Cedar Strip Canoe Paddles

Finally found the time to post these up. I made these earlier this summer. I used some leftover strips from the last canoe build so they are all white cedar with the exception of a "cross" of hardwood in the center of each paddle for added strength. The hardwood cross is made from White Birch I had laying around. First move is to staple the strips to the jig, the jig is marked for different lengths.




Next you remove the strips from the jig after one hour so that the back side can dry quicker, that keeps it from cupping as it dries. After removing the staples when dried the paddle blanks weigh just 10 oz. each.



Now to make the spines. Two for each side of the paddles for strength. These spines are cedar with a strip of Birch between them. The glue I used is made from the fiber glassing epoxy mixed with cotton fibers. It makes a really strong and waterproof glue. There are four spine pieces in the jig separated with plastic.



Now the spines are removed from the jig and cleaned up.





Now to shave the ends of these spines down to a point on the end where they overlap the paddle blades.





Here the table is ready to make more glue to glue the spines to the paddle blanks.





The spines are glued, and clamped, and are in the holding jig. The jig is a great help as the pieces are really slippery and hard to control. This step is somewhat aggrevating. A great sense of victory follows the application of the last clamp.





Everything is looking good, time to call it a day.

Now it is the next morning, out to the shop to check my project…......................... OH CRAP!!!
One of the spring clamps slipped out of position after I left the shop last evening. The spring clamps are working together with strips of ash I had around, and they have wax paper between them and the paddle to prevent sticking. With the wax paper, and the fact that the spines are tapered, when it slipped it put pressure on the 1/4 inch thick cedar and a crack resulted.



A little TitebondII and some tape and after drying it is good as new. I'm not concerned about this repair affecting the strength of this paddle because it will get both sides covered with a layer of 6oz. glass cloth.



Now to add some wood to the ends to give me enough material to shape the hand grip.





Next step, shape the hand grips, and smooth the paddle shaft. When this is done the weight comes in at 1lb. 5 oz. Not bad.



Here you can see the cross made with the Birch. You can also see that the strips have a bead and cove so they fit together nicely. This cross adds enough strength to make the paddles shaft very rigid.



Time to begin glassing.









OK, glassing is done, sanded, filler coat of epoxy, sanded, 2nd filler coat, sanded, one coat of spar, sanded, 2nd coat of spar. Finally done!! These paddles finished weight is 1lb. 10 oz. each. Can't complain about that.



I hope you all can stand one more pic. I drug out my first canoe build and took a picture of it with my new paddles. I had a ton of build pics of this first canoe and somehow lost them in cyberspace. So here goes…......