Subject: Re: [baidarka] Shape of aleut paddle?
From: Mitchell James (redcedar1@mac.com)
Date: Sun Mar 26 2006 - 12:07:40 EST
I want it to sound VERY scary, but if you use roller stands to
support all the weight of the wood and use normal caution, it will work.
As regards the shaper table, I also built one of those for shaping
dihedral. Corey has it now. The base is a mid-size Grizzly shaper,
3/4 hp motor, that you can buy for about $450. That is a wonderful
tool, just the right size to do this job. As for the cutter, I
designed my own and had it made. That was expensive, more than the
shaper itself. Grizzly has a cutter hub that accepts tool steel
blades. Go to www.grizzly.com, and check it all out. To get the
tapered power ridge, I mounted roller bars on the ends of the shaper
and attached tapered templates to the center of the board. The
templates would cause the wood to slowly rise as it passed the cutter
blade, and got just the right taper. It is a great way to go. At that
time, I was cutting the entire inch of material off in one pass,
which was also very dangerous. If I were to set this up again, I
would prepare the wood using the table saw just as I described
yesterday. I would love to do this, but the cost is prohibitive. It
is a great way to rough out a paddle, though. Gets you down to the
sanding point in three steps (table saw prep, dihedral shaper pass,
outline trim on the band saw). Total time is less than two hours.
I am also experimenting with a small 4" table top sander, set at
about a 7 degree angle, to control the rough sanding of the dihedral.
Haven't gotten it stable enough yet to try any real paddles on it,
but there is some promise.
But the other side comes from Japan, like so many of the things I
love. I have amassed a collection of books on Japanese architecture
and construction. You should see the structures that they have been
building, going back to the 8th century, massive post-and-beam
structures with the most extreme mortise-and-tenon joints I have ever
seen. Four beams mortised into a single column so that a single
wooden key locks the entire assembly into place? I mean, we are
talking structures here that are a good seven or eight stories high,
like Kiyomizu in Kyoto, with NO metal. I believe most of the current
structure dates back to the 18th century, with parts that were built
long before that. Now that is a huge example, but I really
appreciate even the smallest framing members of the temple at
Miyajima, built over a tide flat, again without using metal (which
would have corroded anyway). I am doing a poor job today of giving
you the exact facts, just to say that their craftsmanship is simply
stunning.
And so here I am trying to do a simple job with power tools, when the
craft lies right at my hand. That entire table-saw cut could be made
with a Japanese draw saw, as could the ridge/loom dihedral. They say
of the experienced sushi chef: "He knows how to hold the knife." Do I
know how to hold the saw? Do I have the patience? Is my conscience
that clear?
Or would the cell phone ring...
See ya! Ja mata!
Oh, incidentally, their buildings were built to anthropomorphic
dimensions. The "shiga" is just under one foot. The "ken" is six
shiga. A tatami measures one ken by 1/2 ken, the sleeping space for
one person.
-- Baidarka Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside Baidarka or Baidarka archives without author's permission Submissions: baidarka@paddlewise.net Subscriptions: baidarka-request@paddlewise.net Searchable archive: http://rtpnet.org/robroy/baidarka
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b27 : Sat Apr 01 2006 - 01:00:03 EST