: That sounds about right.

: That's why you should cut outside your layout lines, so you can
: plane down to them, rather than past them.

: If you want the paddle to come out even, you need to keep it that
: way during the process. Otherwise, you may find errors stacking
: upon each other and creating a very uneven result.

: That said, GPs are pretty forgiving and it's more important to get
: the cross-section of the blade right than the overall shape.

Got it. To be clear, I did stay outside of the lines (occasionally touching), and was wondering if it was important to plane it down. Looking back at the wood last night, I can see how subsequent drawn lines will be misleading if they aren't on flat surfaces.