Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft *Pic*
By:Shawn B
Date: 7/27/2000, 10:32 am

After reading the WoodenBoat article on the Bird's Mouth Technique for making hollow spars, I thought, "Hey, that could be used for paddle shafts".

The magic of the bird's mouth technique is that the pieces are all self-aligning and no special jigs or fixtures are needed.

So, last night, I laid up my first one.

I used 6 strips of 1/4" x 7/16" spruce, and 2 strips of 1/4" x 11/16" spruce (to make it oval). One narrow edge of each strip had a 45* rabbet cut in it to receive the corner of the adjacent piece.

Notice that I increased my strip sizes from those shown to give me an overall paddle shaft size of about 1 1/8" x 1 3/8". The sizes shown are for a shaft sized for my wife, which I'll lay up tonight.

I used 8 SS hose clamps and a generous assortment of spring clamps to hold it all together. When it was all clamped (ends tightly clamped, middle loosely clamped) I grabbed the ends where you'd place your hands with screw clamps and twisted a 65* or so right feather into the shaft. Voila! A hollow, feathered shaft. I just need to figure out a nice way to plug the ends where they're exposed at the blades.

I also plan to lay up a few straight shafts to build Greenland paddles or take-apart paddles.

Shawn

Messages In This Thread

WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft *Pic*
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 10:32 am
Re: Good Going Shawn!! *Pic*
Bill Boyd -- 7/30/2000, 9:04 pm
Blade Idea
mike allen ---> -- 7/31/2000, 5:52 pm
Re: Why stop there? *Pic*
Bill Boyd -- 8/1/2000, 11:22 am
Re: Why stop there?
Shawn B -- 8/1/2000, 1:36 pm
Re: Thank you Shawn!
Bill Boyd -- 8/1/2000, 8:26 pm
Don't you know where to stop?????
mike allen ---> -- 8/1/2000, 12:36 pm
Re: Blade Idea - Like for Kent Boutillier
mike allen ---> -- 7/31/2000, 7:28 pm
Lamenting le LE lost, lonely & leftout - (nt)
mike allen ---> -- 7/31/2000, 7:42 pm
Re: Good Going Shawn!!
Ross Leidy -- 7/31/2000, 10:14 am
Re: Good Going Shawn!!
Bill Boyd -- 7/31/2000, 11:49 am
Seal the inside with epoxy
Dale Frolander -- 7/28/2000, 2:39 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Spidey -- 7/27/2000, 5:08 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Mike Nicholson -- 7/27/2000, 5:35 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 6:49 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
TomRobb -- 7/28/2000, 10:27 am
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 5:26 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Spidey -- 7/27/2000, 6:21 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Ron Eike -- 7/28/2000, 7:37 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Rehd -- 7/27/2000, 1:20 pm
Re: Possible failure?
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 2:50 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Rob Forsell -- 7/27/2000, 12:57 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Don Beale -- 7/27/2000, 12:28 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 12:58 pm
Re:I have to disagree with the crowd
Don Beale -- 7/28/2000, 12:05 am
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Mike Hanks -- 7/27/2000, 1:32 pm
Re: Got weep holes?
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 1:52 pm
eliminate the need for weepholes
Paul G. Jacobson -- 7/28/2000, 1:08 am
Re: Got weep holes?
Craig Doyle -- 7/27/2000, 2:59 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
peter czerpak -- 7/27/2000, 12:13 pm
Re: Composite cored Bird's Mouth
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 12:56 pm
Re: Composite cored Bird's Mouth
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 7/28/2000, 10:12 am
Possible composite core technique
Paul G. Jacobson -- 7/28/2000, 12:56 am
Re: Composite cored Bird's Mouth
Bill Boyd -- 7/27/2000, 9:36 pm
Re: Hollow core=Brilliant!
Shawn Baker -- 7/28/2000, 12:29 am
Re: yup *Pic*
Bill Boyd -- 7/29/2000, 4:00 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Mike Hanks -- 7/27/2000, 11:05 am
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 1:01 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
j -- 7/28/2000, 3:51 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Jason -- 7/28/2000, 4:26 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
jtmc -- 7/28/2000, 11:38 pm
Re: Twist in Bird's Mouth
Shawn B -- 7/28/2000, 4:22 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Ross Leidy -- 7/27/2000, 10:44 am