At 08:41 PM 7/20/98 -0600, you wrote: >George: > >Adobe is a reputable company. You should not be placed on a mailing list >for downloading their softare; at least, I haven't. > Says right on the registration form that you're giving Adobe permission to send you email (SPAM). I downloaded anyway. . . gave them my Hotmail account address. . . which is the one I use for "SpamForms" and such. So, having downloaded and printed out the paddle article, I'm thinking that this might be a great project. I have a bandsaw and all the other fancy stuff. . . dad was a cabinet maker. Mortise and tenon joints for Oak "bolsters" on the tips might be neat, pinned in with hardwood dowels. An oil finish is OK for a closed grain wood like Ash, but open grain woods like Fir, Pine, Spruce would seem to keep opening the grain when exposed to water for any length of time. Ash seems like a heavy wood for a paddle (although it's springy and makes great baseball bats). Yew is a nice hardwood for archery bows. . . might also be a good choice for a paddle. I use the paddle as an out-rigger to brace against sand/rock beaches and concrete boat ramps when I get into the cockpit. Light fiberglass seems like a good idea on the ends of the blades. Maybe just epoxy on the upper blades and loom. If I'm going to cover the blade with epoxy and some light glass, then a light wood seems like a good choice. There's a lot of Alder available in Oregon. Technically, it's a hardwood with a closed grain, but it's not "hard" to shape. Of course there's always the option of laminating a stringer down the center of the paddle . . . Any suggestions from those who have gone before? Plane, Geo./Svenn ______________________________ George Bergeron, Secretary '99 Oswego Heritage Council http://www.europa.com/~heritage/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
At 1:15 AM -0700 7/21/98, Geo. Bergeron wrote: <snip> >I use the paddle as an out-rigger to brace against sand/rock beaches and >concrete boat ramps when I get into the cockpit. Light fiberglass seems >like a good idea on the ends of the blades. Maybe just epoxy on the upper >blades and loom. If I'm going to cover the blade with epoxy and some light >glass, then a light wood seems like a good choice. There's a lot of Alder >available in Oregon. Technically, it's a hardwood with a closed grain, but >it's not "hard" to shape. > <snip> OOoo, I cringe whenever I see that. People put the paddle perpendicular to the boat behind the seat sticking out to one side, put one hand in the middle of the paddle and the other behind the seat, then put all their weight on the middle of the paddle. Eventually the paddle breaks (surprise, surprise) and the guys at Lightening, Mitchell and Werner get them back with people claiming they were faulty. I know Dave Mitchell does not cover this under warrantee, how about Hank? Most of the time the paddle does not break, but that is because they tend to be over built. They do not need to be strong enough to support 250 lb man to be strong enough to propel that man through the water. But even if the shaft were built to support the weight, the blades are not designed to be ground into the rocks and concrete at the boat ramp. A paddle should only be used as a shovel when your buddy's body is starting to stink. There is no need to lean on the paddle to make the outrigger method helpful. Just holding it there while you put your weight on the boat will help stablize you. Nick Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222 (603) 744-6872 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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