Alright... I'll get the humble pie out. A while back, a bunch of y'all recommended that I check out the local lumberyards. I should have listened, and put a little more work into it. I did a bit of an online search, called around a bit, and hit two big box stores that are less than a couple miles from my apartment. MDO plywood for the formers of my Yost SOF won't be a problem, though it's not common. WRC? Yeah right.

That is, until today. Seein' as the wife requested that I hold off on the purchase of the lumber due to a limited cash flow this month (we opted to help her Dad repair a few issues with his pickup), I decided to procure some paddle blank material. The local big boxes? Yeah right. I may have gotten lucky with my first "whitewood" paddle blank, but I haven't since. Everything has knots. If it's not warped, the grain's all wrong. If there are small knots, there's a lot of them. If there's one big knot, it's right in the middle of the blank, preventing me from just cutting off one end. Blech.

There's one lumberyard a twenty minute drive away. Their online presence leaves *a lot* to be desired. I thought I'd give them a look over, since I had nothing else planned this evening, and I had a little extra spending cash in my pocket.

They've got everything. 1/2" MDO at a good price, beating my other sources by a couple of bucks. 16' lengths of clear WRC, 5/4 x 4", $3 a linear foot. They've got wider WRC, but not at 16' long. They've got 1x4 premium pine at 16', at a much better price ($0.50 LFT), but it's knotty. I pawed through the pine a little tonight, finding mostly medium to large knots throughout. I hate knots.

The best score? I spent $30 on the most beautiful piece of wood I've ever seen. No knots. It'll make a nice paddle blank, plus give me something to carve toggles out of. 10' length, 2x4, perfectly clear WRC. No warp. The grain is perfectly vertical, with a little wave. The grain does look to run out a little along the length. Did I mention no knots? And then there's the smell... I can't wait to start shaving it down with a block plane. Originally, I planned on giving the shavings to my mom for stall bedding... now, I'm not so sure. The pine from my first two paddles? Sure. WRC... that smells too nice for horse & donkey bedding. Oh, and there's no knots in it, either!

I had a question, too, though. The feeder motor on the planer I had access to died... I still haven't gotten a quote on rebuilding it. The 16' lengths of WRC are 5/4 thick... finished, I put them between 1" and 1/8" thick (I didn't spend much time on it; too elated at my find of clear WRC). Yost's site differs on the size of the keel, stringers, and gunwales. He gives examples for the multi chine Nikumi at 1x.75 for the keel, .75x.75 for the stringers, and 1.5x.75 for the gunwales. Besides the obvious weight impact, is there any other problems with keeping the thickness of the material at 1"? So 1x1 keel, 1x.75 stringers (and which way do I orient them?), and 1.5x1 gunwales.

I'm thinking I'm worrying too much, but it can't hurt to ask. Gotta wait for the cash flow to open up anyhow...