you check your saw cut as you go. With only one side marked it is not as easy. …and… The easiest way is hard enough.
Best Wishes
Roy
PS I haven’t read the book, {I had made many paddles before his book came out} but BN uses a band saw so doesn’t run into what you are dealing with. Square edges vs angled edges. Even a jig saw would give you more accuracy.