Re: baidarka Aleut Paddle


Subject: Re: baidarka Aleut Paddle
From: James Mitchell (mariner@seanet.com)
Date: Wed Dec 20 2000 - 00:17:58 EST


I already done did the scooping. That's what the shaper is for. The power
face is essentially done.

Now.... OK, that's a maybe. The "Maybe" is if you want to accept my "short
cut" ridge shape for now. I have stopped making the ridge as sharp as I
used to. I am going now for a rounded ridge that is more the resultant size
of the grooved ridge that Lew uses on the center of the paddle. You can
take my blank, round that ridge down to Lew's dimensions, and with a narrow
gouge put in his center groove. Or you can do what I am doing, just round
that ridge off.

Performance wise, I think the rounded ridge is fine; at least within our
ability to test so far. We are doing more tests to try to determine the
real function of the ridge at different angles of attack. I have found that
the sharp ridge may be a contributor to flutter, whereas the rounded ridge
seems to draw less critically.

Lew's grooved ridge seems to perform just the same as the rounded ridge.
Lew thinks (and I am not disagreeing; but have no evidence either way yet)
that the center groove adds power to the stroke. I dunno. I do know that I
am really pleased with the rounded ridge that I have been using. It seems to
make the paddle especially friendly in a low brace, where it skims the water
gracefully. In a high or sculling brace, the paddle seeks its own proper
angle of attack. That is very sweet in practice. Lew and I agree that my
blade pulls a bit more smoothly than his, with considerably less flutter --
due largely, I think, to the dihedral angle; however it is possible that the
ridge is affecting flutter. It is hard to compare actual pulling force
without some objective measuring gear. Bottom line: Lew is one hell of a
speedster; he can pull away from me any time he wishes, using either paddle.

AND now that we have finally got ourselves all nice and comfy, I dug through
David Zimmerly's web site and extracted a large copy of the MAE hulls
(Lenningrad) from Akun, collected about 1845. Both drawings show a
similarly shaped Aleut paddle, a variation on the blade that Lew drew up and
that we have been making and testing. These blades are slightly longer at
100" (250-254cm), and about 3-3/4" width. The blade portion appears to
average about 39", as opposed to our present 33". The loom may be 2 "
shorter, running about 22" to our present 24". Result: a monster blade. I
made a template last night. This blade will fit the same shaper setup as I
am using for the present Aleut paddle, so I will make one from a couple of
the clear 2x6's that I picked up at the lumber yard a couple weeks ago. This
one may pull my arms off, we shall see. But what we may have here is a
really high power Aleut blade. I am calling this one the Akun blade. Lew,
if you are listening, do you know where your blade came from? Can you tell
us more about that?

Dotter1.com, the Juneau Jewel, has apparently joined the kayak club up
there. They have been drooling over her boat, and asking paddle questions.
So she is getting my latest Aleut paddle for Xmas. If you are around Juneau,
this will be a chance to try the blade. I will be there from the 22nd to the
29th, so if you want to come talk kayaks, I will meet you at Valentines any
day I am not skiing!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Samson Family" <bill.samson@tesco.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2000 8:00 AM
Subject: Re: baidarka Aleut Paddle

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Mitchell <mariner@seanet.com>
> <snip>
> >All you
> >will need is a low angle block plane, or a good belt sander.
>
> Will that be adequate to generate the scooped out bits either side of the
> ridge? Or will some kind of rounded-sole plane be necessary?
>
> Bill
>
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