Hi Brian-

I totally understand your point. For you and me though, this stuff is like falling out of bed, but I just watched a bunch of people taking a paddle-making class from a very well respected teacher and was a bit surprised how difficult tasks that I would do without even noticing I was doing them were for the students. All awesome people. All very accomplished. Good instruction from what I could tell. I wasn't even aware that those things would be hard for other people, so I just wanted to be sure that all the alternatives were out there when I made that post. I wasn't intending to be critical of you, and I definitely wasn't directing the post to you personally. Sorry about that.

I did want to comment on power tools a bit. Tuning a table saw is hard for most people. A lot of people probably have no idea what that even means, and I'll bet that most people have (no offense) underpowered saws. Throw in a dull non-rip blade and that probably means a lot of burning when making rip cuts, so you've got to be prepared for more than a light pass with a block plane. I have a newer thickness planer, and even with pretty well used blades it makes impressive cuts. Still flat, no scallops, just gets occasional ridges from nicks. When the blades are fresh it spits out beautiful polished surfaces that are the equal of a hand planing right out of the box. If I walked into a box store and bought a Stanley low-angle block plane it couldn't do that right out of the box, and without some practice even once it was tuned up and sharpened. My particular thickness planer (and most new models) comes with a magnetic setup jig, so there is virtually no adjustment. You slip the blade in, put the jig on, and tighten it down. It would be possible to screw it up, but it would be really hard. A lot harder than screwing up a paddle! I send them out to a sharpening service. It runs $6/blade, but replacement blades are pretty cheap if you don't want to bother.

I used to work in a professional cabinet shop, so I've used a lot of power tools, and I use primarily hand tools now in my own shop. Either way works. There are plenty of people with differing ideas about what is better. I'm not taking sides, I've seen both work. I am detail obsessed, and I don't want to give people the impression that you need to be as obsessed as I am to make a serviceable paddle or anything else. A lot of people who know me are afraid to try making things because they don't think they can be as obsessive as I am, and I can't convince them it's not necessary. I can attest that there is a lot of exceptional furniture out there made completely with power tools and only sanded to 120 grit, and knowing that going in will save a lot of grief over the way I do things for most people.

Sorry to get under your skin- and best of luck to the original poster. Hope there's enough info to get you going, whatever it takes!

m

: Hence the need for tight joints and firm clamping, as I stated.
: However, the surfaces don't need to be "perfect",
: which I'll explain below.

: If epoxy isn't thickened, it doesn't fill gaps well, but regular
: participants here all know that.

: Yeah, that's the straight scoop. Polyurethane glue works really
: well for certain applications, but it's not a
: "miracle" adhesive. The same can be said for any of
: the glues we commonly use.

: Of course.

: That depends on how significant they are, but for argument's sake,
: let's assume you need to clean them up.

: In theory, yes. However, the surface that results is often far from
: perfect. It depends on how sharp the knives are and whether
: they're set up properly. Otherwise, the surface may be more
: consistent (no swirling marks or burning), but it may not be any
: smoother.

: Sorry Mike, but this is where we part ways.

: Well, that's pretty much a given with ANY edged tool, whether it's
: a plane, spokeshave, chisel, scraper or knife. For that matter,
: a thickness planer needs sharp knives to produce a smooth
: surface. Even when both are properly sharpened and tuned, a hand
: plane can produce a smoother surface than any thickness planer.

: It ain't rocket science and again, it's just part of owning and
: using hand tools. Plane adjustments are quite simple and
: information on adjusting/tuning them is widely available. By
: comparison, properly setting up the three rotating knives on a
: thickness planer is a considerably more complex process.
: Sharpening them is a whole bucket full o' fun!

: For the type of work we're talking about when making paddles -
: taking a very small amount of wood off an otherwise flat surface
: - anything from an apron plane, to a block plane, smoothing
: plane, jack plane, scraper plane or a jointer plane would work.
: About the only planing tool I wouldn't use would be a
: spokeshave. Since the OP indicated that he has a plane, I think
: he should be encouraged to use it. I'm not going to just assume
: that it's dull or improperly adjusted, though I did emphasize
: the need for it to be sharp.

: Mike, we're talking about people who are building boats and/or
: paddles. Having a sawhorse or a bench and a clamp or two can
: pretty much be assumed. For that matter, you can use the table
: of a table saw.

: We're talking about planing off saw marks, removing a few
: thousandths of an inch of wood. We're starting with a basically
: flat/square part, not hewing a board from a downed tree. It's
: not difficult to control a plane when you're not removing much
: material. Also, bear in mind that the parts we're talking about
: in paddle making are relatively long and flexible, and they're
: being laminated on the long surfaces. The mating surfaces don't
: have to mate absolutely perfectly, they just need to be a close
: fit with smooth surfaces. Clamping will close any tiny gaps and
: the firm clamping that poly' glues require pretty much ensures a
: tight joint.

: While this is all true, you make it sound like some onerous chore.
: Again, we're dealing with people who WANT to make boats and/or
: paddles. If they weren't willing to invest the time to learn how
: to do so, they'd just buy them instead.

: Not everyone wants a "quick and dirty" approach and I
: certainly wouldn't encourage it, as it's not wise to RELY on the
: gap filling properties of adhesives to make strong joints in
: wood. I don't leave surfaces rough regardless of the type of
: glue I'm using, as I take more pride in my workmanship than
: that. If the parts are smooth enough off the saw, fine, but if
: they're aren't I'll touch them up. If it's faster and easier to
: grab a hand plane than to set up my thickness planer, that's the
: tool I'd choose for the job.