: Their wood supplies turn over all the time. So keep going and
: looking.

: They will probably never have clear wood, but if you look there
: will be an occasional good board. Sometimes I buy a 12' board to
: cut off the bad end. Maybe cut it up in small pieces for other
: things. I know everyone at one of the local yards and pretty
: much have run of the place. I walk in and head straight to the
: basement where they store the 2x cedar every couple of weeks. I
: rarely buy anything but when I do find a good board I buy it
: even if I don't have a use for it right now. I even do that with
: the 1" stock too. Last week I was surprised. They had a new
: shipment and I bought a bunch of wood. I was culling out boards
: the week before I would have been tickled to have found. You
: just never know what will show up so keep looking.

: Once I was standing on the ladder flipping boards in the rack and
: almost feel off the ladder. There was a near perfect, straight
: grained board. WE NEVER get #1 or #2 grade and this was at least
: a #2. Straight grain is just unheard of and it only had one
: knot. Obviously the grader missed that one because it was as
: nice I will ever find. But it just show you never know what they
: have till you look.

: And as Fred said you don't have to make it from one solid piece. If
: your careful and plan your layout you make if from several
: pieces. I just broke one and since it was my favorite I am going
: to make another soon. I am thinking about a couple of thin white
: center stripes from some white colored wood. Then I two small
: pieces to make each outside piece. I could even make one out of
: 2 or 3 pieces of wood, I would just cut a scarf joint to join
: the pieces to make sure it was strong. Or stacks of 1"
: thick pieces. I haven't do that but I might have to try that.

The first link I put up has a whole pile of perfectly clear straight grain stock, unfortunately they also charge for it and it's not cheap. Though the wood for a paddle would be around $25-30, so not real bad. If the prices were more reasonable I'd have most of it in storage already ;)

Bill H.