: I made a paddle using Nick’s book a few years ago. His method is
: to shape the ends of the shaft to match the concave spoon of the
: shaft on the power face and to shape the back of the shaft to
: curve convex tapering from the shaft major diameter to zero at
: the tip. The two sides of the shaft stay untouched and parallel
: to each other so the edges of the two pieces of the blade glue
: onto these flat parallel sides. The finished paddle will have a
: center constant width stripe of the shaft wood in the middle of
: the blade the length of the power face and on the back side of
: the blade the shaft wood will be a rounded raised stiffening
: rib.

: The blade can also be made into one thin full width piece then
: glued onto the concave curve of the shaft end. This is the
: common method in attaching one-piece plywood paddle blades. Then
: the shaft sides under the blade no longer need to be flat or
: parallel and can be shaped prior to attaching the blades.
: However, this is not the method in Nick’s book.

Hmmm... then I do not understand 10-2d at all. It shows a uniform taper over the length of the blade (21") to 3/4" at the end. There's a second shape I thought at 90 deg. to that, that follows the curve of the blade.

Let me ask a slightly different question that comes down to the same thing. A kayak paddle shaft has an ovel crossection. The long axis of the oval is perpendicular to the blade face closest to it, or parallel?
Rich