: Today I finished carving my first homebuilt paddle -- built from Chuck
: Holst's plans that you can find in a .pdf file somewhere on this message
: board, or on (I think) Ross Leidy's web site.

: It was phenomenally easy (discounting the quite a bit of sweat that was
: flying), and quite fun.
: I started with just a plain old cedar 2x4 for about $5 (although I did pick
: through a stack to try to find one with fewer knots and such).
: I variously used a mortising gauge, marking knife, metal straightedge, jack
: plane, finger plane, coping saw, back saw, and spokeshave.

: It was quite fun and rewarding to see the curls of cedar cleanly peeling off,
: and of course the smell is wonderful. (By the way, does anyone have any
: suggestions on what to do with about half a yard of wood shavings?)

: And, being that I finished shaping and sanding it and still had a couple of
: hours of daylight left, I just HAD to go try it out for a few minutes at a
: local lakeside park. Results: I'm stunned! Even though I slapped it
: together fairly carelessly (this WAS just going to be a prototype), it
: works wonderfully. Sliding my upper hand up onto the blade provides for
: great leverage and makes a sweep stroke feel effortless.

: It does suffer from a loud "plop" as the paddle tip enters the
: water, and it does sling an awful lot of water down the blade and onto my
: hands, sleeves, and spray skirt, and it does feel a slight bit bendy
: (though only when pushing off a solid object, not when paddling).

: So, a couple of questions: * I believe I recall reading that modifying one's
: technique will reduce the "plop" entry, but I don't recall
: where. Was that on this board somewhere?
: * Does anyone have any suggestions on the slinging-water problem?
: * will it be effective to glass this paddle for added strength? or would any
: forces that would break a bare paddle also crack the center of a glassed
: one?

Daniel, Isnt it amazing what you can make for $5.00 or less. I used chucks method on a clear Hem-fir stud (yeah it was a pain to find a nice one) but it came out gorgeous and good enough for day paddling. I havent put it on a scale yet but after using a store bought paddle for 12 hours a day for 2 days in my canoe, I'm sure I could paddle with this thing as long as I can forsee wanting to stay in a Kayak.
I also know what you mean about it being the prototype. I used the cheap wood to get the method down. I figured to go to the cedar or another light wood for a nice one.
And who cares if you use it to push off, for $5.oo I'll carve a dozen.
Happy building and carving, Elliott