Paddle snapped

[1tuberider]

Heave glad you are ok.  I was wondering if the cf shafts would give before our bones.  I think my neck would have been done with that. 

I broke my cf first paddle after 10 sessions and it got the warranty repair.  I switched to wood after that.

Not sure what your asking about Stoneax.  Maybe it is the ability to rip or resaw.  I was building two shafts out of each lamination so my boards were over 5 in wide and my band saw blade would wonder trying to resaw.  After studying the paddle I broke (the shaft was straight and the 12 degree bend was laminated on, whereas my first shafts the blade degrees are part of the shaft ), I now am making 1 shaft per lamination setup and have no problem ripping a 2 in board with my setup.  It will save wood over my other technique.  I was wasting wood milling it down instead of ripping it thinner.

Its fun to create the paddles.  I got enough wood yesterday to make 4 or 5 more paddles.  To bad teak is so expensive.  The wood vendor recommended I try white oak and ash for the shafts.  I bought enough of each to try it. 

[stoneaxe]

You had mentioned turning that spruce into lumber. Are you going to have it done at a mill? I've done some of my own milling on my bandsaw. I installed a 6" riser block and I can do up to 12" boards and built a jig/fence and installed a 1" wood slicer blade to help control wander. Still cant do long stuff though...too heavy. I have some cedar logs but the longest pieces I can reasonably handle are 4' or so. I could probably cut laminations from a 2 x 6 kiln dried 8 footer though without much wander.....just need some outfeed rollers.  I've cut all my shafts from dimensioned lumber on my table saw so it's pretty easy.

I liked the idea of having the wide boards providing a full lamination but could see where it would waste a lot of wood. Malama makes his the same way your talking about doing it. I'm planning on doing the same but may actually include a finger joint at the paddle/shaft interface...should make it even stronger and look pretty cool. Can't wait for some warm weather to get some more paddles made.

Funny...I'm trying to decide on oak or ash for the center stringer for my next one... , probably ash...finer grained. I wouldn't use it for the whole thing though. Be kind of heavy. I'm going to try a 3/8" center stringer, then four 1/4" cedar. Nice thing about cedar is the variation of color...from white to chocolate. Then I'm going to glass the shaft.

See if you can get some lyptus. It's a bit on the heavy side but has nice properties and colors. It's a hybrid of eucalyptus that's plantation grown. You can usually find really straight grained stock when its available.