> I've made a lot of paddles over the last five or six years --- most from
> cedar 'cause it's light and easy to carve, some from whatever was around
> and looked clear enough for a "prototype"

I was roughing out a paddle from cedar today. I was caught a little off guard by how easy it is to carve. It ended up quite a bit thinner than I had wanted.

> Think carefully about laminating hardwood on soft. It worked for me for
> quite a while, but, obviously now, there was a fracture waiting to happen
> all the time.

Thanks for the tips. I'm still thinking forward to paddle #3 and think I might try some spruce if I can find it locally. For me, the paddles shouldn't see quite as much stress since my paddling is confined to protected waters...but you never know.

> For what it's worth, I've always followed the axiom that Greenland paddles
> should be left unfinished; I've never had a delamination or splintering
> problem --- except for paddler-induced ones from rocks and bounces. I do
> nothing to paddles, except, at this time of the year, a little Sex Wax on

I didn't put anything on paddle #1 and once it got wet the grain became an abrasive against mt rubberized gloves. I wrapped the loom in duct tape to save the gloves, but when I ripped the tape off, some wood came with it. I've put a thin coat of epoxy on that paddle and I'll sand it down a bit before taking it back out.

> the looms to keep from lateraling the thing across the St. Mary's River
> --- which was beautiful this evening at sunset. Quiet water (41 F) with a
> little fog and a great sunset. Air temp was near 60.

Ahhhh. Southern Georgia. I was thinking of going paddling somewhere in that area this summer if we go to Jacksonville (The wife and I grew up there) on vacation.

Woody