> Anybody have a good way to round off a paddle shaft? The best I've come up
> with is a pair of praces to hold it up and let it rotate so you can clamp
> it in any position, and then plane and sand. I hand sand with a broken
> belt wrapped around the shaft. Aside from a big lathe, any better ideas?

I've made 2 double blade paddles, one out of Wooden Boat and a Greenland replica. Both shafts are oval which is more comfortable on the hands after all our fingers are 3 straight bones right? Modern hi speed manufacturing has problems with oval shafts thus most purchased paddle shafts are circular. Both shafts were shaped only with a sharp carving knife done by eye. This didn't take too long and it wasn't difficult to keep everything straight. Rounding and smoothing was done with a small 1/4 sheet sander moved in 90 degree segments around the shaft not along it's length. One shaft was laminated red and yellow cedar while the other was solid red cedar. I took more time with the laminated shaft and it very straight and has a very even cross-section. You can't feel a waver when you slide your hands up and down the shaft. Thus a good job can be done with nothing more than a knife and a good eyeball.

Happy building, Bram