Subject: baidarka Aleut Paddle
From: James Mitchell (mariner@seanet.com)
Date: Sun Dec 17 2000 - 23:40:20 EST
I have had inquiries from several of you regarding the Aleut paddle that I was
describing. This is the one that is based on Lew Plummer's drawing, the
design we have been testing for the past year or so.
Several of you have emailed me to say that you are intersted in building
these, but either don't have access to the wood, or the shop, or the time to
build one on your own. I have build a few for other people, and I can
continue to build a few finished paddles; but not very many. They take a lot
of time, and that is what I am short of.
So here's the deal. I've put together the machinery to rough cut these blades
reasonably quickly. I can make up unfinished blanks of these paddles, and ship
them to you. I'll buy the wood, cut the power face and center ridge on the
shaper, cut the paddle outline with the bandsaw, and leave the rest to you.
This is the same blank that I make if I am going to do a completely finished
paddle. Doing the blank by hand would take you about 10 hours and some pretty
hefty craftsmanship with hand tools. If you have Lew's drawing and this blank,
you should have an easy time finishing these blades -- a few hand tools and
another eight hours of work should do it.
The blanks will have the power surfaces roughed out at the right angles, based
on our testing. You will be able to do either the groved ridge as in Lew's
plan, or the simpler single ridge design that I use on these blades. All you
will need is a low angle block plane, or a good belt sander. If you want, I
can round the loom for you with the big router. This way you get the wood,
and most of the tricky work required to finish the paddle. Most of what is
left involves lots of sandpaper, elbow grease,and spar varnish.
Anyone who is interested, please contact me offline at mariner@seanet.com.
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