Canoe paddles

[Ajcoholic]

I am working on a nice carved blade paddle. I used to make them by hand, but will try to do it on the CNC now.

The shape is a standard wide, flat beaver tail style but with a raised rib extending from the shaft through the blade.

That is what made hand-carving necessary and time consuming.

My idea is to carve one side on the router, and then flip over and have the blade sit into a negative carved holder to cradle the blade and hold it level, then carve the other side.

Anyone do this before? Just curious.. Will post some pics when I have something to show you all!

I think the blade can be made much stiffer yet lighter in this way, vs the standard flat carved you see in the stores. And a lighter blade means less fatigue for the paddler. But stiff to keep the efficiency high.

AJC

[ssflyer]

Hi Andrew,

Don't see why it wouldn't work - I did something similar with little glasss jars that needed engraved on two sides. Made a negative jig that held several for flipping. It worked well...

[genek]

Ron did you engrave the jars with the cnc????
I have made bondo holders for items before.. That worked real good./

[ssflyer]

Eugene,

I did engrave them with the CNC, using a diamond drag bit. Here's a few pictures of the test jig (the final held more), and the finished jars. They looked better in real life, as the flash showed the fine chipping of the glass, that was invisible to the naked eye - the type was tiny!...

[bobmoore]

I made fixtures like that years ago at a plastics plant. Build a box with a chamber for a vacuum plenum then pour in a 2 part epoxy fixture resin ( I don't remember the brand name anymore but it was designed to cure cool so it wouldn't crack or shrink as it cured ). Wax the paddle so it doesn't stick in the resin, submerge it half way into the resin, and let the resin cure. Remove the paddle, drill a series of small holes through the resin and plywood into the vacuum chamber, turn on the vacuum and go. May have to route in an o ring gasket but I think you said you have a large becker pump so probably won't even need that.
Bob

[gene]

What if you made 1 side of the paddle with the rib going thru the blade and the other side of the paddle with a cup or dished out shape to grab the water more effectively? ( Hey a better mouse trap) :eek:

[srwtlc]

Here's an oar paddle that I made in Aspire awhile ago for someone to try (don't think it was ever cut). The idea was to glue up a blank with the shaft centered, then cut the paddle end in a flip-op tabbed manner and finish the shaft later with a large roundover bit with a handheld router.

By tabbing it in, you wouldn't have to make a pocket to hold it in. Just index it, flip it over and screw it down for the other side. Cleaning up the tabs wouldn't take much time.

http://sdrv.ms/MuMgJz

[Steve M]

Making a negative carved holder to cradle the blade seems like a lot of work for a simple two sided operation, especially if you're only making one or two paddles.

The easy way to do two sides is to leave some material at two opposing ends, into which you drill location holes. After you mill one side, you drill location holes in the spoil board and place pins in the holes to locate your flipped part in the correct position.

[knight_toolworks]

Making a negative carved holder to cradle the blade seems like a lot of work for a simple two sided operation, especially if you're only making one or two paddles.

The easy way to do two sides is to leave some material at two opposing ends, into which you drill location holes. After you mill one side, you drill location holes in the spoil board and place pins in the holes to locate your flipped part in the correct position.
You beat me to it. I would leave material all the way around to make it solid.

[wowhuh.mike]

yep, that's how I cut these.

http://www.wow-huh.com/projects/handplanes/

[Ajcoholic]

Im going to give the tabs/leaving some full thickness around the perimeter...

But a negative couldnt be that difficult to model in Aspire...

Havent gotten a chance to try yet.

AJC

[wowhuh.mike]

I guess if you are making a vacuum fixture that you plan on using often, it could be nice (otherwise doubt its worth it), but if this is a small run you can make some mounting tabs decked to a locating height in first op and simply mill a 2d pocket to accept flipped part for second op fully aligned in x,y, and z upside down. I lay all this out precisely in my CAD program (Rhino), it helps keep it all straight. I'll try and get some pics of the tabs and mounts if you're interested in seeing more.

[Ajcoholic]

I cut my first attempt today, turned out pretty good but the blade is too thick. Will alter the file and try again next week.... if I survive my business tax audit by the government :)

Will post some pics next week, I was too rushed today to remember my camera.

AJC

[beacon14]

Well I tried to reply to this post earlier and accidentally closed the window (losing my nice long post) just before posting. Very coincidentally I just finished a run of wooden canoe paddles for our Boy Scout Troop for their upcoming "High-Adventure" trip to Canoe Base.

I did not do a good job of photo-documenting the project (you try stopping to take pictures while keeping 20 boys and dads occupied, productive, and safe). I did get a few pics and a couple of videos. The person in charge specified bent-shaft paddles, which allowed us to make one side of the blade completely flat, making hold-down much easier. If the shaft were proud on both faces I think making a negative model in Aspire would be pretty simple, and allow you to machine a female mold to set the first machined side into, without a need for tabs or oversized blanks.

I made two quick hold-down stations on a piece of leftover melamine, using my two 220V Lighthouse motors with the other 7 zones turned off. There were no hold-down issues during machining for 26 paddles.

http://youtu.be/DYPUd2mJR4s flattening the back side of the blade.

http://youtu.be/Z96kKrGoRF8 shaping the blades - kind of boring, skip to the end to see the finished paddle (still needing hand work but fully machined).

All in all for my first attempt at making a paddle (let alone 26 paddles) I am quite pleased with the results. I don't think the shaft needs to be raised all the way to the end of the blade. The wood next to the shaft would become the weak point, so the blade needs to be thicker in the middle than the edges, and having the shaft even thicker just adds weight. Anyway, I'm certainly no expert on canoe paddles but just wanted to share since you brought it up.

I can't end this post without a big shout-out to Andy Brooks, who logged on to my computer from his place about an hour away, and helped me construct the 3D model of the blade and shaft end on my version of Aspire. Without his help I'd still be watching the tutorials and trying to figure it out on my own. Thanks again Andy.

[andyb]

David,
The paddles look great. Glad that I could help you out.

Andy B.

[taskins]

I'm with the route it and flip crowd. I tried to make these harder than they needed to be by doing them on the indexer first. If you have Cut 3D this is a breeze with just a 2 sided cut. i did these for a local camp for austitic children. I used a Scan Studio laser scanner to create the part and imported it directly into Cut 3D. You can save some time by changing the machining allowance to "profile" and not clearout all of the excess. Good luck

Tim A

[pappybaynes]

Do you put a spline in the bottom of the paddle - cross grain to keep it from splitting?

[Ajcoholic]

Do you put a spline in the bottom of the paddle - cross grain to keep it from splitting?

I usually cut a slot and glue in a 1/8" thick strip of G10 - then you can use the paddle to push of of rocks, etc without banging up the wood.

AJC

[genek]

Nice hand planes for body surfing... Would love to have a set of those... Very nice..

[genek]

Ron just looked at your work... Supper great... Have a couple of questions..
One the carved red wood knot... Did you do that with the cnc... I hand carve a face sort of like that on sassafras walking sticks that i use a dremel on...
Question two the rocker would you share the dxf file...
Would love to be able to do work like you do...
Since you are in wine country.. Would you like some patterns .... I make wine racks that hold 6 bottles. I cut them with the cnc and i have some parts i cut with the laser but not needed.

IF YOU WILL SHARE THE ROCKING CHAIR SEND THE DXF FILE TO eking1953@yahoo.com

[genek]

Mr buchsbaum where do you teach classes. At.

[beacon14]

Eugene I have been holding classes at my shop in Atlanta, but my closet business is keeping me so busy I have decided not to schedule any classes this summer, or until I can get my workload to under 100 hours a week.